Delivering processing instruction in classroom and virtual contexts

Processing Instruction (PI) is an approach to grammar instruction for second language learning. It derives its name from the fact that the instruction (both the explicit explanation as well as the practices) attempt to influence, alter, and/or improve the way learners process input. PI contrasts with traditional grammar instruction in many ways, most principally in its focus on input whereas traditional grammar instruction focuses on learners' output. The greatest contribution of PI to both theory and practice is the concept of "structured input", a form of comprehensible input that has been manipulated to maximize learners' benefit of exposure to input. This volume focuses on a new issue for PI, the role of technology in language learning. It examines empirically the differential effects of delivering PI in classrooms with an instructor and students interacting (with each other and with the instructor) versus on computers to students working individually. It also contributes to the growing body of research on the effects of PI on different languages as well as different linguistic items: preterite/imperfect aspectual contrast and negative informal commands in Spanish, the subjunctive of doubt and opinion in Italian, and the subjunctive of doubt in French. Further research contributions are made by comparing PI with other types of instruction, specifically, with meaning-oriented output instruction.

Second language processing: an analysis of theory, problems and possible solutions

Second Language Processing examines the problems facing learners in the second language classroom from the theoretical perspectives of Processing Instruction (structured input) and Enhanced Input. These two theories are brought to bear on a variety of processing problems, such as the difficulty of connecting second language grammatical forms encoding tense and mood as well as noun-adjective agreement with their meaning. Empirical studies examine a range of languages including Japanese, Italian and Spanish, through which the authors suggest practical solutions to these processing problems.

Grammar acquisition and processing instruction: Secondary and cumulative effects

Research on Processing Instruction has so far investigated the primary effects of Processing Instruction. In this book, the results of a series of experimental studies investigating possible secondary and cumulative effects of Processing Instruction on the acquisition of French, Italian and English as a second language will be presented. The results of the three experiments have demonstrated that Processing Instruction not only provides learners the direct or primary benefit of learning to process and produce the morphological form on which they received instruction, but also a secondary benefit in that they transferred that training to processing and producing another morphological form on which they had received no instruction.

I wanna be a protocol: online media and electronic structures of kinship

Heidegger famously identified Modernity with a technological leveling of being to a single order of a “standing reserve.” In a radically different tone, Gilles Deleuze articulated a single “plane of immanence” within which ontological distinctions between mind and body, God and world, interiority and exteriority become indiscernible. Taking such philosophical declarations as points of departure, this panel will consider how a collapse of ontological distinction emerged as a thematic and structural trope in literary and cinematic modernisms. We hope to consider how writers and film-makers of the 20th c. utilize the resources of their media to ask “the question of being” that troubled their philosophical contemporaries and heirs. In this vein, we will examine how these modernist ontologies of immanence describe the crisis of a subject saturated and eclipsed by a world which comprises her while also remaining strange or opaque. Papers will ask what is lost with the departure of a distinctly human sense of “being” and how the historical arrival of an alternative ontological order may be evident in the lived experience of modernity. In this sense, the relationship to departures and arrivals becomes the modern subject’s suspicion that he is unable to do either vis á vis the world.

'Marginal gothic': mediating the monstrous in British romanticism

In this paper I look at texts from the Romantic Period which strategically employ elements of the Gothic genre in what I describe as a `marginal` relationship with the Gothic canon. My intention is both to explore the way the boundaries of the genre might be extended, and to cast fresh light on some of the texts discussed, specifically in relation to the ways in which the `monstrous` is perceived and portrayed as villainy. In the first half of the paper, using Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry on the Sublime and the Beautiful as a starting point, I consider Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Godwin’s Caleb Williams, Radcliffe’s The Italian, and Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as all in various ways examples of `marginal Gothic` that present evil doing as monstrous aberrations, also noting the contemporary reception of Beckford’s Vathek, praised in 1786 for its `accuracy and credibility`. In addition, I suggest that Wordsworth’s `Tintern Abbey` and Book VI of The Prelude provide evidence of marginal, but significant, Gothic influence that references Radcliffe’s and Burke’s explorations of a terror of the unknown. In the second half of the paper I focus on Scott’s Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer (1815) as an important example of a `marginal` Gothic novel. Scott’s reference to Vathek at a key point in his plot suggests that he had read Beckford’s novel as entirely `Gothic`. This discussion incorporates a comparison between Mannering’s youthful enthusiasm for astrological divination, and themes to be found in Shelley’s Frankenstein, notably with respect to the nature of Victor Frankenstein’s response to `old` and `new` science and medicine, and to the creation and control of Gothic monstrosity. In these and in other instances, it will be argued that the `marginal Gothic` of Scott’s novel may be read as a precursor to Shelley’s work. [From the Author]

Basin scale distribution of zooplankton in the Ligurian Sea (north-western Mediterranean) in late autumn

Mesozooplankton biomass and abundance were evaluated in epipelagic waters at 59 stations covering the Italian sector of the Ligurian Sea (north-western Mediterranean) in December 1990. This region is characterised by a cyclonic circulation which encloses a central divergence zone and is associated with a main thermohaline front offshore the western Ligurian coast. At the end of autumn, mesozooplankton biomass (range: 0.80–4.24 mg DW m−3) and the abundance (range: 83.8–932 ind. m−3) were lower in the divergence zone. On the contrary, in the Ligurian frontal zone at the periphery of the divergence and on the eastern continental shelf the greatest values of biomass and abundance were recorded. Copepods and appendicularians dominated the mesozooplankton community, the main taxa being the copepods Clausocalanus spp. (46% of total zooplankton) and Oithona spp. (15%) and the appendicularian Fritillaria spp. (12%). Three hydrological sub-regions, i.e. the divergence, the eastern continental shelf and the periphery of the divergence, were characterised by different zooplankton communities and characteristic species. Environmental differences between the three zones were mainly related to changes in bottom topography, sea surface temperatures and quantity of particulate organic matter. Vertical mesozooplankton abundance and taxa distribution from the surface to 1,900 m depth were also examined in one station. The results showed that the bulk of the community was concentrated in the upper 200 m, small copepods being dominant particularly in the upper 50 m. The copepod community was more diversified in sub-superficial waters, with a maximum observed in the 200–400 m layer. The distributions of main zooplankton taxa described in epipelagic waters in the eastern Ligurian Sea in autumn were compared with their distribution at surface in the north-western Mediterranean obtained by sampling performed with the Continuous Plankton Recorder in 1997–1999. The analysis of the zooplankton community in CPR samples confirms the dominance of small copepods (Paracalanus spp., Clausocalanus spp., Oithona spp.) and appendicularians in the north-western Mediterranean in late autumn-winter and shows that their distribution is mainly related to the main mesoscale hydrographic features characterising this basin.

Nomenclature and syntaxonomic notes on some high-rank syntaxa of the European grassland vegetation

We present descriptions of a new order (Ranunculo cortusifolii-Geranietalia reuteri and of a new alliance (Stachyo lusitanicae-Cheirolophion sempervirentis) for the herbaceous fringe communities of Macaronesia and of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, respectively. A new alliance, the Polygalo mediterraneae-Bromion erecti (mesophilous post-cultural grasslands), was introduced for the Peninsular Italy. We further validate and typify the Armerietalia rumelicae (perennial grasslands supported by nutrient-poor on siliceous bedrocks at altitudes characterized by the submediterranean climate of central-southern Balkan Peninsula), the Securigero-Dasypyrion villosae (lawn and fallow-land tall-grass annual vegetation of Italy), and the Cirsio vallis-demoni-Nardion (acidophilous grasslands on siliceous substrates of the Southern Italy). Nomenclatural issues (validity, legitimacy, synonymy, formal corrections) have been discussed and clarified for the following names: Brachypodio-Brometalia, Bromo pannonici-Festucion csikhegyensis, Corynephoro-Plantaginion radicatae, Heleochloion, Hieracio-Plantaginion radicatae, Nardetea strictae, Nardetalia strictae, Nardo-Callunetea, Nardo-Galion saxatilis, Oligo-Bromion, Paspalo-Heleochloetalia, Plantagini-Corynephorion and Scorzoneret alia villosae. 

"The Black Imprint of Sandals in White Mosaic Floors": H.D.'s Mythomystical Poetics

My dissertation examines the traces of inverse (mytho)mysticism, more synchronous with mythical alchemy than transcendent mystery, in H.D.’s mature work (1946-1961). Whereas H.D.’s earliest works respond to a fin de siècle occultism and a collective psyche troubled by the eschatological distress that, as Susan Acheson writes, “was widespread amongst modernist writers grappling with …world events and with the implications of Nietzsche’s inaugural annunciation of modernity in terms of the death of God” (187), her later oeuvre is dedicated to the same work of soul undertaken by the “secret cult of Night” in Vale Ave. Here, her thematic scope faces two ways: backward to ancient Greek mystery cults and their palingenesic rites and forward to depth psychologists searching for the Soul of the World. Vale Ave plays a pronounced role in my study as symbolic guide; in its seventy-four sequences the layering of time in the “trilogy” of past, present, and future that H.D. had explored during the years of the Second World War in order to get behind the fallen walls of cause and effect collapses into two distinct phases of human origin—“meeting” (evolution) and “parting” (involution)—and the poem invites Lilith and Lucifer to be its archetypal guides. My method for the study is imaginal, entering such disciplines as history, philosophy, and theology and bringing psychological understanding to them. John Walsh’s introduction to Vale Ave notes H.D.’s theme “that the human psyche exists in a dimension outside of time and space as well as within them. In Vale Ave, H.D. presents the extremity of this dual-dimensionality: metempsychosis” (vii). However, the concept that H.D. investigates is more than a literary processus of characters who adopt different masks and appear at various junctures in a chronological unwinding of history. I explore H.D.'s works as part of a Modernist tradition of writing “books of the dead” designed not to guide the soul after death, but to draw the gaze upon “a nearer thing,” as H.D. writes in Erige Cor Tuum Ad Me In Caelum, the wisdom intrinsic in the spirit of life itself.

'Work and Emancipatory Practice: Towards a Recovery of Human Beings' Productive Capacities,'

This article argues that productive work represents a mode of human flourishing unfortunately neglected in much current political theorizing. Focusing on Habermasian critical theory, I contend that Habermas’s dualist theory of society, on account of the communicative versus instrumental reason binary which underpins it, excludes work and the economy from ethical reflection. To avoid this uncritical turn, we need a concept of work that retains a core emancipatory referent. This, I claim, is provided by Alasdair MacIntyre’s notion of ‘practice’. The notion of ‘practice’ is significant in suggesting an alternative conception of human productivity that is neither purely instrumental nor purely communicative, but rather both simultaneously, a form of activity which issues in material products and yet presumes a community of workers engaged in intersubjective self-transformation. However, we can endorse MacIntyre’s notion of ‘practice’ only if we reject his totalizing anti-modernism and insist on the emancipatory potentialities of modern institutions.

Estudio sobre la eficacia del régimen fiscal cooperativo portugués

El ordenamiento jurídico portugués consagra un régimen fiscal especial para el sector cooperativo, basado, al igual que otros ordenamientos como el español o el italiano, en la protección de la mutualidad como forma de organización empresarial especialmente benéfica en el plano social. Para alcanzar ese objetivo, el régimen fiscal cooperativo debe ser selectivo, lo que significa que al legislador se le plantea el reto de establecer criterios para separar, dentro del marco cooperativo, lo que debe ser protegido de lo que no merece protección fiscal. El legislador portugués optó por un modelo basado en dos grupos de ramos cooperativos claramente diferenciados según los beneficios fiscales aplicables, ambos con amplias exenciones fiscales. El presente trabajo no se centra en el contenido de los beneficios aplicables sino en las condiciones que las cooperativas deben reunir para acogerse a esos regímenes fiscales favorables. Estos criterios son: i) una división entre operaciones con socios y operaciones con terceros; ii) una delimitación de las operaciones o actividades cooperativas según estén o no vinculadas con el “fin propio de la cooperativa”; y iii) una estructura prevalentemente mutualista del factor trabajo. Esta fórmula legal tiene su raíz en una legislación de 1929 y se ha mantenido hasta el día de hoy debido en parte a un fenómeno de inercia legislativa. El presente trabajo, basándose en la metodología de la sociología jurídica, asienta en una encuesta dirigida a 64 cooperativas, por la que se buscaba indagar hasta qué punto estos criterios (de acuerdo con los que se seleccionan las cooperativas que pueden acogerse a los regímenes fiscales favorables) cuadran con la realidad cooperativa actual. Como era de esperar, la vetustez del régimen hizo que se encontraran desajustes muy significativos, que reclaman una reforma urgente.

Cooperativism, entrepreneurship and economic development: a linking theoretical model

Cooperatives, as a kind of firms, are considered by many scholars as an remarkable alternative for overcoming the economic crisis started in 2008. Besides, there are other scholars which pointed out the important role that these firms play in the regional economic development. Nevertheless, when one examines the economic literature on cooperatives, it is detected that this kind of firms is mainly studied starting from the point of view of their own characteristics and particularities of participation and solidarity. In this sense, following a different analysis framework, this article proposes a theoretical model in order to explain the behavior of cooperatives based on the entrepreneurship theory with the aim of increasing the knowledge about this kind of firms and, more specifically, their contribution to regional economic development.

Social economy and economic crisis in the basque country abstract

This article examines the socio-economic evolution of the social economy sector in the Basque Country during the 2008-2014 period of economic crisis. Data have been obtained within a framework of collaboration between university, Basque Government and private sector of the social economy. The results suggest that such entities have evolved better, both in terms of number of enterprises and employment, than the general economy of the Basque Country, while the context of public policies aimed at social economy has worsened over the years. However, in economic terms (measured through the Gross Value Added generated), they have not been able to cope with the crisis in equal conditions to the general economy. The main contribution of this research lies in that, unlike similar studies, it discusses the evolution of the whole sector of the social economy, taking as reference a broad period of the current economic crisis.

Uso problemático de las redes sociales en estudiantes universitarios

Los avances que están produciéndose en el ámbito académico con el surgimiento de herramientas de la Web 2.0 y el empleo masivo por parte de los estudiantes de la redes sociales para comunicarse entre ellos, está haciendo que el panorama educativo se encuentre ante unos desafíos a los que tiene que dar respuesta. La investigación que aquí se presenta tuvo como objetivo principal analizar el estado del empleo de la redes sociales por parte alumnado universitario, así como los posibles malos hábitos y usos problemáticos de las mismas. Se utilizó como instrumento de recogida de información un cuestionario “ad hoc” con un total de 23 ítems. Se concluye que el alumnado en general no posee malos hábitos en el empleo de las redes sociales, igualmente los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto que su utilización no está plenamente integrada en las instituciones universitarias de educación superior, así como que los estudiantes no las emplean/usan como herramienta fundamental para las resolución de cuestiones académicas.

The Complete Works of John Milton: Volume III: The Shorter Poems (816pp.)

Volume III of the new eleven-volume edition of Milton's Complete Works provides a definitive scholarly edition of all of Milton's shorter poems in English, Latin, Italian, and Greek, as well as his Mask, taken from both published and manuscript sources. It includes his 1645 Poems complete with all prefatory materials, thus illuminating the ways in which author, publisher, and print shop shaped this volume. It then presents all the new poems added in the 1673 edition (with the new Table of Contents), as well as the poems omitted from both editions. A careful collation of textual variants among these sources as well as the 1637 anonymous publication of Milton's Mask is provided. The Bridgewater manuscript of Milton's Mask (probably close to the acting version) and his working copy from the Trinity Manuscript, with its many alterations and additions, are transcribed in their entirety, so that the various versions may be compared and studied. 

A special feature of this edition is a new translation of Milton's many Latin and Greek poems that is both accurate and attentive to their literary qualities. This is augmented by a detailed and comprehensive commentary that highlights classical, vernacular, and neo-Latin parallels. A poetic translation of Milton's six Italian sonnets and Canzone is also supplied. In addition, the Appendices contain all the versions of Milton's shorter poems in all the contemporary manuscript and printed sources, so they may be examined in relation to their specific contexts. The transcription of all the versions of Milton's poems in the Trinity Manuscript allows in several cases, notably 'Lycidas' and 'At a Solemn Music,' for examination of the evolution of these poems as Milton weighed choiced of diction and sound qualities, enabling further understanding of his poetic practices. 

Barbara Lewalski is responsible for text, textual apparatus, and commentary pertaining to the vernacular poems in all sections of this edition including the appendices, and manuscript transcriptions (with the exception of A Maske), as well as the Occasions, Vernacular Poems,and Textual Introductions. Estelle Haan is responsible for text, textual apparatus, and commentary for the Poemata in all sections of this edition,and for the Poemata Introduction. She has also provided all translations from Latin, Italian, and Greek in the Testimonia, Poemata, and associated commentary, and transcriptions of the BL Damon, the Bodleian AdJoannem Rousium, and A Maske from the Trinity and Bridgewater manuscripts. Andrew McNeillie has provided poetic translations for Milton’s Italian sonnets, and Jason Rosenblatt has provided some Hebrew text and commentary pertaining to Milton’s Psalm translations.John Cunningham has transcribed Henry Lawes’ music for Milton’s masque, with commentary (Appendix E). Biblical references are taken from the King James (Authorized) Version.