Search

Caprine livestock are significant reservoirs of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), contributing to tuberculosis (TB) transmission among animals and humans. The P22 protein immunocomplex (P22PI), derived from bovine tuberculin, shows immunostimulating capacity and is used for TB diagnosis. This study assessed the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of P22PI in two groups of goats: 24 naïve goats (12 immunised, 12 controls) from a TB-free herd, and 24 infected goats (12 immunised, 12 controls), referred to as pre-infected animals, from a M. bovis-infected herd. Both were exposed for 5 months to M. bovis-naturally infected goats. Reactors to single and comparative intradermal tuberculin (SIT and SCIT, respectively) tests and interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) significantly increased (p

Until recently, the role of material culture in language has been little studied or seen as the context where language use is situated (Aronin et al., 2018). This article looks at the materiality of language in a new light by arguing that everyday objects such as kitchen utensils and wardrobes can be seen as deliberate and conscious collections that are entangled with speakers' multilingual repertoires, subjectivities and embodied agencies. Clothes stored away in one's wardrobe, or ordinary kitchen utensils reveal themselves as the site where multilinguals' complex biographies and 'jigsaw repertoires' (Blommaert & Backus, 2013) can be traced and made sense of. Such a view of language sees the construction of subjectivities as both situated and relational. Situated because subjectivities are firmly anchored in embodied chronotopic continuums (Busch, 2017), relational because they align to a post-human approach to subjectivity (Pennycook, 2018) that conceives it as the confederation of different types of human and post-human agencies. Drawing on a study of 6 personal collections of ordinary objects, this paper investigates to what extent personal collections can be read as a 'laboratory' for multilingual practices, where multilingual agencies are played out in relation to time-space coordinates and the materiality of the self.

Language learners' increased mobility and the ubiquity of virtual intercultural encounters has challenged traditional ideas of "cultures". Moreover, representations of cultures as consumable life-choices has meant that learners are no longer locked into standard and static cultural identities. Language learners are better defined as cosmopolitan individuals with subjective and complex socio-political and historical identities. Such models push the boundaries of current concepts in language pedagogy to new understandings of who the language learner is and a refashioning of the cultural maps they inhabit. This article presents a model for cultural understanding that draws on the theoretical framework of Beck's Cosmopolitan Vision and its related concepts of "Banal Cosmopolitanism" and "Cosmopolitan Empathy". Narrative accounts are used to illustrate the experience of a group of students of Arabic and Serbian/Croatian and their use of the cultural resources at their disposal to construct their own subjective cosmopolitan life-worlds. Through the analysis of learners' everyday cultural practices inside and outside the educational environment, the scope of the intercultural experience is revisited and a new paradigm for the language learner is presented. The Cosmopolitan Speaker (CS) described in this article is a subject who adopts a "flâneur"-like disposition to reflect on and scrutinise the target culture. Armed with this highly personal interpretation of reality, CSs will be able to take part in their own cultural trajectories and imagine and "figure" their own cartography of the world.

There is a growing recognition that learning is increasingly taking place on the move and located beyond educational environments, "in the gaps of daily life" (Sharples et al., 2007). And yet, language learners have mostly been perceived as being fixed in particular contexts, whether in the educational environment, abroad, or in their homes and communities. As several authors have pointed out (Castells et al., 2007; Okabe & Ito, 2006; Sharples et al., 2007), mobile devices allow learners to capitalize on the multiple sites that they travel through, whether they be public or private spaces, formal or informal ones, and reflect on their social practices and their learner selves. This paper investigates whether such a context-sensitive and social-oriented approach to Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) can be applied to the language learning context and how it is manifested. In order to carry out this investigation, we will be drawing on literature on the development of identity in second language learning (Norton, 2000; Kramsch, 2006; Phipps, 2007) and the use of ethnographic approaches to data collection and interpretation. We will be reporting on two case studies, involving learners of Icelandic and Serbian/Croatian, conducted over two years at a UK university. The paper concludes that the use of mobile technology enables language learners to use these devices as "a prosthesis of the self" (Kress & Pachler, 2007) which allows them to explore the perception of their L2 selves in a variety of day-to-day scenarios.

This paper reviews research on learner and tutor interaction in asynchronous computer-mediated (ACM) conferences used in distance learning. The authors note claims made for the potential of ACM conferences to promote higher-order critical inquiry and the social construction of knowledge, and argue that there is a general lack of evidence regarding the actual achievement of these aims in such conferences. We present and discuss the relevant research literature currently available on the effects of social presence, the tutor's teaching and moderating strategies, and task type. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research in each of these areas. (Contains 4 tables.)

In this article we contrast two distance foreign language programs developed at two European institutions of higher education (the Modern Languages Program at the Open University, UK; and the English Program at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain) as instances of two pedagogical models used to address the many challenges posed by teaching languages at a distance. A detailed analysis of both approaches reveals that the pedagogical choices made by both universities are in great measure determined by the historical and cultural contexts in which both institutions are embedded. In addition, we discuss the similarities and differences between the two and draw several conclusions regarding the appropriateness of the two distance universities' general educational, administrative, and technological models for distance language learning. (Contains 4 figures, 3 tables and 2 notes.)

This paper investigates language learners' negotiation of their social selves in the target language community of practice from a narrative perspective. In order to do this, I draw from post-structuralist and sociocultural approaches to language learning and L2 identity (e.g. Belz, 2002; Kinginger, 2004; Norton, 1997, 2000; Pavlenko, 2002, 2003) which assume that learners do not communicate in a social vacuum but acquire new roles, positions and vantage points from which they negotiate their L2 selves. More specifically, I argue the need for investigating language learners' negotiations of legitimacy and agency in the L2 (Kramsch, 2003; Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2000) within a narrative perspective. As language learning and use occur socially, language learners need to be studied as negotiators in the relations of power that are established when entering into contact with the L2. Acquiring "audibility" (Miller, 2004), the "right to speech" (Bourdieu, 1977) and acquiring new positions in the L2 (Davies & Harre, 1990; Kramsch, 2003) are some of the issues that the L2 user faces when interacting in the target community of practice. The methodological framework put forward is exemplified through the study of several language learners' anecdotes extracted from a corpus of 20 learner interviews. (Contains 1 table.)

In distance learning provision in languages, fault correction and feedback can facilitate teacher?student dialogue. This article examines teachers' beliefs and assumptions about faults and the attitudes of both teachers and learners towards the correction process, all of which can play a key role in fostering this dialogue. Our findings are based on two surveys, one of 215 students enrolled on an intermediate Open University Spanish course and one of a sample of 18 tutors who teach on this course. The results of the two questionnaires suggest that the strategies currently in use for identifying and correcting faults may not be explicit enough. We conclude that this problem may be addressed if both tutors and students are given the tools to make the process more transparent and are encouraged to see dialogue as an essential component in the feedback mechanism.

This paper discusses a framework for designing online tasks that capitalizes on the possibilities that the Internet and the Web offer for language learning. To present such a framework, we draw from constructivist theories (Brooks and Brooks, 1993) and their application to educational technology (Newby, Stepich, Lehman and Russell, 1996; Jonassen, Mayes and McAleese, 1993); second language learning and learning autonomy (Benson and Voller, 1997); and distance education (Race, 1989; White, 1999). On the one hand our model balances the requirements of the need for control and learning autonomy by the independent language learner; and on the other, the possibilities that online task-based learning offer for new reading processes by taking into account new literacy models (Schetzer and Warschauer, 2000), and the effect that the new media have on students' knowledge construction and understanding of texts. We explain how this model works in the design of reading tasks within the specific distance learning context of the Open University, UK. Trayectorias is a tool that consists of an open problem-solving Web-quest and provides students with "scaffolding" that guides their navigation around the Web whilst modelling learning approaches and new learning paradigms triggered by the medium. We then discuss a small-scale trial with a cohort of students (n = 23). This trial had a double purpose: (a) to evaluate to what extent the writing task fulfilled the investigators' intentions; and (b) to obtain some information about the students' perceptions of the task.

This paper analyses how cultural understanding of the target culture can be addressed at beginners' level. To do this, I will discuss how some theoretical and pedagogical principles from Intercultural Learning, Cultural Studies and Second Language Acquisition throw light on the teaching of culture at the outset of foreign language learning. While it is widely recognised that culture and language occur in tandem, there is a dearth of examples of how reflection about the target culture can be introduced in the adult beginners' language learning context. In this paper I will argue that the notion of culture as a negotiable entity can be introduced at the outset of language learning. The role of cultural identity and subjectivity in texts are the two key concepts on which this argument will be built. I will then describe how these ideas can be transferred to three different aspects of language teaching methodology: the need to portray heterogeneous national cultures and other markers of cultural identity, objectivity vs. subjectivity in texts, and the creation of fictional personal testimonies to experience the target culture. In order to illustrate these points, examples from two beginners' Spanish course books will be provided. (Contains 4 figures.)

Copyright of Language & Intercultural Communication is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

El segle XX apareix filosòficament com un segle de gran dispersió i multiplicitat. Tanmatix, aquesta es pot reduir dràsticament: irracionalisme, sociologia i filosofia social, lògica i metodologia. Preocupació per l'existència i la vida dels homes, vinguda de la desconfiança en la racionalitat, la qual, però (no en podem prescindir), ha buscat refugi en la ciència i la tècnica. És la filosofia de la ciència. Abordada tradicionalment com a anàlisi lògica de les teries científiques, únic saber rigorós, s'ha vist ella també abocada a un atzucac: al segle XX la mateixa ciència ha esdevingut problemàtica (relativitat, física quantica; o Kuhn, Feyerabend). Es pot reduir la ciència a mera tècnica? Oblidar l'intent per esbrinar què ens diuen les seves equacions sobre el món i quedar-nos amb la seva aplicació? Apostar per un pensament «feble»? La mateixa ciència, i els mateixos científics (Hawking) semblen demanar al filòsof quelcom més. Sens dubte cal que el filòsof vagi més enllà de la mera lògia i, en diàleg amb la ciència, sense dogmatismes i sense complexos, fer de la filosofia de la ciència una nova filosofia de la naturalesa. Cal, de totes totes, decidir-se a tornar a fer filosofia.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and survival of ustekinumab (UST) among patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) treated under routine clinical care. Methods: Multicenter study. Epidemiological and clinical data was collected through electronic medical records of all patients with PsA who started UST in 15 hospitals of Spain. Results: Two hundred and one patients were included, 130 (64.7%) with 45 mg and 71 (35.3%) with 90 mg. One hundred and thirty one patients (65.2%) had previously received another biological therapy. The median baseline DAS 28 ESR was 3.99, and Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) was 3. Overall, there was a significant decrease in DAS66/68 CRP, swollen joint count (SJC), tender joint count (TJC), and PASI in the first month of treatment, with earlier improvement in skin (PASI) than joints outcomes. Survival was numerically lower in patients with UST 45 mg (58.1%) than 90 mg (76.1%), although significant differences were not found (p = 0.147). When comparing naïve and < 1 TNF blocker versus > 2 TNF blocker-experienced patients, a significantly earlier response was seen in the former group regarding SJC (p = 0.029) at 1 month. Fifty-one patients (25.3%) stopped UST due to joint inefficacy and 4 patients due to adverse events (1.9%). Drug survival was significantly better in patients with fewer lines of previous biological agents (p = 0.003 for < 1 TNF blocker versus > 2 TNF blocker users). Conclusions: UST was effective in PsA patients in a routine clinical care setting. Patients with UST 90 mg and fewer lines of previous biologics achieved better and faster responses. Key Points • Largest cohort of patients with PsA in treatment with UST with specific rheumatological indication. • First cohort of patients with PsA comparing effectiveness of UST according to 45/90 mg dose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will build on Bhabha's (1992, 1994) conceptualization of Third Space and the 'unhomely' by turning to the power of the tangible, material and ordinary aspects of the intercultural encounter. In order to do this it focuses on the 'crisis points' that languagers encounter in their biographies and puts forward a frame of analysis based on the concepts of 'Chronotope' and 'Mudes' that places languagers' spatio-temporal coordinates in synchronicity with their life itineraries. I will conclude that such interpretation of languagers' third spaces help us seeing their identities as processes of becoming that challenge homogeneous, static and abstract versions of the intercultural encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the role of language learning and acquisition in the integration of migrants into their European host societies. Topics discussed include a review of available literature on this topic, the impact of transnationalism on language learning and acquisition, and European government policies regarding integration.

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including language learning, language pedagogy, and intercultural communication.

This paper uses narrative accounts to explore intercultural experiences and the perception of the self by second language (L2) users. The analysis follows poststructuralist and postmodern theories of cultural and language identity. Extracts from the autobiographies of three chicano writers from the 1980s to the new millennium, Richard Rodriguez's Hunger of Memory, Ilán Stavans' On Borrowed Words and Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands: La Frontera, will be used to illustrate the socialisation processes that take place when acquiring a second or third language and the creation of bilingual identities. The narrative analysis of the testimonial accounts will on the one hand be based on Bourdieu's theory of language (1991), which highlights the unequal relationships of power between different speakers, and on the other, on the premise that identities are multiple and subject to change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how cultural understanding of the target culture can be addressed at beginners' level. To do this, I will discuss how some theoretical and pedagogical principles from Intercultural Learning, Cultural Studies and Second Language Acquisition throw light on the teaching of culture at the outset of foreign language learning. While it is widely recognised that culture and language occur in tandem, there is a dearth of examples of how reflection about the target culture can be introduced in the adult beginners' language learning context. In this paper I will argue that the notion of culture as a negotiable entity can be introduced at the outset of language learning. The role of cultural identity and subjectivity in texts are the two key concepts on which this argument will be built. I will then describe how these ideas can be transferred to three different aspects of language teaching methodology: the need to portray heterogeneous national cultures and other markers of cultural identity, objectivity vs. subjectivity in texts, and the creation of fictional personal testimonies to experience the target culture. In order to illustrate these points, examples from two beginners' Spanish course books will be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]