This book brings together cutting-edge research on multimodal texts and the "discourses" generated through the interaction of two or more modes of communication, for example pictures of language, ...typography and layout, body movement and camera movement. The contributors collected within this volume use systemic functional linguistics to analyze how meaning is generated within a series of case studies. The result is a comprehensive survey of the ways in which enhanced meaning emerges through the interaction of more than one mode of communication. Multimodal Discourse Analysis will be useful to researchers interested in the application of systemic functional linguistics to media studies, discourse analysis and cognitive linguistics.
•Visual thinking (VT) has potential for dealing with recurring problems in CLIL instruction.•Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis facilitates identification of VT features.•Implications ...relevant for the design of printed and e-learning teaching materials.
Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a dual-focused pedagogical approach in which a foreign language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language. CLIL specialists have recommended different types of scaffolding techniques, mainly in relation to language use. However, there is increasing interest in multimodal scaffolding techniques involving language in combination with visual resources. Within this context, visual thinking methodology is considered here as a potentially valuable tool for mediating CLIL. Using a Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) approach, this study aims to identify several features of visual thinking that could help scaffold CLIL in the science classroom. Some strategies are proposed, both to promote acquisition of scientific language and to facilitate the development of content knowledge. The approach is explored in relation to students’ understanding and communication of complex scientific knowledge in a foreign language in upper secondary education.
Fructose intake has increased globally and is linked to hypertension. Melatonin was reported to prevent hypertension development. In this study, we examined whether maternal high fructose (HF) intake ...causes programmed hypertension and whether melatonin therapy confers protection against the process, with a focus on the link to epigenetic changes in the kidney using next‐generation RNA sequencing (NGS) technology. Pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats received regular chow or chow supplemented with HF (60% diet by weight) alone or with additional 0.01% melatonin in drinking water during the whole period of pregnancy and lactation. Male offspring were assigned to four groups: control, HF, control + melatonin (M), and HF + M. Maternal HF caused increases in blood pressure (BP) in the 12‐wk‐old offspring. Melatonin therapy blunted the HF‐induced programmed hypertension and increased nitric oxide (NO) level in the kidney. The identified differential expressed gene (DEGs) that are related to regulation of BP included Ephx2, Col1a2, Gucy1a3, Npr3, Aqp2, Hba‐a2, and Ptgs1. Of which, melatonin therapy inhibited expression and activity of soluble epoxide hydrolase (SEH, Ephx2 gene encoding protein). In addition, we found genes in arachidonic acid metabolism were potentially involved in the HF‐induced programmed hypertension and were affected by melatonin therapy. Together, our data suggest that the beneficial effects of melatonin are attributed to its ability to increase NO level in the kidney, epigenetic regulation of genes related to BP control, and inhibition of SEH expression. The roles of DEGs by the NGS in long‐term epigenetic changes in the adult offspring kidney require further clarification.
A temperature-based snow module has been coupled with a grid-based distributed hydrological model, to improve simulations of river flows in upland areas of Britain subject to snowfall and snowmelt. ...The coupled model has been driven with data from an 11-member perturbed-parameter climate model ensemble, for two time-slices (1960–1990 and 2069–2099), to investigate the potential impacts of climate change. The analysis indicates large reductions in the ensemble mean of the number of lying snow days across the country. This in turn affects the seasonality of peak river flows in some parts of the country; for northerly regions, annual maxima tend to occur earlier in the water year in future. For more southerly regions the changes are less straightforward, and likely driven by changes in rainfall patterns rather than snow. The modelled percentage changes in peak flows illustrate high spatial variability in hydrological response to projected climate change, and large differences between ensemble members. When changes in projected future peak flows are compared to an estimate of current natural variability, more changes fall outside the range of natural variability in southern Britain than in the north.
This article demonstrates how a digital environment offers new opportunities for transforming qualitative data into quantitative data in order to use data mining and information visualization for ...mixed methods research. The digital approach to mixed methods research is illustrated by a framework which combines qualitative methods of multimodal discourse analysis with quantitative methods of data mining and information visualization in a multilevel, contextual model that will result in an integrated, theoretically well-founded, and empirically evaluated technology for analyzing large data sets of multimodal texts. The framework is applicable to situations in which critical information needs to be extracted from geotagged public data: for example, in crisis informatics, where public reports of extreme events provide valuable data sources for disaster management.
We sought to understand: families' experience of an overnight pediatric oncology camp open to children with cancer and their siblings aged seven to seventeen (Camp Delight); the considerations that ...factor into families’ decision to attend camp for the first time; and what motivates them to reattend.
Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with families who attended Camp Delight during or before August 2020. Thematic analysis was performed using a framework developed by four coders and MaxQDA software.
Six overarching themes were compiled: precipitating experiences, barriers to attending camp, facilitating factors, benefits of camp, pro-return factors, and activities to improve transitioning to camp and reduce uncertainty.
Child and parent hesitancy, travel cost, and distance to camp represent barriers to attendance. Organizers may mitigate these barriers by partnering with trusted health professionals, communicating safeness and benefits of camps, including siblings, implementing strategies for reducing uncertainty, and increasing accessibility.
•Families are often hesitant about attending a week-long camp.•Assurances from health care providers and other trusted sources can alleviate concerns.•Oncology camps provide timely support, socializing, and other benefits to children and their families.•When possible, oncology camps should include siblings of children living with cancer.
Diets rich in berries provide health benefits, however, the contribution of berry phytochemicals to the human metabolome is largely unknown. The present study aimed to establish the impact of berry ...phytochemicals on the human metabolome. A "systematic review strategy" was utilized to characterize the phytochemical composition of the berries most commonly consumed in the USA; (poly)phenols, primarily anthocyanins, comprised the majority of reported plant secondary metabolites. A reference standard library and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) quantitative metabolomics methodology were developed and applied to serum/plasma samples from a blueberry and a strawberry intervention, revealing a diversity of benzoic, cinnamic, phenylacetic, 3-(phenyl)propanoic and hippuric acids, and benzyldehydes. 3-Phenylpropanoic, 2-hydroxybenzoic, and hippuric acid were highly abundant (mean > 1 µM). Few metabolites at concentrations above 100 nM changed significantly in either intervention. Significant intervention effects (
< 0.05) were observed for plasma/serum 2-hydroxybenzoic acid and hippuric acid in the blueberry intervention, and for 3-methoxyphenylacetic acid and 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid in the strawberry intervention. However, significant within-group effects for change from baseline were prevalent, suggesting that high inter-individual variability precluded significant treatment effects. Berry consumption in general appears to cause a fluctuation in the pools of small molecule metabolites already present at baseline, rather than the appearance of unique berry-derived metabolites, which likely reflects the ubiquitous nature of (poly)phenols in the background diet.
Dietary exposure to deoxynivalenol (DON) from contaminated cereal crops is frequent in Europe, and farm workers who handle grain or silage may be at additional risk. In this study we refined a ...urinary assay for DON and present a novel assay for the DON metabolite de-epoxy-deoxynivalenol (DOM-1). These were applied to a pilot survey of male French farmers (n = 76, aged 23−74). DON was detected in 75/76 samples (range 0.5−28.8 ng/mL) and DOM-1 in 26/76 samples (range 0.2−2.8 ng/mL). In multivariate analysis including creatinine as a covariate, bread consumption, other cereal consumption, and maize acreage contributed to the model, explaining the variation in urinary “DON and DOM-1” concentration combined (R 2 = 0.33). This is the first exposure biomarker survey for DON in a French population, and the first demonstration of urinary DOM-1 in humans. Further investigations into occupational activity, handling, or airborne exposures would be informative.
Pleiotropy between male signals and female preferences can facilitate evolution of sexual communication by maintaining coordination between the sexes. Alternatively, it can favor variation in the ...mating system, such as a reproductive polymorphism. It is unknown how common either of these scenarios is in nature. In Pacific field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) on Kauai, Hawaii, a mutation (flatwing) that segregates as a single locus is responsible for the rapid loss of song production in males. We used outbred cricket colonies fixed for male wing morph to investigate whether homozygous flatwing and normal-wing (wild-type) females differ in responsiveness to male calling song and propensity to mate when paired with either a flatwing or normal-wing male in the presence or absence of courtship song. Flatwing females were less likely to mount a male than normal-wing females. Females of both genotypes showed a preference for normal-wing males and were more likely to mate in the presence of courtship song; normal-wing females were particularly likely to mate with song. Our results show that negative pleiotropy between obligate male silence and female mating behavior can constrain the evolution of sexual signal loss and contribute to the maintenance of a male reproductive polymorphism in the wild.
OBJECTIVEThe aim of the study was to evaluate, in children undergoing procedural sedation for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, whether lower doses of propofol than previously published ...permitted a high rate of successful MRI completion, whether lower dosages result in a more rapid recovery, and whether age or behavioral diagnosis increases propofol requirements.
METHODSAfter institutional review board approval, we retrospectively reviewed the pediatric sedation teamʼs sedation database of children receiving propofol infusion for MRI scans between 2007 and 2016. Data collected included propofol induction dose (in milligrams per kilogram), propofol infusion dose (in micrograms per kilogram per hour), total propofol dose (in milligrams per kilogram and in milligrams per kilogram per hour), and the number of administered ancillary sedative medications. Additional data included the American Society of Anesthesiologist status, sedation duration, recovery duration, and successful completion of MRI. Dosing data were also stratified by age.
RESULTSA total of 2354 patients met inclusion criteria. Eight percent of patients received propofol infusion alone, 79% received midazolam before their propofol induction, and 13% received a combination of propofol and other drugs. Mean induction dose was 2.2 + 0.9 mg/kg, mean infusion dose was 93.5 + 29.0 μg/kg per minute, and total mean dose was 9.0 + 3.0 mg/kg per hour. Mean recovery time was 44 minutes, and 99.3% of the scans were completed with good images. We noted an increase requirement in the mean induction dose and total dose in children younger than 1 year.
CONCLUSIONSPropofol infusion doses lower than commonly reported permit successful completion of scans and similar recovery times in a single institution. Younger children require more propofol for successful procedural sedation.
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