BACKGROUND Expiratory flow limitation (EFL) during tidal breathing is common in patients with severe COPD, and a major determinant of dynamic hyperinflation and exercise limitation. EFL can be measured by the forced oscillation technique (FOT); however, the relevance to clinical parameters is not fully understood. We hypothesized that emphysema extent and pulmonary function would contribute ind...

Web 2.0 technologies are increasing in popularity, offering huge possibilities, but also bringing new challenges to language learning classes. In the context of ESL and EFL teaching and learning Web 2.0 technologies, specifically blogs and wikis can be used for teaching collaborative process writing. This study investigates previous research on the use of blogs and wikis as tools for collaborat...

Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing by Paul Nation is written for in-service and future teachers who want to learn more about encouraging their students’ development of reading and writing skills in classrooms of English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL). It has been conceived and used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses of teaching methods. It ...

This article reports on the first phase of a case study done by a Chinese post-secondary EFL reading teacher on her exploratory inquiry into the metacognitive teaching knowledge needed by EFL Reading teachers to teach summarizing strategies with expository text to EFL undergraduates. Guided by a formalized model of instructional materials development, Phase I was an exploring process, starting ...

Theme-Rheme theory is one of the important components in text linguistics, which is closely related to language teaching and learning. This paper applies the Theme-Rheme theory in EFL reading teaching for nonEnglish majors in college, and explores its influence on students’ EFL reading proficiency. The result of this study proves that the Theme-Rheme theory is an effective system and it has cer...

Translation elongation factor 1alpha (EF-1alpha, or EF-Tu in bacteria) is a highly conserved core component of the translation machinery that is shared by all cellular life. It is part of a large superfamily of GTPases that are involved in translation initiation, elongation, and termination, as well as several other cellular functions. Eukaryotic EF-1alpha (eEF-1alpha) is well studied and widel...

Expiratory flow limitation (EFL) can occur in mechanically ventilated patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other disorders. It leads to dynamic hyperinflation with ensuing deleterious consequences. Detecting EFL is thus clinically relevant. Easily applicable methods however lack this detection being routinely made in intensive care. Using a simple mathematical model, we propo...

BACKGROUND The eukaryotic elongation factor EF-1alpha (also known as EF1A) catalyzes aminoacyl-tRNA binding by the ribosome during translation. Homologs of this essential protein occur in all domains of life, and it was previously thought to be ubiquitous in eukaryotes. Recently, however, a number of eukaryotes were found to lack EF-1alpha and instead encode a related protein called EFL (for EF...

This article reviews Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory as one of the current frameworks in the study of learning and teaching processes. Arguing that learners’ interaction is vital for language learning in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms and that the teacher’s perceptions and expectations can foster or discourage this interaction, the article shows how the sociocultural model of le...

We have previously observed large phasic variations of respiratory mechanical impedance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients mechanically-ventilated for acute respiratory failure, and postulated that they were due to expiratory flow limitation (EFL). The aim of this study was to test that assumption experimentally and to assess the value of impedance for automatic and noninv...