The Yes / No Vocabulary Test (YN test) and the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) have been widely used to measure the vocabulary size of EFL learners for more than two decades now. Also, there are many studies validating these test formats. These studies showed that there are advantages and disadvantages in both formats. However, there are no standardized vocabulary tests for Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL). The aim of this thesis is to elaborate and evaluate those two wellknown test formats for PFL. Thus, this thesis describes the attempt to elaborate and assess two receptive vocabulary tests, namely, Yes / No Vocabulary Test for Portuguese and Vocabulary Levels Test for Portuguese. The former is a checklist test and the latter uses a matching format. It is argued that guessing is one of the biggest concerns of these formats. Thus, distractors are included and they have important roles in both test formats. However, while in the YN test, the distractors are imaginary words, in VLT, they are real words. Four experiments were carried out: two on YN test and two on VLT. The subjects were Spanish and English-speaking students as well as Koreans. We conclude that both tests have significant potential as vocabulary assessment tools. Nevertheless, it is necessary to make some adjustments so that they can be used by teachers to measure the vocabulary proficiency of their learners, to diagnose the vocabulary problems learners may have as well as to place them in a course according to learners' vocabulary knowledge.

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In her article, Daniela Waldburger argued for the inclusion of varieties from the Greater Swahili Area in Swahili lessons. She discussed what it means to be a Mswahili and argued that while identification as a Mswahili can be linked to various aspects, competence in Swahili remains unquestioned as a necessary condition for identification as a Mswahili. In this paper, I would like to go a step further and question the relationship between competence in the Swahili language and the relevance of the notion of Swahili nature or Swahilité to a person. More specifically, I would like to reflect on the relevance of the notion of Swahilité in a diasporic space, more precisely the Franco-Comorian community in France, drawing on data from fieldwork in Bordeaux (2010 and 2011) and Marseille (2012).

The frame for this critical interpretation of the Kiswahili popular love song “Pili Mswahili” by Moreno Batamba et L’Orchestre Moja One (1981) is the discussion on African contributions to the making of modern Africa. The argument is that “Pili Mswahili” is an instance of the mwananchi’s, common person’s, agentive contribution to the establishment of Kiswahili as a national language in Kenya. The song is read as an urging of non-Swahili Kenyans to accept Kiswahili – which, in spite of its being an important lingua franca in Kenya, was, after all, the language of one ethnic group in a multi-ethnic state where “tribalism” is a major political factor – as their national language. It is shown that “Pili Mswahili” complemented the efforts of the makers and executors of government policy that had nation formation as the ultimate objective. Nation formation is understood to be a key strategy in the African appropriation of the African nation-state that started life as a colonial invention.

Tukizingatia kona maalum mjini Zanzibar, yaani ofisini, mtaani Shangani Posta, leo hii mimi na mwenzangu Muchi tunataka kuwahadithia kuhusu kikundi cha vijana wanaoitwa mapapasi ambao wamekuwa wanafanya kazi katika sekta ya utalii tangu miaka ya Themanini, japo nafasi yao haijawahi kutambuliwa wala kurasimishwa na serikali. Badala yake, mara nyingi vijana hao wamekuwa wanaudhiwa, kupuuzwa na kuadhibiwa kwa vile wanapwaya kwenye dira ya kiserikali ya kuigeuza Zanzibar kuwa mahali pa kutalii (kwa maana ya touristic destination) pakiingizwa kwenye mikondo mikali ya kiliberali mamboleo. Muchi na mimi tunajadiliana na kusimulia (hi)stori(a) yenye pande zaidi ya mbili. Tutawafafanulia kazi ya upapasi kama ilivyokuwa zamani na sasa hivi. Pia, tutatafakari juu ya nafasi ya upapasi (na uwenyeji) mjini Zanzibar, tukichambua maana, athari na uwezo wake. Hivyo, tutazingatia nafasi kama kielelezo cha au methodolojia ya kuchambua maneno ya Kiswahili kama vile yalivyo, lile linaloliwezesha, pamoja na maana yao. Umbo lenyewe la mazungumzo linasisitiza kuwa fikra zinazotokea kwenye mahusiano yanazaliwa konani, pale ambapo hakuna anayetiliwa (na kinachotiliwa) maanani kabla hajapewa (na hakijapewa) nafasi huko huko, nafasi ambayo hatimaye ndiyo ya Muchi na yangu pia. / By exploring the microcosmos of a junction (kona) in the neighbourhood of Shangani Posta, in the city of Zanzibar, today Muchi and I will tell you the (hi)story of a unique segment of Zanzibari male urban youth, known as mapapasi, working in tourism since the 80s. While been neglected and denied an official, formal and legal recognition by the government, they have been continuously harassed, intimidated and shamed because perceived as not belonging, not fitting the governmental project of turning Zanzibar into a touristic destination. The following conversation aims at disclosing the complexity hidden behind the mainstream one-sided picture of them. Looking at the past and contemporary practices of upapasi, Muchi and I reflect on the nafasi of upapasi in urban Zanzibar and matter-forth upapasi (and uwenyeji as an instance of spatial il/legalization), their meaning and their doing. In this way, we are attentive to the wor(l)d nafasi, as analytical lens to get a sense – kusikia, kuona, kuwa na – urban Zanzibar. The very form of conversation is meant to think thoughts as they are co-constituted by and within the relationalites of the kona, whereas no-body is predetermined, rather every-body is co-constituted in the very situatedness in which also Muchi and I (be)come-with.

El presente trabajo comprende un análisis del concepto de retórica en el diálogo Gorgias de Platón. Nuestra hipótesis sostiene, en primer lugar, que, a través del análisis del escrito, se puede elaborar la definición de una nueva y noble retórica como arte de servicio cuyo fundamento es filosófico. En un segundo momento, consideramos que esta, en términos dramáticos, es aplicada en algunos momentos del diálogo por el personaje Sócrates, quien brinda los elementos para definirla. Nuestro trabajo se divide en tres capítulos. El primer capítulo aborda los elementos concomitantes al surgimiento histórico de la retórica hasta llegar al estudio del planteamiento de Gorgias, el cual comprende una tensión entre dóxa y epistēmē. El segundo capítulo aborda el diálogo Gorgias a través del análisis de las tres conversaciones en que este se divide. Cada una nos brinda un marco de oposiciones que nos permiten profundizar en las dos posturas que implican los términos de la tensión señalada hasta, finalmente, encarnarse y delimitarse de manera antitética en los dos personajes que discuten al final del diálogo. El tercer capítulo, sobre la base obtenida y mediante la apelación a algunos pasajes del diálogo, alcanza tres objetivos: 1) determina la buena retórica de Sócrates como arte de servicio cuyo fin es bueno y se fundamenta filosóficamente, 2) demuestra que esta es llevada a la praxis por Sócrates en algunos momentos del diálogo y 3) concluye precisando esta actividad según una finalidad propedéutica. En virtud de este análisis, demostramos la hipótesis que planteamos. / Tesis

Also issued as a Sc.D. thesis in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, 1968. / Bibliography: p. 109.

Methylation of CpG islands located at the promoter regions is a mechanism which controls gene silencing and expression. Hyper or hypo methylation of these sites on promoter sequences have been associated with many diseases, like cancer. Even though promoter CpG islands and their methylation profiles are important regulators of gene expression, the exact mechanism of gene silencing through methylation is not known. Here, we have investigated the status of promoter CpG methylation under various evolutionary pressures by calculating the differences in promoter CpG content and methylation profiles at different pass points. In order to determine the list of genes under each category we have analyzed and compared the orthologs among 58 genomes available through ENSEMBL. The total number of CpG dinucleotides at the promoter regions of all groups of genes have been calculated and compared. Additionally, we have compared the experimentally determined methylation profiles of these CpG&#039 / s between human blood cells and fibroblast cells. While the promoter CpG content changed through common to newer genes, the number of the CpG units methylated found to be consistent. Here, we present the functional level analysis of common gene lists at different pass points and report the differences of the promoter CpG content and the methylation profiles among these groups with distinct evolutionary conservation status. We have also observed the conservation status of individual methylated CpG units on the low and high methylated genes. Our analysis revealed that the surrounding methylation content had a positive effect on the conservation of individual CpG&rsquo / s.

In this study, self-catalytic maturation of heterologously expressed pro-galactose oxidase was analysed in E.coli by altering some amino acids which were supposed to play a crucial role in pro-peptide removal. Galactose oxidase (GOase / EC 1.1.3.9) from Fusarium graminearum / having a molecular mass of 68kDa, is a monomeric, copper containing enzyme with an unusual thioether bond. The enzyme is produced as a precursor with an additional 8 amino acid pre- and a 17- amino acid pro-sequence at the N terminus. Previous work has shown that the pre-peptide is removed possibly by a protease during secretion, whereas the 17 amino acid pro-peptide is removed autocatalytically by the aerobic addition of Cu2+ to the precursor, preceding the formation of the thioether bond at the active site. The pro-gao gene was on ProGON1 and ProGOMN1 constructs which were previously established on pET101/D/lacZ vector in England by directed evolution. ProGON1 contains silent mutations at the N-terminus different from native galactose oxidase whereas ProGOMN1 has six further mutations within the mature enzyme, providing high expression. The cleavage site mutations R-1P/A1P, R-1X/A1X, S2A, and the H522A mutation just against the cleavage site in the three dimensional configuration, were carried out by site-directed mutagenesis. Those and some extra mutations were confirmed by DNA sequence analysis. Next, mutant galactose oxidases were expressed in E. coli BL21 Star (DE3), and were purified by Strep-Tactin&reg / Sepharose&reg / column, operating on the basis of affinity chromatography. Subsequently, SDS-PAGE was performed to analyze self-processing by detecting molecular mass difference of protein bands resulting from pro-sequence removal or existence. When the bands obtained in SDS-PAGE were compared, it was seen that the products of original recombinant plasmids, i.e. ProGON1, ProGOMN1 / and the mutational variants showed no difference in band size, all slightly above 70kDa / indicating pro-sequence presence on all constructs. Non-mutants and some of the mutants showed galactose oxidase activity, signifying proper active site construction by thioether bond formation. ProGOMN1 was submitted for N-terminal amino acid sequencing to be able to assert that a size above 70kDa is not solely due to the existence of a 1 kDa Strep-tag II at C-terminus. Sequencing data affirmed the presence of both the pre-peptide and the pro-preptide showing that processing has not occurred at the N-terminus. Accordingly, in this study, it was shown for the first time that the existence of a pre-pro-peptide at the N-terminus of galactose oxidase does not prevent thioether bond formation at the active site. Furthermore, since the pro-peptide is cleaved autocatalytically, the lack of removal of the pre-peptide in E.coli in the presence of Cu 2+ and oxygen is very likely to be the cause of lack of pro-peptide cleavage. In future studies the region corresponding to the pre-peptide will be deleted to prove this hypothesis.

El presente trabajo comprende un análisis del concepto de retórica en el diálogo Gorgias de Platón. Nuestra hipótesis sostiene, en primer lugar, que, a través del análisis del escrito, se puede elaborar la definición de una nueva y noble retórica como arte de servicio cuyo fundamento es filosófico. En un segundo momento, consideramos que esta, en términos dramáticos, es aplicada en algunos momentos del diálogo por el personaje Sócrates, quien brinda los elementos para definirla. Nuestro trabajo se divide en tres capítulos. El primer capítulo aborda los elementos concomitantes al surgimiento histórico de la retórica hasta llegar al estudio del planteamiento de Gorgias, el cual comprende una tensión entre dóxa y epistēmē. El segundo capítulo aborda el diálogo Gorgias a través del análisis de las tres conversaciones en que este se divide. Cada una nos brinda un marco de oposiciones que nos permiten profundizar en las dos posturas que implican los términos de la tensión señalada hasta, finalmente, encarnarse y delimitarse de manera antitética en los dos personajes que discuten al final del diálogo. El tercer capítulo, sobre la base obtenida y mediante la apelación a algunos pasajes del diálogo, alcanza tres objetivos: 1) determina la buena retórica de Sócrates como arte de servicio cuyo fin es bueno y se fundamenta filosóficamente, 2) demuestra que esta es llevada a la praxis por Sócrates en algunos momentos del diálogo y 3) concluye precisando esta actividad según una finalidad propedéutica. En virtud de este análisis, demostramos la hipótesis que planteamos.