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The Taker (Paperback)
Book One of the Taker Trilogy
By Alma Katsu
Gallery Books, 9781439197066, 464pp.
Paperback (10/1/2011)
From the author of The Hunger—hailed by Stephen King as "deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down"—comes a hauntingly atmospheric tale replete with alchemy, lust, and betrayal.
True love can last an eternity...but immortality comes at a price...
On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her...despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. And as she begins to tell her story, a story of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke finds himself utterly captivated.
Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town's founder, Lanny will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley.
Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is an unforgettable tale about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, and how each of us is responsible for finding our own path to redemption.
Alma Katsu was born in Alaska and raised near Concord, Massachusetts. She has a BA in writing from Brandeis University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Program. She is the author of the Taker trilogy (The Taker, The Reckoning, and The Descent) and The Hunger. She lives with her husband in Virginia. Visit her on Twitter @AlmaKatsu.
Praise For The Taker: Book One of the Taker Trilogy…
"A haunting tale of passion, obsession, and immortal longing. The Taker is unlike any other novel I have read: a gothic historical with a searing modern twist that will captivate your imagination and keep you reading long into the night." —C.W. Gortner, author of THE TUDOR SECRET
"Absolutely one of the best books [I] read in 2011." —Just Another Story
"The Taker by Alma Katsu has literally left me speechless! [Katsu] mix[es] just the right amount of history, magic, and suspense…The only way to fully understand the magic of The Taker is to go and pick up a copy for yourself!" —Browsing Bookshelves
Looking for a good read? Get ready to hear about a time-transcending page turner. Two years ago,having just finished The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice and The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer, I was still hungry for more of the supernatural. My only hesitation was that I wanted something a little more plausible than blood-sucking vampires. As fate would have it, I stumbled upon The Taker by Alma Katsu. Dutifully, I checked reviews before purchasing the book. How I hadn't heard of it prior to then is beyond me, as the book was insanely well-received and only growing in popularity. I took the novel home and was blown away by the captivating story of an impressionable young woman, the "Adonis" who she falls in love with and the "monster" who falls in love with her. Lanore, Jonathan and Adair had me spellbound like no other characters have. The Taker satiated my need for the supernatural, but was unique in it's portrayal of everlasting love and unrelenting obsession, both of which know no boundaries for these characters. The second installment, The Reckoning, was equally fascinating—the never-ending love chase propelling the jump between several different time periods and beautiful locations all over the world. Finally, the end of this twisted tale will come to an end with Katsu's final installment, The Descent.
— Jennifer Castro, Cliche Magazine


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echo $WAS_USER_NAME $WAS_PROFILE_ROOT $dmgrhost
echo "--------------------Add host aliases ----------------------------------"
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Conflict & Resilience Monitor
Contribute to the Monitor
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African Journal on Conflict Resolution
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Conflict Trends 2018/3
Looking Beyond 2023
What Next after Zimbabwe's Parliamentary Quota System?
Darlington Tshuma
Parliament, Zimbabwe
Offering insights into Zimbabwe's political processes, with particular attention to processes involved in the quota system.
In 2013, Zimbabweans overwhelmingly endorsed the adoption of a new constitution through a referendum held in March 2013. The constitution was hailed by many as constituting a break from the past; thus the document represented an "aspirational nation". The "YES Vote" campaign drew support from across the political divide. An overwhelming 94.4 % of the electorate voted in support of the new constitution while the "No Vote" campaign fronted by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) garnered less than 5% of the national vote.1 One possible explanation for the overwhelming endorsement is that the proposed constitution touched on bi-partisan issues that the electorate saw as important in moving the country forward and breaking with the past. For example, it guaranteed freedom of speech and association, introduced presidential term limits and also proposed mechanisms to increase and enhance the visibility of women in national politics.
A closer analysis of the exercise, however, reveals that constitution making was in fact cumbersome. Political party representatives involved in the processes tried hard to outsmart each other in an attempt to sway the process to either camp's advantage. So arduous was the process that the constitution making exercise had to be briefly aborted as the main political actors, namely, Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations reached a political stalemate. Once the challenging issues had been resolved, the process continued and a new constitution was finally birthed and adopted in May 2013.
Prior to all this, in the year 2000, a ZANU PF driven referendum had been overwhelmingly rejected by the electorate as it sought to entrench ZANU PF misrule and curtail people's freedoms. However, there were some positives which the referendum in 2000 included but which also did not survive. Among other things, for example, it sought to deal with the issue of "women's rights". With the referendum rejected, women's rights issues were also shelved and only resurfaced again in 2009 as the Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) spearheaded the constitution making process. And women's rights was one of the fundamental issues agreed to under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) negotiations signed between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations.
This article offers insight into Zimbabwe's political processes with particular attention to processes involved in the quota system. Quotas are methods used in politics as a means of addressing women's macro and micro level needs in society. They have been implemented with varying degrees of success in South Africa, Liberia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burundi and Rwanda among other countries. It touches on issues of how the quota has been used in various circumstances to disempower and undermine women's involvement in politics. Through highlighting the various structural and systematic challenges that Zimbabwean women face with regards to participation in politics, the article interrogates whether this model of gender empowerment has actually improved the conditions of women in the country. Finally, it sheds light on what might need to happen post 2023 to sustain "gains" reaped from the quota system should calls for the extension of the quota system go unfulfilled.
Women in Zimbabwe face various structural and systematic challenges with regards to participation in politics. (REUTERS/PHILIMON BULAWAYO)
Zimbabwe's Elections: Where are the Women?
Table 1: Women's Representation in Zimbabwe's Parliament 1980 – 2018
Election Year National Assembly Senate
Women Men Women Men
1980 9 91 3 37
1990 17 133 UNICAMERAL UNICAMERAL
2018 85 185 No Data Yet No Data Yet
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union2
On 30 July 2018, Zimbabweans across the political divide headed to the polls to elect a government of their choice. Unlike previous elections in the country, the 30th July election was significant in two major ways. First, it was the first election in the country's history where former president Robert Mugabe did not participate after he grudgingly tendered his resignation in November 2017 following a military assisted intervention. Second, it was the first election to have a significant number of women run for public office either as independent candidates or political party representatives. Some notable female contenders among many others included Thokozani Khupe, the leader of a splinter MDC faction; Joice Mujuru, leader of the National People's Party (NPP); Fadzayi Mahere, who stood as an independent candidate for the Mount Pleasant constituency as well as Kudzai Mubaiwa and Duduzile Nyirongo who both ran as independent candidates for Councilor in Harare's wards six and seven respectively.
At a surface level, one could make assumptions about Zimbabwean politics "'coming of age". However, a closer nuanced analysis reveals a worrying trend. The coming into effect in 2013 of the women's quota system in Zimbabwe was applauded as a progressive step towards opening up the political space to women, while also addressing women's macro and micro societal needs (see Table 1). In Zimbabwe Parliament is divided into two chambers, the Senate and the House of Assembly. The quota reserves 60 seats for women in the National Assembly while senators are elected based on a party list in which women and men are listed on an alternating basis with women always topping the list. The decision to implement quotas in many African countries came as a result of, albeit grudgingly, enacting international instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) signed in 1979 at the Beijing World Conference (1995) and United Nations Security Resolution 1325 (2000) combined with other progressive regional and national legislation on equal opportunities between sexes.
The 30 July 2018 election in Zimbabwe was the first election to have a significant number of women running for public office. (REUTERS/SIPHIWE SIBEKO)
In Zimbabwe, women's lobby groups and gender activists who pushed for the inclusion of a quota system in the constitution making process envisioned a situation where Zimbabwe would join the ranks of Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Liberia, among others, that had, and continue to use, the women's quota in varying degrees to achieve, or surpass, gender parity in parliament. A case in point is Rwanda. Zimbabwe's gains have not been as clear cut. For example, a closer look and analysis of statistics with respect to women elected to parliament in Zimbabwe via the quota system reveals a shocking observation that may have escaped many. While in the Seventh parliament, women's representation was 16 % and 25 % in both the National Assembly and Senate respectively, in the Eighth parliament, women's representation increased to 35 % in the National Assembly and 48 % in the Senate.3 However, an obsession with numbers and statistics usually serves to obscure important considerations. For example, the number of women directly elected to parliament decreased as a result of the quota system. A quick look at the previous elections in 2008 is instructive. In 2008, there were 34 women directly elected to parliament compared to 26 women directly elected in 2013.4 In the just ended election, the number of women elected directly into parliament dropped to 25. The decrease in the number of women directly elected into parliament points to significant structural challenges with respect to the quota system. For example, there are reports that both ZANU-PF and MDC-Alliance (a coalition of pro-democracy parties) used the quota to prevent or block women from directly contesting public office because their seats were guaranteed.
Given this situation, the following questions are important for consideration: can quotas be relied on to deliver on and sustain women's empowerment? Are quotas sufficient vehicles to change men's and societies' stereotypical beliefs about women? What also makes the Zimbabwean situation interesting is that according to constitutional provisions, the quota system will expire in 2023. There seems to be no interest on the part of government, at least for now, to extend the quota beyond 2023. Some notable political figures, such as Temba Mliswa – an independent Member of Parliament, have come out openly to condemn the quota system as 'wasteful' and "unsustainable". With all the debates surrounding the quota system and the predominantly masculine nature of Zimbabwean politics, combined with a decline in the actual number of women directly elected to parliament in the last two elections, the quota may have worked to undermine women's participation in politics.
The actual number of women directly elected to parliament, in the last two elections in Zimbabwe, has declined. (REUTERS/AARON UFUMELI/POOL)
Another challenge levelled at quotas is that they have a tendency to bring to parliament "unqualified" women who are more concerned with toeing the party line. Politics of patronage work to the disadvantage of experienced and qualified women who lack the necessary political capital to get into parliament. The argument here is that "token representation" brings to parliament women more concerned with toeing the party line than advancing the interests of other women and society at large. They essentially become political proxies for male politicians who ride on their blind loyalty to entrench male dominance and leadership. Women who fall out of favour with the '"system" are left in the political wilderness never mind their impressive track record in parliament. A notable example is Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, of the MDC formation led by Welshman Ncube, who was dropped from the party's proportional representation list after she fell out of favour with the political system. In Zimbabwe, women parliamentarians elected through the quota system have had to carefully navigate the political terrain to avoid "outsmarting" directly elected parliamentarians or upsetting the political system. For example, in an interview with one of the country's leading newspapers, proportional representation legislator for Bulawayo, Dorothy Ndlovu, lamented how she was viewed as a threat to sitting members of parliament (MPs) in the constituencies to which she was elected and therefore has to seek permission from them to pioneer and champion any developmental projects in their respective constituencies to avoid conflicts.5
However, the quota system must be applauded for averting a potentially catastrophic situation with respect to women's involvement and participation in national politics in Zimbabwe. As demonstrated in Table 1, Zimbabwean politics has always sought to advance the interests of men while subverting those of women. For example, in the first nationalist government of Robert Mugabe, women were severely underrepresented, occupying only nine seats out of a 100 seats.6 While the number of female parliamentarians has increased since 1980, there are still concerns that change is not happening fast enough and women continue to face political, social and economic exclusion. There were concerns raised by women aspirants in the run up to the 2013 harmonised election that political parties, mainly ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T) formation – were employing subtle tactics to elbow out female contenders. The tactics included allocating women to constituencies in opposition strongholds while men contested relatively easy-to-win constituencies where each respective party enjoyed popular support. In the absence of the women quota, there is no doubt that the number of women elected into parliament in 2013 and 2018 would have taken a dip. Even the 34 % increase from 19 % in 2008, while remarkable in the history of the country, still falls far below the 50 % gender parity representation by 2015 envisioned in the SADC protocol on Gender and Development.7 Political victimisation, violence associated with elections and economic and financial constraints are some of the reasons women struggle to compete for political office with men on equal footing. For example, in the recently ended ZANU-PF primaries for the 2018 elections, female aspirants like Epworth legislator Zalera Makari had to flee a mob of ZANU-PF youths who besieged her campaign with the intention to oust her from the constituency to make way for a male contender.8
While the number of female parliamentarians has increased since 1980, there are concerns that change is not happening fast enough and women continue to face political, social and economic exclusion. (REUTERS/MIKE HUTCHINGS)
Way Forward?
Given the circumstances surrounding the quota system, the article advances a few recommendations as Zimbabwe's 9th parliament comes to life, signalling the second and last phase of the quota. What is clear so far from the Zimbabwean experience is that quotas alone are not sufficient to transform the attitudes of men about women in general, and their political aspirations in particular. What is also clear is that while having numbers is critical for voting and passing laws, the quality of representation is of paramount importance. If political parties are sincere about advancing the needs of women in particular, and society in general, one would expect that parties move beyond political networks based on patronage, clientelism and nepotism to nominate experienced and qualified women from outside their political networks to advance the interests of women. This reasoning makes sense in a context where majority of the electorate are women. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) recently released data on voting demographics for 2018 and it found that women constituted 54.64 % of registered voters.9 Also, in spite of the fact that the eighth parliament had the highest number of female parliamentarians in Zimbabwean history, the attitude displayed by political parties towards women aspirants is disappointing. Women like Thokozani Khupe, Jesse Majome and Joice Mujuru have in the recent past been subjected to violence and senseless victimisation by their political opponents. In February 2018, Thokozani Khupe was almost set ablaze by MDC-T youths going by the moniker of the "party vanguard" at the funeral of MDC-T stalwart Morgan Tsvangirai.10 She was accused of being a dissident and fanning "tribalism" in the wake of MDC-T leadership wrangles that followed the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in February 2018.
One could possibly argue too that the attitude of the media, both public and private, has unwittingly played a role in demonising and trivialising women. For instance, instead of capturing issues generated by women in parliament and in their respective Portfolio Committees, the media has instead focused on negative stories about the personal lives of the female MPs, their relationships to men and their education or lack of it.11 The media environment in Zimbabwe remains skewed in favour of the male voice while trivialising that of women and their concerns.
Aspiring members of parliament and councillors register at an election nomination court in Harare, Zimbabwe (June 2018). (REUTERS/PHILIMON BULAWAYO)
Women across political parties need to find common ground to advance their collective interests as a special interest group. Section 17 of the constitution of Zimbabwe mandates the state to ensure promotion of full gender balance in Zimbabwean society. This constitutional provision gives the state the right to enact laws needed to ensure than women constitute at least 50% of membership in all commissions, elective and appointed government bodies.12 This constitutional provision offers women a fresh opportunity to insist on full compliance with the constitution. Alternatively, women parliamentarians – with the support of civic society, gender lobbyists and activists – could demand that parliament amends the Electoral Act to make explicit the demands of women with respect to representation at all levels of government. Section 17 of the constitution is ambiguous and can be made clearer. Section 17(1)(b)(ii) of the constitution reads as follows;
The State must promote full gender balance in Zimbabwean society and in particular …must… take all measures including legislative measures needed to ensure women constitute at least half of the membership of all commissions and all elective and appointed governmental bodies established by or under this Constitution or any Act of Parliament.
This provision could be made clearer by clarifying the exact number of seats to be allocated to women at both parliamentary and local government level.
Finally, women must hold their political parties accountable by pushing for the adoption of a specified quota system in line with regional and international instruments. The challenge with political party quotas in Zimbabwe is that they are based on political accommodation. For example, the MDC has a voluntary 30% female quota which is always violated in favour of men. If recent events involving primary elections in both ZANU-PF and the MDC-Alliance are anything to go by, these developments must rally women across the political divide towards a common objective: for example to put pressure on their leaderships to insert and implement provisions in their respective party constitutions for the inclusion of women – based on constitutional mandates rather than the present voluntary quotas. All parties can learn from the experience of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa. The ANC has managed to surpass its 30 % female quota in parliament by implementing mechanisms that ensure that women are "adequately" represented at all levels of party structures.13 By its own admission, as of 2009 the ANC had almost achieved gender parity in parliament with 49.2 % of National Assembly members being women.14 Political parties in Zimbabwe need to go beyond rhetoric and implement similar mechanisms within their structures.
Thokozani Khupe was subjected to violence and victimisation by her political opponents in February 2018. (REUTERS/HOWARD BURDITT)
It is a given reality that the number of women contesting political office in Zimbabwe is significantly lower than that of their male counterparts. It is also clear from the preceding discussion that increasing the number of women in parliament without transforming the political and social institutions that suppress women could prove unsustainable in the long term. While quotas are an important starting point, sustained transformation requires that we go beyond quantitative analysis to qualitative analysis. By examining the deep structural challenges that prevent women's effective participation in politics, we take the conversation to a new level. Misdiagnosis can only result in ineffective and unsustainable interventions. The rampant victimisation and sexualisation of women points to a larger problem that quotas may not sufficiently address. The media, being the fourth estate, also has a crucial role to play in this regard through gender-sensitive reporting as well as demystifying old and unhelpful gender stereotypes. Equally important is for women across the political divide to bury their political hatchets and work towards a common good – advancing the interests of society. The new Zimbabwean constitution is aspirational. It presents activists and gender lobbyists with an opportunity: to pressure parliament and institute systems that will ensure realisation of the gender equality dream.
African Democracy Encyclopaedia Project, 'Zimbabwe: 2013 Referendum Results', Available at: <https://www.eisa.org.za> [Accessed 05 July 2018].
Inter-Parliamentary Union 'Zimbabwe House of Assembly', Available at: <http://archive.ipu.org> [Accessed 07 July 2018].
Research Advocacy Unit (2017) 'Increasing Women's Political Participation'. Policy Brief No.2/17, Available at: <researchandadvocacyunit.org> [Accessed 30 June 2018].
Moyo, Nizbert (2018) 'Challenges of being a P.R Legislator', Available at: <https://www.newsday.co.zw> [Accessed 11 July 2018].
Gudhlanga, Enna (2013) 'Shutting Them Out: Opportunities and Challenges of Women's Participation in Zimbabwean Politics – A Historical Perspective. Journal of Third World Studies, 30, (1), pp. 151-171.
SADC (2008) 'Protocol on Gender and Development', Available at: <https://www.sadc.int> [Accessed 06 July 2018].
Langa, Veneranda (2018) 'Women Bear the Brunt of Political Violence', Available at: <https://www.newsday.co.zw> [Accessed 09 July 2018].
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (2018) 'Comment on the ZEC BVR Provisional Statistics', Available at: <http://elections.co.zw> [Accessed 10 July 2018].
Chidza Richard (2018) 'MDC-T Trio Survives Mob Attack', Available at: <https://www.newsday.co.zw> [Accessed 08 September 2018].
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe [MMPZ] (2012) 'Media Representation of Women in Politics', October-November 2012.
Veritas 'The Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013', Available at: <veritaszim.net> [Accessed 11 July 2018].
ANC (2009) 'Manifesto: Working Together we can do More', Available at: <http://www.anc.org.za> [Accessed 08 July 2018].
By Vasu Gounden
The Impact of the United Nations Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework on Conflict Dynamics
By Hugo Genest
Practice and Perils of Vote Buying in Nigeria's Recent Elections
By Jide Ojo Freedom Onuoha
The Power of Dialogue to Promote Reconciliation in Zimbabwe
By Lawrence Mhandara
Understanding the Herder-Farmer Conflict in Nigeria
By Ugwumba Egbuta
Analysis of Jean-Pierre Bemba's Acquittal by the International Criminal Court
By Frédéric Foka Taffo
Indepth Analysis
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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AGF hosts Horsens
AGF hosts Horsens in a game from the 17th round of the Danish Superliga. Allow us to take a look at this clash in our winning soccer predictions for today.
AGF are currently 11th in the Superliga with 18 points won and a record of 3 wins, 9 draws and 4 defeats. The team from Aarhus can ressurect its chances to finish in the Top 6 of the regular season, but only if they beat Horsens. Right now AGF are 4 points behind the 6th AaB, so this gap could be reduced to just one point.
But can AGF really return on the winning road? In their last five games they have been pretty bad – two draws and three consecutive losses in the last three matches. In these games David Nielsen's team suffered defeats against Kobenhavn, Randers and Brondby. If they show this level of performance against Horsens as well, it's going ot be very difficult for them to win.
AGF's last win to date came against Brondby in September – a 3-2 win at home.
Horsens are doing a little bit better so far, being 9th in the standings with 21 points. They have a record of 5 wins, 6 draws and 5 defeats since the beginning of the campaign. In their last five games Horsens won just once – against Vendsyssel, also doing two draws and suffering two defeats.
In their last game Horsens made a 1-1 draw against Sonderjyske at home. Christian Jakobsen opened the score for the visiting team, but Kasper Junker equalized for Horsens a little bit before the halftime break.
These are our winning soccer predictions for today for the Danish Superliga clash between AGF and Horsens at the Ceres Park in Aarhus. We believe that Horsens are a slight favourite here, but AGF will try to return to the winning ways.


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Resultats del Gran Premi del Canadà de Fórmula 1 de la temporada 1973, disputat al circuit urbà de Mosport el 23 de setembre del 1973.

Resultats de la cursa

Altres
 Pole: Ronnie Peterson 1' 13. 697

 Volta ràpida: Emerson Fittipaldi 1' 15. 496

Referències

Canadà
1973

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


And the WINNER IS .... yesterday is 24-April-2016 SUNDAY!
Missing Facebook Posts for April 25 on the following years; 2015(1 year ago), 2014(2 years ago) and 2009(7 years ago).
CURRENT Timeline Threads for "ON THIS DAY" POSTS April 25 are the years 2013 , 2012, 2011 and 2010 ONLY !
You see we experience a 48 hours today and yesterday for 23-April-2016(similar to 08-August several years back) so whichever date (23 April Saturday or 24 April Sunday 2016) will emerged as the date to be followed in our area, you will be kept posted!
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island is on a path to becoming the 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry after a landmark vote in the state's Senate on Wednesday.
UK's National Anthem "God Save The Queen"
George Palaganas added 2 new photos to the album:Bembesan EVIS Pictures 2000 - present.


From the people who made it.
How much? Samsung Care+ will cost you a minimal monthly fee of R69.99 or a once-off discounted fee of R1 260.00 for 24 months giving you 6 months free. Please note, a minimal repair fee of R1000 for the front screen and R300 for the back screen is applicable, during the repair process.
Samsung Care+ is available on the latest premium Galaxy smartphones.
Register by completing the application online or on the Samsung members app.
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text:
https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/vitiligo
What is vitiligo? Vitiligo is a chronic (long-lasting) disorder that causes areas of skin to lose color. When skin cells that make color are attacked and destroyed, the skin turns a milky-white color. No one knows what causes vitiligo, but it may be an autoimmune disease. In people with autoimmune diseases, the immune cells attack the body's own healthy tissues by mistake, instead of viruses or bacteria. A person with vitiligo sometimes may have family members who also have the disease. There is no cure for vitiligo, but treatment may help skin tone appear more even.
Bioengineered Compound May Aid in Treating Osteoarthritic Joints
https://www.niams.nih.gov/newsroom/spotlight-on-research/bioengineered-compound-may-aid-treating
A bioengineered molecule designed to bind together key components found in the fluid that surrounds joint areas may improve lubrication and minimize friction. This could potentially slow the degeneration of cartilage tissue that occurs in knee osteoarthritis, according to a study conducted in rats and funded in part by the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. The study was published in Nature Materials. The synovial fluid that bathes our joints is composed of several types of lubricants, including hyaluronic acid (HA) and lubricin. In healthy joints, this fluid ensures that tissues move together smoothly and without
New rheumatoid arthritis drug targets NIH-discovered protein
https://www.niams.nih.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rheumatoid-arthritis-drug-targets-protein
Media Availability What: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new oral medication for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis that represents a new class of drugs for the disease. The drug, tofacitinib (Xeljanz), provides a new treatment option for adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to, or who are intolerant of, methotrexate, a standard therapy for the disease. Affecting nearly 1.5 million adults, rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease that causes pain, swelling, stiffness, and loss of function in the joints. It occurs when the immune system, which normally defends
Modified Protein Improves Vitiligo Symptoms in Mice
https://www.niams.nih.gov/newsroom/spotlight-on-research/modified-protein-improves-vitiligo-symptoms-mice
Altering a key protein involved in the development of vitiligo may protect against—or even reverse—the pigmentation loss associated with the skin disorder in mice, according to recent research funded by the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Vitiligo is a progressive autoimmune disease in which the skin cells that impart color (melanocytes) are destroyed, resulting in white patches on the face, hands and other parts of the body. Scientists are unsure what causes vitiligo. They are investigating the biological mechanisms that trigger the disease, as well as its
MRI Findings Reveal Early Changes to Joint That Predict Development of Knee Osteoarthritis
https://www.niams.nih.gov/newsroom/spotlight-on-research/mri-findings-reveal-early-changes
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a team of scientists has detected structural changes in the knee joint that precede signs of osteoarthritis seen on X-rays. The study, which was supported in part by the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), calls into question the assumption that damage to cartilage is the primary underlying cause of osteoarthritis. The findings appeared in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology.
(-) Rheumatoid Arthritis
(-) Osteoarthritis
(-) Vitiligo


Murray, G. (2014). The social dimensions of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 5(4), 320-341.
This paper examines how learner autonomy and self-regulated learning might be related by comparing and contrasting the two constructs. After identifying the traits learner autonomy and self-regulated learning have in common, I argue that in order to understand how they differ we have to look beyond a discrete point comparison of their features. Given that both areas of inquiry have been broadening their focus on the individual learner to include greater recognition of the role of the social environment in the learning process, I expand the scope of my analysis to include their social dimensions. In the ensuing discussion, I explore the notion that their social dimensions encompass emotional, spatial and political dimensions. To illustrate my points, I draw on data from an ethnographic inquiry investigating the experiences of Japanese English foreign language learners participating in a social language learning space on the campus of a large national university. The paper concludes by examining the implications of this theoretical discussion for pedagogical practice and further inquiry.
In the literature on learner autonomy in language learning it is not uncommon to see references to self-regulated learning. These references suggest a tendency to conflate the two constructs. This is not surprising given that on the surface learner autonomy and self-regulated learning appear to be similar in as much as both emphasize learner control and metacognition. Nonetheless, they remain two separate areas of inquiry. What is surprising, given their shared interests, is the lack of attempts to examine how the two might be related, how they differ, and how research in one area might inform work in the other (for exceptions, Lewis & Vialleton, 2011; Loyens, Magda, & Rikers, 2008).
The principal aim of this paper is to examine how learner autonomy and self-regulated learning might be related by comparing and contrasting the two constructs. In doing so, it will be demonstrated that in order to understand how these two constructs differ, we have to look beyond a discrete point comparison of their features. Over the past twenty years, work in both areas of inquiry has gradually broadened the focus on the individual learner to include increased recognition of the importance of the social context and interaction in the learning process. In this paper, I argue that in order to understand the relationship between learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, we need to expand the scope of our analysis to include their social dimensions. Therefore, I will look at three questions: 1) In what ways are learner autonomy and self-regulated learning similar or different? 2) What are the social dimensions of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning? 3) What are the implications for pedagogical practice and research in both areas? To illustrate various points in the discussion, the paper draws on data from an ethnographic study investigating the experiences of Japanese English foreign language learners participating in a social learning space on the campus of a large national university (Murray & Fujishima, 2013; Murray, Fujishima, & Uzuka, 2014). Rather than provide definitive answers, the intent is to open up a discussion of these questions, to draw attention to related issues, and to explore directions for future research and pedagogical innovation.
In order to understand the relationship between learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, I begin by looking at key definitions of the constructs. Holec (1981) provided the area of learner autonomy in language learning with its seminal definition, "the ability to take charge of one's learning" (p. 3). For Holec, this meant assuming responsibility for all aspects of the learning process, including setting goals, selecting materials, deciding on activities and strategies, monitoring progress and assessing outcomes. More recently, Benson (2011) has modified Holec's definition to read "the capacity to take control of one's own learning" (p. 58), contending that the construct of "control" is more amenable to empirical investigation than "to take charge". Perhaps an equivalent seminal definition in the area of self-regulated learning is Zimmerman's (1989) description of the self-regulated learner: "Students can be described as self-regulated to the degree that they are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process" (p. 329). Pintrich (2000) offers insight into what it means to be an active participant in one's own learning when he writes that in academic contexts self-regulation can be understood as a "process whereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features in the environment" (p. 453). From these definitions, one can identify several features that the two constructs seem to have in common, such as concerns with goal-setting, monitoring learning, and control.
Few attempts have been made to compare learner autonomy and self-regulated learning. Two notable exceptions are Lewis and Vialleton (2011) and Loyens et al. (2008); in the case of the latter the comparison was with self-regulated learning (SRL) and self-directed learning (SDL). SDL can be viewed as a manifestation of learner autonomy in which learners accept responsibility for all the decisions related to their learning (Dickinson, 1987), such as those pertaining to setting goals, selecting materials, determining strategies and activities, monitoring and assessing their learning. As one would suspect, Loyens et al. (2008) concluded that "SDL and SRL have similarities with respect to active engagement, goal-directed behavior, metacognitive skills, and intrinsic motivation" (p. 423). Despite these similarities, they note that the two terms cannot be used interchangeably.
Although learner autonomy and self-regulated learning share several key features, they differ over issues pertaining to learner control of the learning context.
As Table 1 illustrates, the general consensus in the literature is that active engagement and goal-directed learning are features of both learner autonomy and self-regulated learning. The definitions provided earlier make it quite clear that the development and application of metacognitive skills is a key facet of both – learners need to be able to plan, monitor and assess their learning. Similarly, intrinsic motivation figures prominently in both (cf. Ryan & Deci, 2006; Ushioda, 2007). In addition, self-regulation and autonomy are viewed as learner characteristics; learners can be characterized as being autonomous and self-regulated. However, beyond this point, a comparison of the two constructs starts to become strained (as indicated by the question marks in Table 1).
The differences between learner autonomy and self-regulation start to become apparent when we shift our attention to the learning environment. For example, autonomy can be viewed as a design feature of the learning environment (for a discussion see Benson, 2008). Certain courses are designed in such a way that learners have control over managing their learning and the selection of content (Benson, 2011), which has implications for the pedagogical design as well as the physical design of the learning environment. In contrast, "the extent to which self-regulation resides in the person or in the activity of the person underlies considerable conceptual divergence in the literature on self-regulation" (Martin & McLellan, 2008, p. 436). In regard to learner initiation of the learning task, in SRL there seems to be a general tendency for the teacher to set the learning task and within those parameters students have varying degrees of freedom to select learning strategies and engage in SRL activities. On the other hand, in the area of learner autonomy in accordance with Holec's (1981) model, learners are expected to assume responsibility for determining the learning task. Yet Littlewood's (1999) distinction between proactive autonomy and reactive autonomy weakens this point of comparison. Whereas proactive autonomy reflects Holec's model, reactive autonomy broadens the scope to include contexts in which teachers set the task and learners then take charge and organize their resources. Under this definition of learner autonomy, learners are not always expected to determine the learning task. Although both learner autonomy and self-regulated learning address issues of control to varying extents, the possibility of individual learners exercising control over the learning environment is questionable in social settings, such as classrooms.
Self-regulation and learner autonomy start to diverge at the point where the self meets the social world. Commenting on the relationship between the self and the social world in regard to learner autonomy, Benson (2013) writes, "autonomous learners are never entirely in control of their language learning….autonomous language learners often find themselves, or willingly place themselves, in situations where they have little direct control over their learning" (p. 87). In both areas of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, the control learners might have over the learning environment is variable and even doubtful, making it difficult to differentiate between the two constructs on the basis of learner control.
In fact, looking at Table 1, it is difficult to identify differences between the two, which would justify their remaining distinctive areas of inquiry. Yet when viewed in the context of the research traditions they grew out of, they seem to be based on different ways of seeing the world or different mindsets. This notion is supported by the fact that learner autonomy and self-regulation have very different points of origin. In their comparison of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, Lewis and Vialleton (2011) characterize learner autonomy as a person-centred approach, which developed in Europe in the late 1970s with its roots in "liberal and libertarian theories of learning, such as those propounded by Ivan Illich, Paulo Freire, and Jerome Bruner" (p. 206). On the other hand, note Lewis and Vialleton (2011), self-regulated learning is a branch of educational psychology that emerged from research carried out in the 1960s into processes such as self-reinforcement, goal-setting, self-efficacy and self-evaluation, and was informed by social cognitive theory. This would suggest that perhaps we cannot really understand the relationship between learner autonomy and self-regulated learning by doing a discrete point comparison, and should therefore consider the approaches from a broader perspective.
Huang and Benson (2013) argue that if we want to understand learner autonomy we need to identify not only its components, but also its dimensions. They then proceed to break down the two key elements of the definition: capacity and control. They see the capacity to control learning as being comprised of three components: 1) ability, which refers to knowledge and skills such as those required to plan, monitor and evaluate learning; 2) desire, which implies motivation, and 3) freedom. They characterize freedom as "the degree to which learners are 'permitted' to control their learning, either by specific agents in the learning process" (Huang & Benson, 2013, p. 9) or by features of the learning situation. From my dual perspective as a teacher and researcher working in the area of learner autonomy, I view self-regulated learning as being most clearly associated with the component of ability. There is evidence in the literature of this view being shared by other researchers. For example, in a recent study investigating the effects of strategy-based instruction on the promotion of learner autonomy, Nguyen and Gu (2013) conceptualize learner autonomy as a combination of learner self-initiation, i.e. "volition and willingness to learn" (p. 13), and self-regulation with its focus "on the learner's strategies and skills of metacognitive self-management, such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating" (p. 13). Benson (2011) also supports this view, noting that research in self-regulated learning can help educators interested in learner autonomy have a better understanding of the cognitive and metacognitive aspects of control over learning. Benson (2011) concludes his discussion of self-regulated learning by stating that "the concept of self-regulation is somewhat narrower than the concept of autonomy" (p. 44).
However, Benson's (2011) comment raises the following question: what basis of comparison might one use in order to conclude that learner autonomy is a broader concept than self-regulation? I would argue that to make such a comparison one needs to broaden the focus on the individual learner – with his or her cognitive, metacognitive, and affective processes – to encompass the learner's social environment. Therefore, I propose that to better understand the relationship between self-regulation and learner autonomy we need to expand the comparison to the level of the social dimension. This leads me to my second question: What are the social dimensions of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning? Before I address this question, I would like to introduce a study, which has informed this paper.
For the past five years my colleagues and I have been carrying out an ethnographic inquiry exploring the language learning opportunities, or affordances, available in a social learning space called the L-Café (formerly the English Café), located on the campus of a large national university in Japan (Murray & Fujishima, 2013; Murray et al., 2014). This study is germane to the present discussion for two reasons: firstly, because it has been a vehicle for alerting my colleagues and myself to the social dimensions of learner autonomy and self-regulation; and secondly, because data from the study will be helpful in illustrating some of the points I will be making.
The original idea behind the English Café was to provide a facility where Japanese students could practice their language skills. However, this meant welcoming international students who wanted to improve their Japanese and who brought with them other languages. Hence, the English Café has evolved into the Language Café, or L-Café. As a part of our five-year project to explore the role this facility plays in language learning on campus, we are tracking the language learning trajectories of 13 Japanese EFL learners from their first to fourth year.
In our study we are taking an ecological approach (van Lier, 2004) and treating the L-Café as an eco-social system (Lemke, 2002), which we are exploring from different levels or scales. For example, we are looking at the individual students as part of this system, and at the L-Café as nested within larger systems, e.g. the Language Education Center, which is itself nested within the university as an institution. In addition, we are taking different time scales into account, such as individual semesters, the eight-month period during which exchange students frequent the L-Café, and the four-year period required for students to fulfil their degree requirements. In order to consider the affordances for language learning that emerge in this environment, we interview the participants and L-Café workers every six months, do participant observation, and administer questionnaires to all L-Café users once a year. We have been carrying out an ongoing thematic analysis of the data, the results of which I will draw on as I discuss the social dimensions of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning.
Because of the strong focus self-regulated learning and learner autonomy have had on the capacities of the individual learner, it is important to establish that there is actually a social dimension to both. A review of the literature reveals that educators working in the areas of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning seem to have been on a parallel path, gradually moving towards increased recognition of their social dimensions. This transformation is in large measure due to the influence of sociocultural approaches in education, stemming from the work of Vygotsky (1978).
In the area of learner autonomy, Little (2000) has promoted the notion that learner autonomy can be developed in social contexts, i.e. the language classroom, through interdependence and collaboration. Little was no doubt influenced by the work of Dam (1995) in Denmark who was promoting learner autonomy in her mixed-ability, middle school English classes. Dam required her students to set individual goals, but to achieve them the learners worked collaboratively in small groups. She encouraged her learners to find good learning activities, share them and evaluate them. For Little, Vygotsky's (1978) zone of proximal development (ZPD) offered an explanation for the connection between autonomy, interdependence and collaboration. The ZPD refers to that metaphorical space between what learners are able to do on their own and what they are able to do through the help of a more knowledgeable or experienced other. By getting help in the present, learners are able to do things on their own later, and, hence, become more autonomous. Bridging the gap between learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, a Finnish scholar well known for his work on experiential learning has this to say: "The tasks that pupils can do on their own are within their area of self-regulation. The development in the zone thus proceeds from other-regulation to self-regulation, towards increased autonomy" (Kohonen, 2010, p. 6).
Early conceptualizations of self-regulated learning identified a social component, but the social has been more or less a backdrop against which the "real" learning and individual development took place. For example, Zimmerman's (1989) early social cognitive model of SRL recognized that learners would need to monitor and adapt to changes in their physical and social environments; nonetheless, the focus was on the learner's cognitive processes. However, times are changing. As Hadwin and Oshige (2011) note, "emerging perspectives of SRL move beyond Zimmerman's (1989) earlier conception of social context being a component…toward social being at the core of SRL" (p. 242). In self-regulated learning, the social dimension is currently being explored under the labels of co-regulation and socially shared regulation. Hadwin and Oshige (2011) define co-regulation as "a transitional process in a learner's acquisition of self-regulated learning, within which learners and others share a common problem-solving plan, and SRL is gradually appropriated by the individual learner through interactions" (p. 247). They add that "typically, co-regulation involves a student and an other (usually a more capable other, such as a more advanced student, peer tutor, and so on) sharing in the regulation of the student's learning" (p. 247). Hadwin and Oshige (2011) go on to say that "through dialogue and interaction, individuals learn to engage and control their own self-regulatory strategies, evaluations, and processes by observing, requesting, prompting, or experimenting with self-regulation with a supportive other" (p. 248). The processes they are describing appear to be the same as those noted by Little (2000) and Kohonen (2010), which involve work in the ZPD and facilitate the development of learner autonomy in social settings. According to these scholars, becoming an autonomous, self-regulated learner is largely a social process.
For example, if they [Japanese students] ask for a spelling check or something like that, you don't just cross this out, write something else. You always explain, or they ask you, 'Why is this bad?' So really, I think that they learn in that way.
According to Vygotsky (1978), getting explanations and support from a more knowledgeable other is a way of learning. Learners are getting the help they need within their zone of proximal development and through this experience will be better prepared to act more autonomously and self-regulate their learning in the future.
Having examined the role of the social dimension in learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, I would like to look at what this concept might comprise. In the area of learner autonomy, researchers have been turning their attention to the ways in which autonomy is influenced by and/or developed through interaction in social settings; for example, collaborative work in classrooms. Elsewhere, I have suggested that the social dimension of learner autonomy is multifaceted, comprising other dimensions, such as an emotional dimension, a spatial dimension, and a political dimension (Murray, 2014). I would now like to explore these proposed dimensions in relation to learner autonomy and self-regulated learning.
From the outset, the emotional dimension has been a component of self-regulated learning models. For example, in Zimmerman's (1989) early social cognitive model he identifies "covert forms" of self-regulation, which refer to learners observing and adapting thoughts and feelings during the learning process. In his later cyclical model (see Zimmerman, 2013 for a discussion) emotion figures in an early phase of the learning process through "self-motivation" and resurfaces in the "self-reflection" phase through "self-reaction" which focuses on satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one's performance. In these models, emotions seem to be internal phenomena related to the individual learner's cognitive and metacognitive processes.
However, as Jang and Iddings (2010) note, "self-regulation has been reconceptualized from successful learners' exemplary qualities to a social process in which learners develop and make use of certain cognitive and social skills oriented toward goal attainment through interactions with their surrounding contexts" (p. 351). Not only are emotions often given expression during interaction in social settings, but it is often social settings that give rise to emotions. Damasio, a neuroscientist, identifies what he refers to as social emotions. He writes, "The social emotions include sympathy, embarrassment, shame, guilt, pride, jealousy, envy, gratitude, admiration, indignation, and contempt" (Damasio, 2003, p. 45). In a later work he notes, "These emotions are indeed triggered in social situations, and they certainly play prominent roles in the life of groups" (Damasio, 2010, p. 125). The role of emotions in social learning settings remains an under-investigated facet of both self-regulated learning and learner autonomy.
O'Leary's model of learner autonomy is important because it recognizes and gives prominence to the social and emotional dimensions.
Between Japanese students especially, they often talk like, "I can't do listening well, my TOEFL score is not good," and usually the other student gives advice. And it's the same… "You spend more time, you focus on the learning." It's the same, but they repeat so many times. I think they want to be heard, their struggles or their worries or their difficulties.
This quote suggests that learners need to be heard and can benefit from sharing the emotional burden and pressures related to language learning. As learner autonomy and self-regulated learning are reconceptualized in order to give greater prominence to the social, researchers will need to look more closely at the emotional dimension.
Another area of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning that requires researchers' attention is the spatial dimension. Shortly after we started the study at the English Café, our participant-observation made it fairly obvious to us that a community was developing. In order to confirm our perceptions, during the interviews we asked participants how they would describe the English Café. They began their answers with, "It's a place to…" or "It's a place where…" some action occurs. At first, this seemed a natural way to respond. Of course it was a place! Then the word "place" began to appear in response to other interview questions, and gradually emerged as category in our data coding process. To better understand this concept, we turned to the literature on space and place in the field of human geography (Cresswell 2004; Harvey 1996; Massey 2005; Tuan, 1977) and work on linguistic/semiotic landscapes (Jaworski & Thurlow 2010), a relatively new area of inquiry in the field of applied linguistics.
The general consensus amongst theorists in these fields is that place is a social construction. As Carter, Donald and Squires (1993) put it, "place is space to which meaning has been ascribed" (p. ix). Interpreting our data through the lens of this fundamental notion led us to conclude that "how learners imagine a space to be, perceive it, define it, and articulate their understandings transforms a space into a place, determines what they do there, and influences their autonomy" (Murray et al., 2014, p. 81). This idea raises a number of questions that will need to be explored in subsequent inquiries.
For example, research into the spatial dimension of learner autonomy will require re-examining of the notion of control. Benson (2011) has characterized autonomy as control over learning management (cf. Holec, 1981), control over cognitive processing (cf. Little, 1991), and control over content. When we consider the spatial dimension, does autonomy equate to control over the learning space or environment? Our study into one social learning space suggests that it does not. When we asked students in the study what they liked about the social learning space, several replied that they could come and go as they pleased. Their response suggests that these students value their autonomy. Our conclusion from this is that in this social learning space autonomy primarily manifests itself as the possibility for learners to exercise their agency within the environment rather than their control over the environment (Murray et al., 2014). In doing so, autonomy acts as an affordance by making learning opportunities possible. Further exploration of the spatial dimension has the potential to shed light on control as a theoretical construct and, thereby, lead us to see learner autonomy and self-regulated learning in new ways.
While enhanced theoretical understanding would be a welcome outcome of research focusing on the spatial dimension, we must not overlook the potential benefits for pedagogical practice. On the level of practice, there is a need to explore learning spaces with alternative designs that blend physical and virtual spaces. By way of example, I currently deliver a self-directed learning course in a language laboratory and in a computer room. In both venues, the computer "stations" are fixed to the floor, in rows, with little room to move around. When it is time to discuss or collaborate, learners have great difficulty getting together to form anything that even looks remotely like a group. We need learning spaces that actually facilitate communication and collaboration. Decision-makers and administrators in positions of power and authority will have to be convinced of the necessity of moving away from the classroom model of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries toward models better suited to the twenty-first century. Creating these spaces is going to take imagination, and it is also going to take political will.
In contrast to the area of learner autonomy in which there has been discussion of a political dimension (for example, Benson, 1997; Huang & Benson, 2013; Pennycook, 1997; Ushioda, 2008), Martin and McLellan (2008) criticize self-regulation researchers for "selectively ignoring critically important social (including moral and political) dimensions" (p. 444). In view of the current context, one might conclude that self-regulated learning does not have a political dimension, and argue that on this point learner autonomy and self-regulated learning truly part company. However, is it possible to explore the construct of control in a social context without coming up against issues of power? Therefore, a more likely scenario is that the political dimension is present, but under-addressed.
Recent work in the area of learner autonomy provides examples of studies in which the political dimension is not explicitly addressed, yet very much an undercurrent. In one such study, Barfield (2014) traces the development of publishing projects in a teachers' organization, the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) Learner Development Special Interest Group (LD SIG). The underlying theme of the paper is how a group of local teachers managed to break into the world of international publishing; in other words, how teachers doing research or experimenting with ways to provide their learners with alternative learning opportunities had their work recognized and their voices heard by a global audience. A second example comes from Mexico where a researcher has been exploring the relationship between social class and autonomy in self-access language learning (Castillo Zaragoza, 2014). Castillo Zaragoza raises the issue that autonomy may well be a luxury that poor people cannot afford. For one thing, they do not have the range of material resources available to them that more advantaged learners do. However, Palfreyman (2014) reminds us that in addition to material resources there are also discursive resources, the verbalized ideas and beliefs about language learning that circulate in a community. These resources can either encourage or discourage learners from investing in language learning. For example, in Japan, the discourse surrounding globalization and language learning often takes the following form: Japanese students need to learn English in order to take their place in a globalized world. In stark contrast, this is often what the students in my classes tell me: "I don't really need English. I won't use English in my daily life in Japan. I will only use English if I go abroad." There seems to be a disconnect between the highly politicized discourses of globalization and the discourses surrounding language learning that students actually engage in (for related discussions, see Saito, 2014; Taguchi, 2013; Yashima, 2013). Will students who do not see themselves as needing a language invest a lot of time and effort in learning that language? Will students who do not see themselves ever using a language roll up their sleeves and take control of their learning and self-regulate? There is a political dimension at play, and, as language educators, we cannot afford to ignore this dimension in our theory, research or practice (Ushioda, 2008).
Addressing the social dimensions of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning has implications for pedagogical practice. In the area of self-regulated learning, a concern has been "whether teachers can adapt their regular classroom activities and assignments to foster increases in their students' SRL" (Zimmerman, 2008, p. 176). This is another point at which learner autonomy and self-regulated learning diverge. Learner autonomy emerged as a field of inquiry as educators experimented with alternative means of meeting language learners' needs, most notably in the area of self-access language learning. From the outset, learner autonomy has been closely linked to pedagogical practice.
The theoretical discussion in this paper leads to three salient points about pedagogical practice in relation to both areas of inquiry. First and foremost, if our goal is to promote autonomy and self-regulation, we need to engage learners in activities that enable them to develop their autonomy and self-regulate their learning. As Little (2000) notes, "the language learner-user will become gradually more autonomous only through the practice of autonomy" (p. 15). Learners become autonomous and self-regulated by doing. As a part of this process, they need the freedom to personalize their learning and exercise their agency. They should be encouraged to set goals that are meaningful to them and to work with materials and carry out activities they find interesting and appropriate. Opportunities for reflection have to be built into the curriculum in every possible way. As a part of the reflection process, learners need to have opportunities to talk about their learning. It is in small group discussions about learning that educators can begin to address the emotional dimension, and perhaps even the political dimension, by working on discursive resources. In other words, it may be possible to openly discuss beliefs and attitudes prevalent in the community that may support or hinder language learning. One of the benefits of these discussions is that students can realize they are not alone – that other classmates are often feeling and experiencing the same thing. Furthermore, through these discussions they can find the words to express their concerns and questions, which can then be brought to the teacher, if necessary. However, perhaps more importantly, group discussions can provide opportunities for students to learn from each other.
My second point is that we need learning spaces that facilitate activities that promote the development of learner autonomy and self-regulation. These learning spaces will need to be equipped with digital and material resources, while at the same time enabling students to move around and work with each other. The creation of these spaces is going to take political will and imagination.
My third point is that we need to evoke the imagination: our imagination and our students' imagination (see Murray, 2013). In self-regulated learning and learner autonomy, educators try to find ways to foster learners' cognition and metacognition; however, there is a third component that needs to be considered: imagination. In the literature on self-regulation, authors come close to acknowledging the role of imagination. Zimmerman (2013) recognizes the role of mental imagery in his model of SRL and gives examples of using creative visualization as a self-regulatory strategy. As Zimmerman's work would suggest, the processes of cognition, metacognition and imagination are mutually supportive; therefore, we need to exercise all three in our practice.
A starting point for working with cognition, metacognition and imagination is students' identities. As educators we need to find out who our students are, but, more importantly, we need to get them thinking about who they are, focusing on their identity in general, and, more specifically, on who they are as language learners. Learning is about identity: past, present, future. A first step could be to have students write short life histories focusing on their language learning. Follow-up activities should focus on the development of students' future selves. At the university level, students are in a compressed phase of metamorphosis. In many cases the transformation is actually visible. As educators, we need to work with that. To this end, another activity might be to have students write anticipated life histories. The prompt might be something like the following: "You are 25 years old and a fluent English speaker. How did you get there? What is your life like? How do you use English?" Work supporting the imagination will have to be sustained in subsequent activities; it is not an activity or a unit that teachers do once in the first class of the semester. Research will be required to determine if these activities are successful in supporting students' motivation, helping them envision an L2 identity, or steering their discourses surrounding language learning in a positive direction.
In general, future research will need to focus more intently on the social dimensions of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning. In their critical review of the literature on self-regulation, Martin and McLellan (2008) conclude that "what is required is a more thorough going recognition of the constitution of minds and selves within social interactivity with others" (p. 443). More specifically, future inquiries might explore the ways in which interaction can foster or impede the development of self-regulation (Bown, 2009) and autonomy in language learners. There is a need to investigate the shift from social regulation to self-regulation. What role does the learning space play in this shift? What roles do emotions and imagination play?
In addition, there is growing evidence that we should reconsider the construct of control in relation to learner autonomy and self-regulation. Perhaps we need to find other ways to conceptualize and think about learner autonomy and self-regulated learning. Discussing the learning trajectories of two learners of English as a foreign language, Benson (2013) states that their narratives "pose problems for a view of autonomy as 'taking charge of one's own learning' (Holec, 1981, p. 3), because they show quite clearly that autonomous learners are never entirely in control of their language learning" (p. 87). It should be noted that Holec (1981) explained that to take charge of one's learning entailed assuming responsibility for all aspects of the learning process from goal setting to assessment. Taking responsibility for one's learning is not necessarily the same thing as taking control. Citing Bonnett and Cuypers (2003), Benson (2013) explores the notion that "autonomy is essentially a matter of taking responsibility for one's authentic concerns" (p. 86), i.e. concerns that are of special significance given one's personal situation. Whether or not learners will be able to express and pursue their authentic concerns, given the constraints imposed in institutional learning spaces, raises the issue of freedom. In the literature on self-regulated learning, the question has been raised as to whether self-regulated learning is concerned with control of the self or control by the self (Martin & McLellan, 2008). Control by the self implies a degree of freedom. Writing from the perspective of self-determination theory, Ryan and Deci (2006) are very clear: "autonomy literally refers to regulation by the self" (p. 1557). As researchers engage in a closer examination of control as the basis of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, they might focus on constructs such as freedom and responsibility.
Research carried out in institutional settings, which entails creating learning environments affording learners greater freedom and encouraging them to accept responsibility for their learning, will be interventionist. Therefore, researchers should consider drawing on approaches that openly acknowledge and discuss their interventionist orientation. For example, they might employ ecological (van Lier, 2004), complexity (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008) and mediated discourse analysis (Scollon & Wong Scollon, 2004) perspectives. While these approaches do not prescribe specific methodologies, they offer guidelines that encourage researchers to consider the nexus of actions, discourses, and identities, and to take into account the place where these elements intersect as well as the influence of varying time scales.
My exploration of the relationship between learner autonomy and self-regulated learning has led me to view them as being two separate areas of inquiry that involve different mindsets. Despite a movement towards social concerns, self-regulated learning research remains primarily concerned with learners' cognitive processes. On the other hand, I see research into learner autonomy as being situated at the interface of self and social worlds. Clearly, self-regulation research into cognitive and metacognitive processes can provide important insights for educators interested in learner autonomy (Benson, 2011). However, I believe that research agendas exploring cognition and metacognition in language learning should be expanded to include the role of the imagination. Researchers should also question the concept of control in relation to both learner autonomy and self-regulated learning. At present, both areas of inquiry are broadening their research focus and giving more attention to their social dimensions. I contend that these social dimensions are multi-faceted and encompass other dimensions such as the emotional, the spatial, and the political. Research agendas exploring these social dimensions have the potential to provide insights that will broaden theoretical understanding of learner autonomy and self-regulated learning, and over time influence practice.
Garold Murray is an associate professor in the Language Education Center at Okayama University, Japan. He has published widely on the subject of autonomy in language learning and is currently pursuing research interests in social learning spaces, the semiotics of place, and imagination in language learning.
Barfield, A. (2014). Local engagements enhancing practitioner action and knowledge for learner development and autonomy within a collaborative teachers' network. In G. Murray (Ed.), Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning (pp. 211-229). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
Benson, P. (1997). The philosophy and politics of learner autonomy. In P. Benson and P. Voller (Eds.), Autonomy & independence in language learning (pp. 18-34). London, UK: Longman.
Benson, P. (2008). Teachers' and learners' perspectives on autonomy. In T. Lamb & H. Reinders (Eds.), Learner and teacher autonomy: Concepts, realities, and responses (pp. 15-32). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Benson, P. (2013). Drifting in and out of view: Autonomy and the social individual. In P. Benson & L. Cooker (Eds.), The applied linguistic individual: Sociocultural approaches to identity, agency and autonomy (pp. 75-89). Sheffield, UK: Equinox.
Bonnett, M., & Cuypers, S. (2003). Autonomy and authenticity in education. In N. Blake, P. Smeyers, R. Smith, & P. Standish (Eds.), The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of education (pp. 326-340). London, UK: Blackwell.
Castillo Zaragoza, D. (2014). Social class and autonomy: Four case studies in a Mexican SAC. In G. Murray (Ed.), Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning (pp. 192-210). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
Damasio, A. (2003). Looking for Spinoza: Joy, sorrow and the feeling brain. London, UK: Vintage.
Damasio, A. (2010). Self comes to mind: Constructing the conscious brain. New York, NY: Pantheon.
Hadwin, A., & Oshige, M. (2011). Self-regulation, coregulation, and socially shared regulation: Exploring perspectives of social in self-regulated learning theory. Teachers College Record, 113, 240-264.
Jaworski, A., & Thurlow, C. (2010). Introducing semiotic landscapes. In A. Jaworski & C. Thurlow (Eds.), Semiotic landscapes: Language, image, space (pp. 1-40). London, UK: Continuum.
Kohonen, V. (2010). Autonomy, agency and community in FL education: Developing site-based understanding through a university and school partnership. In B. O'Rourke & L. Carson (Eds.), Language learner autonomy: Policy, curriculum, classroom (pp. 3-28). Oxford, UK: Peter Lang.
Little, D. (1991). Learner autonomy: Definitions, issues and problems. Dublin, Ireland: Authentik.
Little, D. (2000). Learner autonomy and human interdependence: Some theoretical and practical consequences of a social interactive view of cognition, learning, and language. In B. Sinclair, I. McGrath, & T. Lamb (Eds.), Learner autonomy, teacher autonomy: Future directions (pp. 15-23). Harlow, UK: Pearson.
Murray, G. (2014). Exploring the social dimensions of autonomy in language learning. In G. Murray (Ed.), Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning (pp. 3-11). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
O'Leary, C. (2014). Developing autonomous language learners in HE: A social constructivist perspective. In G. Murray (Ed.), Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning (pp. 15-36). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
Palfreyman, D. (2014). The ecology of learner autonomy. In G. Murray (Ed.), Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning (pp. 175-191). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
Pennycook, A. (1997). Cultural alternatives and autonomy. In P. Benson and P. Voller (Eds.), Autonomy & independence in language learning (pp. 34-53). London, UK: Longman.
Scollon, R., & Wong Scollon, S. (2004). Nexus analysis: Discourse and the emerging internet. New York, NY: Routledge.
Taguchi, T. (2013). Motivation, attitudes and selves in the Japanese context: A mixed methods approach. In M. T. Apple, D. Da Silva, & T. Fellner (Eds.), Language learning motivation in Japan (pp. 169-188). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Tuan, Y-F. (1977). Space and place: The perspective of experience. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Ushioda, E. (2007). Motivation, autonomy and sociocultural theory. In P. Benson (Ed.), Learner autonomy: Teacher and learner perspectives (pp. 5-24). Dublin, Ireland: Authentik.
Yashima, T. (2013). Imagined L2 selves and motivation for intercultural communication. In M. T. Apple, D. Da Silva, & T. Fellner (Eds.), Language learning motivation in Japan (pp. 35-53). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.


Simeon's Gift HAND SIGNED by Julie Andrews! Mary Poppins! Sound of Music! Rare!
Dad Is Fat HAND SIGNED by Comedian Jim Gaffigan! Stand Up! Super Troopers!
We Don't Live Here Anymore SIGNED by Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, & Peter Krause!
Sinbad's Guide to Life HAND SIGNED by Comedian Sinbad! Jingle All the Way! Rare!
Modelland HAND SIGNED by Tyra Banks! America's Next Top Model! 1st/1st! Rare!
The Godfather Archives HAND SIGNED by Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, & Abe Vigoda!
Short and Sweet HAND SIGNED by Jerry Maren! The Wizard of Oz! Munchkin! 1st/2nd!


EVO HTML to PDF Converter is a .NET library that can be easily integrated in any type of .NET applications to convert web pages, HTML strings and streams to PDF or to image.
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Entrance is free and green tea will be offered. A donation of €2 (or more!) to fund the event is suggested and would be most welcome.
Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen (born 1977) is a poet and editor of LUKUfiilis, a literary journal for young people published by Finnish Reading Centre. She has published three collections of poetry since 2004 and three novels for young people. Her book of poems, Naisen paikka, will be translated and published in Czech Republic this year.
The heroines in Vilja-Tuulia Huotarinen's collection, Iloisen lehmän runot ('Happy cow poems', 2009), are timeless creatures, mythical and archaic, and yet our contemporaries, living their lives alongside us (see Ruminations) Let the cows out on Monday and they'll enter the forest, wander far aim for the waterfalls, the hole in the rock and down the precipice. The dead come back along our the road to our yard: Rebecca, Isolde, Rosamunda. Allison, Eulalia, Euphrosyne. Not as ghosts but as old friends. Whom will they, the wingless ones, protect here? A lean lass, a lean lass.
Riina Katajavuori (b. 1968) writes lyrical but precise prose about the everyday. She describes motherhood with its different dimensions touchingly, tangibly, and above all compassionately. Katajavuori's poems have been translated into over twenty languages. She has also written a series of picture books.


Lyme disease is a serious illness that is on the rise in Canada. It is caused by the bite of blacklegged ticks infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. The geographical distribution of the animals that host the infected ticks is expanding and so are the cases being reported. Health Canada is reporting a more than 300% increase in reported cases in Canada since 2009.
Lyme disease symptoms vary with some people experiencing none at all while others report severe symptoms that may first present weeks after the initial infection. Symptoms may include: fatigue; rash; fever or chills; spasms; numbness or tingling; cognitive difficulty or dizziness; nervous system disorders; muscle and joint pain; abnormal heartbeat. Without diagnosis and treatment symptoms may last for years. Fatalities have been reported.
Dr. Nick Ogden is a UK-trained veterinarian (University of Liverpool, 1983). After 10 years of mixed clinical practice, he then completed a doctorate in Lyme disease ecology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford in 1996. During the six years he spent as a lecturer at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, he continued his research of tick-borne diseases of public health importance in Europe and those of importance to livestock production in Africa. In 2002 he moved to Canada, where he continued research on Lyme disease at the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Dr. Moriarty studies several fundamental mechanisms underlying blood borne dissemination of bacterial pathogens. The major model organism she studies is Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease using a wide range of techniques from genetics, molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics and physiology, as well as powerful live cell imaging approaches for investigating the molecular basis of dissemination in living organisms.


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Rolex U.S.A Recommits to US Sailing Sponsorship
The Rolex Company has announced that it will be extending its commitment to the sport of sailing – serving as the official timepiece of sailing events and the title sponsor of US Sailing's Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards. Additionally, the luxury brand will expand its involvement with US Sailing by becoming a patron of the Afterguard and medalist programs.
Rolex is back at it again with a new commitment with the US Sailing.
The official watch is the Rolex Yachtmaster watch – which has largely been the luxury watch of choice for sailors around the globe since the 1990s. The watch was originally supposed to be an improvement of the Rolex Submariner. Rolex Company executives were worried that the redesign was a bit too drastic, thus it was put on the shelf for a number of years. It wasn't until 1992 that the newly designed watch was coined the Rolex Yachtmaster.
The new and/or used Rolex Yacht-Master comes with a plethora of features that yachters find essential including automatic movement, Rolex Quickset, waterproof case and scratch-resistant sapphire crystals. This allows for yachters of all skill-levels to chart the waters with success.
The Rolex Yacht-Master is the ideal tool watch to those who spend time on the waters.
With the Rolex Company participating in the Afterguard donor program, US Sailing can further its work to inspire greater levels of integrity, leadership and advancement in the sport of sailing. Additionally, the Medalist Program supports the Olympic Sailing Program, which helps fuel the Olympic and Paralympic sailing program efforts.
"We are honored that Rolex is our longest standing partner, supporting US Sailing for over 30 years," said Jack Gierhart, Executive Director of US Sailing. "Rolex's commitment to the sport and our organization has only been strengthened over time…we are grateful for that as we work to promote excellence."
Try these search terms to find out more about the Rolex Yachtmaster:
Rolex Yachtmaster price
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used Rolex Yachtmaster
The Rolex Company has long been committed to the sport of sailing due to its worldwide reach and ability to inspire high levels of inspiration, precision and perseverance. Not only are yachters inspired by the Rolex Yachtmaster and Rolex Yachtmaster II, many choose the Rolex Sea-Dweller, Rolex Deep-Sea and Rolex Submariner, each which foster the efforts of explorers to navigate the world by sea.


The availability of this product is limited and subject to change.

Wine Advocate Review
Rated 90
From the Mazzei brothers' beautiful, state-of-the-art winery at the heart Chianti Classico, the 2011 Chianti Classico Fonterutoli is made from a blend of different Sangiovese clones with some Malvasia Nera, Colorino and Merlot. Spice and leather add fullness to the back, but berry aromas of cherry and dried mulberry take center stage. The wine does a great job of presenting the elegance of Sangiovese against the soft richness of modern winemaking. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2018.

Wine Tasting Notes
Deep ruby red. Bright aromas of fresh cherries mingle with notes of thyme and subtle smoky nuances. Complex and elegant, with flavors of ripe red fruits and a pleasant acidity. Fine and well balanced, with a lengthy finish.
Do you love Castello di Fonterutoli? Follow them to show your support. Why?


Nowadays, individuals jump at the chance to shop online in light of the fact that is very advantageous. They simply need to discover a store, to peruse its wide collections, to pick their most loved thing and to purchase. Most likely, it is a simpler alternative than doing shopping in a physical store. Many individuals don't have much time to visit physical markets for purchasing that merchandise that they require in light of the fact that they stayed with their official and individual timetables. They want to do web based these things at their doorstep in a matter of days.
In order to prevent programmers and uncertain sites from getting Visa data you should utilize a VPN. When you make your buys on the web, someone can track your activity and will be able to access your secret account or even use your card to buy things for themselves!
On the off chance that you truly need to stay away from data fraud related with the internet shopping then you have to subscribe for VPN. Really, when your PC is associated with VPN then every one of your information is traveled through a virtual passage. Along these lines, a web programmer or snooper can't access your budgetary information and you can do shopping in a sheltered way. So as to comprehend this well-being you ought to first need to find out about VPN.
By what method can VPN make online shopping safe?
VPN is a system that fills in as a go between you and the web. it utilizes a unique sort of security technique called encryption. This system helps you with save your e-mails, messages and data are encoded before moving to an open system. You can discover a VPN with either 128bit or 256 piece encryption level. You will get greater security through a VPN tat makes you get free from ISP observing. When you have a VPN then you ISP will never have the capacity to monitor your shopping and money related with logs.
With regards to shopping online, nothing is more vital than you protection and this is available with ExpressVPN. Their encryption is very secure and they never keep any logs of their clients so there is no following for the clients.
With servers everywhere throughout the world you can use this application regardless of where you are. You can shop on any site and from any device your laptop your mobile phone or any device.
They also have a 24/7 support where you can ask all your inquires. Also ExpressVPN offers 30 days return back policy which is one of the best guarantees for their clients.
Pass on; the best VPN for shopping on the web is ExpressVPN.
While numerous VPN suppliers attempt to emerge with free arranges, IpVanish speaks more about the application quality. It's the world's quickest VPN with around 40000+ ips, with 500+ VPN servers in 60 countries, boundless P2P movement with no log policy.
The cost is as yet going to be an issue for some- it is more costly than the normal VPN, yet IPVanish's high speeds, selection of areas and superb customer support that are difficult to be beaten. In case you're after quality then give it a try with this VPN. They also offer you a 7 day money back policy.
Witopia has a significant number of suits, including a large group of areas – approximately 72 servers cross-wide over 44 unique countries and get a boundless data transfer capacity. to set up Witopia is very fast and simple. Soon after you are done acquiring it, you simply need to follow the directions and everything will be ready.
Witopia supports windows, Mac, IOS and android. It also supports OpenVPN SSL, L2TP/IPSec which is very secure. They have a free and secure DNS which guarantees greatest execution and security while utilizing their administrations. Witopia also offers a 30 Day money back policy but you should go through the terms of condition as you will be subjected to that while asking for the refund.
The client support offered by Witopia is one of the best as they are available 24/7 and also they help you with all the inquires you are looking for. You can do that either by getting to the chat box available on the site or even by logging into the contact page and posting your question then you will get the answer as soon as possible.
Witopia has a great deal letting it all out the 24/7 client for 365 days of year, the wonderfully planned site that doesn't conceal any detail from the client the range of its connections, the good amount to be paid. And the vast number of devices that are available .. all of these make it worth an attempt .
This VPN supplier is situated in Switzerland. Where there are positive protection laws and it's an exceptionally very much indicated application bragging over 73 servers' areas and boundless information use. VyprVPN additionally offers an admirably extensive variety of customer and its windows programming profits by simple to-utilize interface.
VyprVPN offers a 3 day trial and free 500 MB/month arrange. You can subscribe either to month to month or yearly to a basic or premium option.
StrongVPN is an awesome case of an outstanding VPN application. They have been in business for longer more than any other application in market maybe around 20 years now but they have experienced a lot of changes to their logging approach and still stay one of the speediest and most mainstream VPN suppliers available.
StrongVPN serves in nearly 21 countries with 500+ servers offering stunning services with all the geo-blocked applications and sites. Talking about china, StrongVPN is one of the handfuls few that truly can sidestep the Great Firewall and unblock all the blocked sites there.
StrongVPN is one of the best unblocking applications offering propelled devices that can sidestep even the strictest firewalls and unblock sites that can't be gotten to from China for example. StrongVPN offers amazing protection and security offering extensive variety of conventions like OpenVPN, IPSec, L2tp, SSTP and PPTP. Also they have a zero-logging policy which saves the clients from any tracking which is one of the most important assets while searching for a vpn application.


FCM950 : Over-Prescription Sunglasses, with Dark Color Mirror Lens.
This frame is ideal for Medium to large faces.
1) FN950: Over-Prescription Glasses with Night Driving, Computer & Shooting Lens.
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With about 2000 bearing manufacturers,China is becomi-ng world's forth bearing manufacturing country. There are mo-re than 900 manufacturers with sales revenue more than five million Yuan. It is the largest number in this rank.
Different raw materials and manufacturing technology ma-ke Chinese OEM suppliers and average bearing producers q-uite different in prices. Generally, the have a 30 percent differ-ence in price, but sometimes, it could be as much as 100 perc-ent. Leading OEM suppliers typically offer prices 10%-15% hi-gher than average manufacturers. Raw material and heat pro-cessing are major factors of differences.
Here are some selected products with high quality. For m-ore products, you can click View More.
Bearing exported by OEM manufacturers represent only 20 percent of China's total bearing exports. In 2006, China's top five bearing export-ers are: Ningbo MOS Bearing Co., Ltd, Wanxiang Qianchao Co., Ltd, Sh-anghai Electric Bearing Co., Ltd, Ningbo CW Bearing Group, Cixi Xunlei Bearing Co., Ltd. China's bearing exporters mainly cluster in Jiangsu, Sh-anghai, Jilin, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Chungking, Guangdong and Hubei.


The risk management framework is part of the Company's internal control system, which is designed to support the achievement of our goals and strategic objectives by ensuring a clear demarcation of responsibilities, appropriate and effective controls to mitigate the risks in each key process, ongoing monitoring and evaluation of controls and the business environment and transparent communication of any weaknesses.
These controls operate across the business, covering finance, operations, reporting and compliance.
Regular monitoring and evaluation of the system is carried out by the Internal Audit Unit (IAU), which recommends on corrective actions if the controls are found to be inadequate. The IAU reports all its findings to the President Director.
The IAU develops an annual audit work plan but it may be requested to carry out additional audit activities by the Board of Directors. In 2017 the IAU's activities included surveillance audits of Puri Jaya Pasar Kemis Housing (covering Land, Estate Management and Marketing) BX Rink and Jaya Imperial Park Housing, as well as monitoring the follow-up to previously audited units (Graha Raya). The IAU also conducted an audit of ISO 9001:2008 compliance and awareness.
He was appointed as the Head of Internal Audit since 2009 and his profile has been presented in the Profile of the Board of Directors.


NEW-CUE (Nature and Environmental Writers-College and University Educators, http://www.new-cue.org/) will sponsor two grants of $250 each that are available to graduate students or independent scholars whose work reflects the influence of Rachel Carson and has been accepted for presentation at the 2015 ASLE Conference.
These grants will be awarded to graduate students or independent scholars whose papers are written in response to/in the tradition of Rachel Carson's scientific writing and/or written in response to/in the tradition of Rachel Carson's creative, nature writing. The papers do NOT have to be about Carson or her work.
Students or independent scholars wishing to apply for the NEW-CUE grants should send an email application to Sarah Jaquette Ray, sarah.ray@humboldt.edu by 5 pm EST on March 10, 2015.
A special Awards Committee will review applications and make awards by March 31.