Meandering Identities: Affective Dialogues across Continents

Scientific Conference (2021, June 10)

One facet of contemporary societies is their increasingly divers composition. In terms of its demographic composition, Luxembourg can in fact be described as super-diverse. The foreign population ... [more ▼]

One facet of contemporary societies is their increasingly divers composition. In terms of its demographic composition, Luxembourg can in fact be described as super-diverse. The foreign population percentage stands at 47.5% and encloses migrants of different generation statuses and intentions to stay – ranging from a working day, to the length of a contract to permanence. Luxembourg is a trilingual country, with English and Portuguese being widely spoken as well. Luxembourg thus provides a rich context for identity construction. The majority of immigrants have European roots, but there is an increasing number of foreigners with a non-European background. We explored the identity-construction processes of eight Japanese women who had moved to Luxembourg. In particular, we were interested in the negotiation process or cultural dialogues these Japanese women engage in following their move to Luxembourg. Multicultural Luxembourg and homogenous Japan provide two very different cultural contexts and our aim was to understand if and how our subjects would engage in dialogues across continents. As noted by Hermans (2001) I positions create dialogical relations with each other by reorganizing themselves in flexible ways from one position to another due to its context-dependency. In our qualitative study we prompted context by providing three sets of visual stimuli. The first set comprised typical images of Luxembourg, the second matched images of Japan and in the third set we presented hybrid images – juxtaposing Japanese and European images. Especially the reactions to the last set of primes prompted a dialogical narration – dialogical interactions between different I positions. For the majority of our subjects we observed a harmonious or flexible flow of I positions within the self – a meandering between reference points and experiences in Japan and Luxembourg. Some ambivalence and disharmonious dialogues could also be observed. Examples for these affective dialogues across continents will be presented. [less ▲]

Responsibility for Property and Assets Frozen or Seized by States Upon Request by the International Criminal Court

Scientific Conference (2021, June 10)

Article 57(3)(e) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court empowers the International Criminal Court to ‘seek the cooperation of States pursuant to article 93, paragraph 1 (k), to take ... [more ▼]

Article 57(3)(e) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court empowers the International Criminal Court to ‘seek the cooperation of States pursuant to article 93, paragraph 1 (k), to take protective measures for the purpose of forfeiture, in particular for the ultimate benefit of victims’ while Article 93(1)(k) imposes an obligation on state parties to the statute to provide assistance to the Court in the ‘identification, tracing and freezing or seizure of proceeds, property and assets and instrumentalities of crimes for the purpose of eventual forfeiture’. However, the Court does not yet have sufficient jurisprudence to flesh out the conceptual and practical boundaries of these provisions, including the question of responsibility for the management of the frozen or seized property and assets. If the Court’s very limited relevant jurisprudence is anything to go by, it is urgently necessary to interrogate these provisions and their practical application, as these questions lie at the very core of the Court’s integrity and credibility. This is especially so as the Court seeks to expand its practical reach beyond (mainly indigent) non-state actors to state actors, a situation that is likely to call more attention to the Court’s powers and responsibilities specifically relating to Articles 57(3)(e) and 93(1)(k). This article interrogates the Court’s powers under Article 57(3)(e) and the extent of obligations of the Court and state parties arising from Article 93(1)(k), and the possible implications for the rights of accused persons, the rights and expectations of victims and for state cooperation. [less ▲]

Insights from a qualitative study of second-generation young Tamils growing up in Germany

Scientific Conference (2021, June 03)

The aim of the study is to examine identity construal processes of young Tamils growing up in Germany. Their parents moved to Germany in the 80s fleeing conflict in Sri Lanka. Building on the theoretical ... [more ▼]

The aim of the study is to examine identity construal processes of young Tamils growing up in Germany. Their parents moved to Germany in the 80s fleeing conflict in Sri Lanka. Building on the theoretical framework on biculturalism developed by Yampolsky et al. (2013) we explored, using a qualitative approach, to what extent second-generation Tamils see themselves as a product of two cultures. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with ten participants (5 men and 5 women). All participants were born in Germany and completed schooling in Germany. All participants also attended Tamil schools and speak the Tamil language. Traditional Tamil values include making parents proud (collectivistic orientation), a conservative understanding of gender roles and emphasizing duty over joy. This is quite different to predominant values in Germany which is why we wanted to explore, how second-generation Tamils organize their cultural identities and what compromises they make in order to live up to cultural influences and expectations, focusing on the negotiation processes our participants engage in in navigating their cultural influences. The majority of our participants feel committed to both cultural influences and identify with both. We will show the different ways of compromise our participants have adopted. [less ▲]

Replicating the Kinora: 3D modelling and printing as heuristics in digital media history

Scientific Conference (2021, June 02)

This presentation reflects on the Kinora replica project, an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) and the Department of Engineering ... [more ▼]

This presentation reflects on the Kinora replica project, an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) and the Department of Engineering (DoE) of the University of Luxembourg. Combining historical inquiry with a hands-on and technical approach – involving the latest 3D modelling and desktop additive manufacturing engineering techniques – it provides insights into the process of making a working replica of the Kinora motion picture technology from the early 1900s. [less ▲]

Supporting bariatric surgery patients in their aftercare journey: a playful technological intervention “Truth-or-Dare?"

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Background The amount of people coping with obesity keeps on increasing. While the physical comorbidities are clearly visible, mental issues such as a low self-image are just as damaging. Bariatric ... [more ▼]

Background The amount of people coping with obesity keeps on increasing. While the physical comorbidities are clearly visible, mental issues such as a low self-image are just as damaging. Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective treatment with long-term results [2, 3]. Its effectiveness is however often expressed in postoperative weight loss, leaving the impact on psychological health aside [3]. Methods To support bariatric patients in the aftercare pathway, we designed Truth-or-Dare. Combining a physical artefact and a mobile app, Truth-or-Dare is a playful way to track patients' mental state, using challenges to help them to establish a better self-image and a physical exercise routine. The frame attracts attention by dropping magnetic wooden blocks, indicating it is time to play! The app displays a personalized exercise or reflection challenge. By placing the block back on one side of the frame the choice is made: truth or dare? The Truth-or-Dare frame and app have been used by a former bariatric patient for two weeks. Every 6-12 hours a block fell out of the frame. We conducted two semistructured interviews, the first focused on the experience and initial thoughts about the product, the second informed by the data gathered. During the deployment, we also implemented a feedback loop to collect participants’ experiences with the challenges, allowing to understand which strategy was the most effective for a patient and to iterate on them. Findings The challenges were positively perceived by the participant and helped her to become more aware of her behavior and mindset. While she enjoyed taking her time to perform each challenge, she felt pressed and rushed by the too short interval between challenges. She often rated the challenges as unpleasant, complicated or annoying, yet motivating. If a challenge is annoying, it does not mean it is not motivating. “If I would not want challenges like that, I would ignore my problems.” We observed a pattern of switching between truth and dare challenges, mainly triggered by the physical properties of the board. Discussion Playful Truth-or-Dare challenges implemented in a physical artefact and a related app are a new intervention approach for mental wellbeing after bariatric surgery. It shows potential in raising awareness amongst patients around their behaviors and motivating them throughout their journey. As the product is placed in a shared environment, family members are encouraged to join, which has a positive influence on both the patient and partner [1]. The design of the physical product uses friction as a motivational mechanism: (a) a block on the ground calls for action. Will the patient remove it without performing a challenge or engage with the game? (b) placing the block back, one can choose Truth or Dare. Yet, the board is designed to prevent one type of challenge to be chosen too often. These moments of friction act as triggers to step outside the comfort zone. Further research is necessary to refine the challenges, or even personalize them, and to investigate the longterm effect of Truth-or-Dare on patients’ mental wellbeing and self-image. [less ▲]

Inequality of educational opportunity differentially impacts women’s and men’s later-life cognitive performance

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Find the published paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100837

Broadband Non-Geostationary Satellite Communication Systems: Research Challenges and Key Opportunities

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Besides conventional geostationary (GSO) satellite broadband communication services, non-geostationary (NGSO) satellites are envisioned to support various new communication use cases from countless ... [more ▼]

Besides conventional geostationary (GSO) satellite broadband communication services, non-geostationary (NGSO) satellites are envisioned to support various new communication use cases from countless industries. These new scenarios bring many unprecedented challenges that will be discussed in this paper alongside with several potential future research opportunities. NGSO systems are known for various advantages, including their important features of low cost, lower propagation delay, smaller size, and lower losses in comparison to GSO satellites. However, there are still many deployment challenges to be tackled to ensure seamless integration not only with GSO systems but also with terrestrial networks. In this paper, we discuss several key challenges including satellite constellation and architecture designs, coexistence with GSO systems in terms of spectrum access and regulatory issues, resource management algorithms, and NGSO networking requirements. Additionally, the latest progress in provisioning secure communication via NGSO systems is discussed. Finally, this paper identifies multiple important open issues and research directions to inspire further studies towards the next generation of satellite networks. [less ▲]

Analgesic effects of interacting with a VR game and associated psychophysiological responses

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) has been shown to be an effective tool for pain distraction by redirecting attention away from painful stimuli. Although VR therapy has been successfully implemented in ... [more ▼]

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) has been shown to be an effective tool for pain distraction by redirecting attention away from painful stimuli. Although VR therapy has been successfully implemented in clinical settings, little is known about the underlying factors that modulate analgesic responses, such as cognitive load, executive functions and VR or gaming experience. Methods: A final sample of N = 90 healthy participants played the VR game Subnautica in a high and a low cognitive load condition. In the low load condition, participants explored the VR along a predefined route. In the high load condition, participants had to additionally memorize eight digits presented along the route. Pain heat thresholds as well as psychophysiological measures (ECG, EDA) were recorded during a non-interactive resting state period prior to playing as well as during the two VR sessions. Furthermore, participants completed questionnaires (e.g., pain attitude) and executive functioning tasks (e.g., go/nogo task). Results: Pain thresholds did not differ for high versus low demand. However, participants achieved higher threshold for the interactive playing sessions compared to the resting state period. Psychophysiological markers (e.g., HRV) indicate lower sympathetic activity during the resting state compared to the playing session (resting state < low load < high load). Moreover, pain catastrophizing and fear of pain were significant predictors of pain thresholds. Discussion: Results shed light on the role of inter-individual differences and psychophysiological markers of VR-based pain sensitivity and indicate factors that facilitate/impair distraction effects. This may have important implication for the use of VR-therapy. [less ▲]

A design strategy for phase synchronization in Precoding-enabled DVB-S2X user terminals

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

This paper address the design of a phase tracking block for the DVB-S2X user terminals in a satellite precoding system. The spectral characteristics of the phase noise introduced by the oscillator, the ... [more ▼]

This paper address the design of a phase tracking block for the DVB-S2X user terminals in a satellite precoding system. The spectral characteristics of the phase noise introduced by the oscillator, the channel, and the thermal noise at the receiver are taken into account. Using the expected phase noise mask, the optimal parameters for a second-order PLL intended to track channel variations from the pilots are calculated. To validate the results a Simulink model was implemented considering the characteristics of the hardware prototype. The performance of the design was evaluated in terms of the accuracy and stability for the frame structure of superframe Format 2, as described in Annex E of DVB-S2X. [less ▲]

Channel Modeling and Analysis of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces Assisted Vehicular Networks

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Raya: A Tangible Sports Buddy Reminding Oneself of the Commitment to Exercise

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Pain Processing in Older Age – Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Aging is known to affect neurobiological and physiological aspects of pain perception and has been associated with reduced pain sensitivity and a deterioration of descending pain inhibitory mechanisms. To ... [more ▼]

Aging is known to affect neurobiological and physiological aspects of pain perception and has been associated with reduced pain sensitivity and a deterioration of descending pain inhibitory mechanisms. To investigate age differences in neural electrophysiological correlates of pain processing, we induced acute pain in healthy older (60 yrs+) and younger adults (18 to 35 yrs), using short transdermal electrical pulses administered to the inner forearm, with individually adjusted stimulation intensities. Participants received alternating blocks of painful and non-painful control stimulation and rated the intensity and unpleasantness of each stimulus on two visual analog scales. Pain-related evoked potentials were recorded with a 64-channel EEG. Preliminary results indicate that younger and older participants rated painful stimuli more intensive and unpleasant compared to the control stimulation, with older adults showing a slight habituation over time. In younger adults, ERP amplitudes (N2, P2 P3) of painful stimulation were enhanced compared to non- painful stimulation. In contrast, older participants showed generally reduced ERPs, no difference between pain and non-painful stimulation and by tendency longer latencies for painful stimulation. This suggests that nociceptive neural processing is altered in aging, while the reported pain perception is unaffected. Given that aging is also associated with a decline of cognitive functions and PFC volume and activity changes, this could have implications for the efficacy of cognitive pain modulation. Altogether, our results highlight the need for a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying pain processing in older adults, and how these age-related changes affect (cognitive) pain treatments in this population. [less ▲]

Cultural identity in the context of migration – The case of Portuguese first generation immigrants in Luxembourg and their second generation children

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

While first generation immigrants carry a cultural heritage to their receiving country, their children are confronted with different cultural influences during their formative years. How does this so ... [more ▼]

While first generation immigrants carry a cultural heritage to their receiving country, their children are confronted with different cultural influences during their formative years. How does this so-called second-generation experience their cultural identities compared to their parents? To tackle this question, the present study focused on first- and second-generation Portuguese migrants living in Luxembourg. The sample comprises n = 72 PT young adult children (mean age M = 28.2, SD = 7.9; 61.1% female) who participated in the FNR-funded IRMA-project together with their parents (n = 70 PT mothers and n = 65 PT fathers). An adapted version of the bicultural identity orientation scale was employed to assess three dimensions of bicultural identity - compatible, conflicted and frame-switching. We examined patterns of identity constructions of first and second generation by use of cluster analysis, resulting in four profiles: blended, alternating, separated and ambivalent biculturals. Whereas second generation young adults were represented in each typology, parents were mostly found in the alternating or separated clusters. Clusters of parents and their children will be compared and factors contributing to parent-child congruence/incongruence identified. Results will be discussed considering regulatory processes of subjective well-being and different migration experiences in light of generation and age. [less ▲]

Cognitive distraction from pain: An fMRI study on the role of age and executive functions

Scientific Conference (2021, June)

Completing a cognitive task has been shown to be a powerful strategy to reduce concurrent pain. This reduction in pain is assumed to result from a competition between the painful stimulus and the ... [more ▼]

Completing a cognitive task has been shown to be a powerful strategy to reduce concurrent pain. This reduction in pain is assumed to result from a competition between the painful stimulus and the distractive task for attentional and executive resources mediated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a region that is particularly affected by age-related grey matter atrophy. In the present study, we investigated the role of age-related changes in gray matter volume and executive functions in modulating the efficacy of distraction from pain. In a first session, young and older adults completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. In a second session, we acquired functional brain images while participants completed a working memory task with two levels of cognitive load (low vs. high load) and concurrently received individually adjusted heat stimuli (innocuous vs. painful) to their lower arm. While we found no age-related differences in the distraction effect size on the behavioural level, young adults showed a larger neural distraction effect in several regions involved in pain processing, including the insula, caudate and midcingulate cortex. Interestingly, older adults with better executive functions, particularly, better inhibitory control abilities, showed a larger neural distraction effect in the insula, thalamus and primary somatosensory cortex, and more activation in frontal clusters during the high load task. Taken together, these findings suggest that age alters the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive distraction from pain, and that the magnitude of these changes may be dependent on the preservation of executive functions. [less ▲]

Scaling of urban heat island & NO2 with urban population: a meta-analysis

Scientific Conference (2021, May 28)

Metadiscourse by native and non-native English speakers: importance marking in lectures

Scientific Conference (2021, May 27)

This talk has a dual purpose. In addition to mapping the use of one type of metadiscourse, viz. importance markers, across ‘native’ and ‘English Medium Instruction’ (EMI) lecture corpora, we elaborate on ... [more ▼]

This talk has a dual purpose. In addition to mapping the use of one type of metadiscourse, viz. importance markers, across ‘native’ and ‘English Medium Instruction’ (EMI) lecture corpora, we elaborate on analytical issues related to studying metadiscourse in spoken and disciplinary discourse. ‘Importance markers’ (Deroey & Taverniers, 2012) are lexicogrammatical metadiscursive devices combining discourse organization with evaluation along a ‘parameter of importance or relevance’ (Thompson and Hunston, 2000, p. 24). In lectures, they help students identify key content, which is useful for allocating processing resources while listening to what are typically dense monologues that require processing in real time. This in turns is likely to benefit understanding, note-taking and retention. Comparing the use of importance markers in a single-discipline corpus of engineering lectures by ‘native’ speakers and EMI lecturers, our aim was to contribute to the limited insights into the linguistic features of EMI lecture discourse generally and metadiscourse important for lecture discourse organization and hence lecture listening, specifically. Both researchers independently identified potential importance markers manually in lectures 46 engineering lectures (364,542 words) delivered in the Italy, Malaysia, the UK, and New Zealand,. Agreed instances were tagged and the tagged corpus imported into Sketch Engine to facilitate further analysis. Overall, native speakers and EMI lecturers differed little in importance marker frequency, range, types, and lexemes. In both corpora, the predominant verb marker was V n/clause (e.g. remember they don't know each other). The main difference was the far more common use of the listener-oriented 2 pers pron V n/clause marker (you must understand how to apply this one) by the non-native speakers but this was largely due to idiolectic variation. Contrary to most corpus linguistic metadiscourse studies, we report the inevitable analytical difficulties when identifying and classifying metadiscourse. Issues include establishing a definition that is broad enough to capture the various realizations of a metadiscursive function, while not ‘opening the floodgates’ to include instances that are not representative or that render the study unfeasible. For us this included distinguishing between evaluation of discourse and ‘real world’ entities, excluding very frequent phrases that could be viewed as importance markers but in this discipline probably served another function, and establishing a continuum of highlighting ‘force’. These considerations necessitated careful manual analysis of a relatively small corpus, which however means that generalization are limited and idiolectic bias more likely. [less ▲]

Development of knowledge and subjectivity by analysis of teacher-movies

Scientific Conference (2021, May 22)

Droping out of school a symptom and as act. Work on signifiers and jouissance in interview-research

Scientific Conference (2021, May 21)

Linking Executive Functions and Math Intelligence in Preschool Children: A Meta-Analysis

Scientific Conference (2021, May 20)

Background: Executive functions (i.e., response inhibition, attention shifting, working memory updating) have shown to be related to the mathematical component of intelligence, which, in turn, is ... [more ▼]

Background: Executive functions (i.e., response inhibition, attention shifting, working memory updating) have shown to be related to the mathematical component of intelligence, which, in turn, is predictive of various competences later in life. While this relation has already been thoroughly researched in school students and adults, a comprehensive research synthesis on preschool children—a group for which the assessment of these constructs is more challenging—is still missing. Evidence on the differentiation of cognitive skills over time suggests a differential relation of the three executive functions with math intelligence in older but not in younger children. It remains unclear, however, whether and which one of the three executive functions is more closely related to math intelligence in preschool children. Further research gaps concern the measurement of both executive functions and math intelligence in preschool children, as they cannot complete reading- and writing-based questionnaires. Addressing this measurement challenge, a plethora of inventive measurements has been used to assess both cognitive skills. These measurement differences might also have an influence on the relation between executive functions and math intelligence. Objectives: With our meta-analysis, we aimed to clarify the relation between executive functions and math intelligence in preschool children. Further, we wanted to investigate the influence of different measurement methods on this relation and look into the specific links of inhibition, shifting, and updating with math intelligence more closely. Research questions: 1. To what extent are inhibition, shifting, and updating (as a composite and separately) related to math intelligence in preschool children? (Overall correlations) 2. Which sample, study, and measurement characteristics moderate this relation? (Heterogeneity and moderators) 3. How much variation in math intelligence do inhibition, shifting, and updating explain jointly? (Model testing) Methods: We examined the relation between executive functions and math intelligence for 268 effect sizes from 29 studies for a total sample of 25,510 preschool children. Specifically, we synthesized the corresponding correlations by means of three-level random-effects meta-analyses (RQ 1) and examined the study, sample, and measurement characteristics as possible moderators of this relation between EFs and math intelligence via mixed-effects modeling (RQ 2). Further, we performed meta-analytic structural equation modeling to investigate the joint and differential effects inhibition, shifting, and updating on math intelligence (RQ 3). Results: We found executive functions and math intelligence to correlate moderately in preschool children (r = .35). Investigating inhibition, shifting, and updating separately also revealed moderate average correlations to math intelligence (r = .30, r = .38 , and r = .36, respectively). While we did not find age to explain significant amounts of heterogeneity, four measurement characteristics moderated the relation between executive function and math intelligence. When considered jointly through meta-analytic structural equation modeling, the relations of inhibition, shifting, and updating to math intelligence were similar. Conclusions and Implications: By presenting evidence for a significant relation between executive functions and math intelligence also in preschool children, our findings contribute to the discussion on the differentiation of cognitive skills. They highlight the importance of considering measurement characteristics when researching executive functions and math intelligence. Further, we could not confirm that inhibition, shifting, and updating are differentially related to math intelligence. Further research is needed to clarify the impact of age on the relation between executive functions and math intelligence. [less ▲]

Digital Cultural Heritage and the Politics of Digitisation

Scientific Conference (2021, May 11)

This talk deals with a question that is becoming increasingly important for historians who work with digitised cultural heritage: what are the politics of digitisation and what are its implications for ... [more ▼]

This talk deals with a question that is becoming increasingly important for historians who work with digitised cultural heritage: what are the politics of digitisation and what are its implications for historical research? Is the often-lauded democratising potential of digitisation also offset by challenges, inherent in selection processes that might privilege the digitisation of heritage corresponding to existing national master narratives, the availability of funding and/or the priorities set by cultural policies and certain research agendas? How does transnational heritage fit into this picture when most digitisation projects are, in one way or another, nationally framed? What biases can digital archives introduce in our work and how does that differ from issues of bias and selection in the ‘paper’ archive? A key point to highlight is that professional historians can and should be more open to learn from the experience of digital archivists and librarians who are at the forefront of the digital turn in heritage wsk. the talk will conclude with a brief plea and suggestion for transparancy guidelines for digital resources. [less ▲]

Multiple vulnerabilities: The effects of neighborhood structural changes upon older residents' mental health and perceptions of the broader community

Scientific Conference (2021, May 06)

Aims: Neighborhoods’ structural conditions are consequential for their social circumstances and residents’ well-being. Neighborhood effects might be accentuated among older residents because their daily ... [more ▼]

Aims: Neighborhoods’ structural conditions are consequential for their social circumstances and residents’ well-being. Neighborhood effects might be accentuated among older residents because their daily activities and social lives are more confined to their immediate communities. This study examines how changing neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage affects older residents’ depression and stress, as well as perceptions of neighborhood context. Methods: This study employed waves 2 (2010-2011) and 3 (2015-2016) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project survey (N=2,357) and fixed-effects linear regression models to study these relationships. Results: While rising neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with more depression and stress, it was negatively associated with overall neighborhood social capital and neighborhood social cohesion, and was only associated with lower perceptions of neighborhood safety among respondents who relocated to new neighborhoods. Conclusions: Beyond cross-sectional associations, changing neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with changes in mental health and perceptions of neighborhood social context. [less ▲]

Creative Pedagogical Activities for User Evaluation Methods Courses

Scientific Conference (2021, May)

In this contribution, we present three teaching activities used during a User Evaluation Methods course (Bachelor level): a self-exploration of methods, scenario-based debates around methodological ... [more ▼]

In this contribution, we present three teaching activities used during a User Evaluation Methods course (Bachelor level): a self-exploration of methods, scenario-based debates around methodological choices, and a flipped-classroom video assignment. These are hands-on activities, brief and modular, that can be used or adapted to any similar course on user evaluation methods (on-campus or remote teaching). We describe each activity and reflect on their use, supported by students’ reflections on the course and insights from our teaching practice. [less ▲]

Hyperparameter Optimization for Neural Network based Taxi Demand Prediction

Scientific Conference (2021, May)

The Hormones of Dark Souls: The Dark Tetrad and Violent Gaming Effects on Aggression, Cortisol and Testosterone Levels

Scientific Conference (2021, May)

Although playing violent video games may lead to detrimental effects on cognition, emotion and behavior, the role of hormones and its interplay with personality characteristics is not well understood. An ... [more ▼]

Although playing violent video games may lead to detrimental effects on cognition, emotion and behavior, the role of hormones and its interplay with personality characteristics is not well understood. An experimental study tested how playing a violent versus non-violent video game affects cortisol and testosterone levels, whether these hormonal changes increase implicit aggressive cognition, and whether Dark Tetrad personality traits moderate these effects. In an experimental design, 54 male participants played either a violent or a non-violent video game. Participants provided salivary samples at the beginning of the experiment (T1), right after 25 minutes of gameplay (T2), and 20 minutes after that (T3). There were no significant effects on implicit aggressive cognition. However, participants in the violent game condition had a significant decrease in cortisol levels (T1 to T2) and a significant negative trend in cortisol levels from T1 to T3. Participants with higher Machiavellianism scores in the violent condition had a stronger decrease in cortisol (T1 to T2). In contrast, participants with higher Machiavellianism scores in the non-violent condition had a higher increase in cortisol (T1 to T2). The present findings illustrate the complex interplay between personality, hormones, and game content, thus specifying current notions on violent game effects. [less ▲]

Causal Analysis of SARS-COVID-19 Outbreak on European Cities Urban Mobility

Scientific Conference (2021, May)

Virtual reality gaming for pain distraction - Investigation of attentional and psychophysiological effects

Scientific Conference (2021, May)

Virtual reality has been shown to be a powerful method to divert attention away from pain (Malloy & Milling, 2010) and has been used successfully to temporally relieve patients from pain in clinical ... [more ▼]

Virtual reality has been shown to be a powerful method to divert attention away from pain (Malloy & Milling, 2010) and has been used successfully to temporally relieve patients from pain in clinical settings. However, little is known about the underlying attentional processes involved in pain processing in virtual reality. Therefore, as one of the first studies, this project investigates the role of especially cognitive factors influencing distraction from pain. N = 90 healthy participants played the video game Subnautica in two virtual reality conditions (high vs. low cognitive load). To assess the distraction effect, pain thresholds and psychophysiological measures were assessed during play. Additionally, executive functions and self-reported measures on, e.g., presence, simulation sickness and pain-related subjects were assessed. Results suggest that interactive virtual reality games are a potential tool to alter pain processing, regardless of the level of cognitive load. [less ▲]

Teacher education in translanguaging to achieve social justice?

Scientific Conference (2021, April 29)

Multilingual and multicultural settings are an ever-growing reality all over the world. The potential of migrant’s multilingual and multicultural heritage can be unfolded if the citizens of the host ... [more ▼]

Multilingual and multicultural settings are an ever-growing reality all over the world. The potential of migrant’s multilingual and multicultural heritage can be unfolded if the citizens of the host country are open to it. However, immigrants are often confronted with cultural and linguistic supremacy while nationals of the host country are afraid of a loss or ‘dilution’ of their existing culture and language. The increase of multilingual and multicultural settings as well as the difficulty in overcoming this fear impelled scholars of various sciences to conduct extensive research on the issues of marginalization and cultural imperialism. Researchers in educational sciences, most notably Li Wei and Ofelia García, have opposed the linguistic and cultural hegemony in education through the promotion of translanguaging pedagogy. Translanguaging as a term describes both the natural discourse of bi- and multilingual people through the use of their entire linguistic repertoire and the pedagogy that makes use of these unique linguistic repertoires of bi- and multilingual students to foster learning, comprehension and academic achievement (Celic & Selzer, 2011; Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015). The use of a translanguaging pedagogy in multicultural and multilingual settings proves beyond useful to disrupt linguistic hegemonies and socio-politically constructed named languages by giving bi- and multilingual students a voice and space to prosper, learn and develop their bi- and multilingual identities (García, 2019). The need of a translanguaging pedagogy becomes necessary in countries such as the small trilingual Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. The culturally and linguistically highly diverse country with its three official languages (Luxembourgish, French, and German) sees a staggering gap between the school achievements of native and non-native children, forcing even the government to implement mandatory multilingual education in preschools (PISA, 2019). The development of Luxembourgish, familiarization of French and valorization of the home languages of the children have become an official requirement for preschool teachers since 2017. Given that 64 % of four-year olds in Luxembourg do not speak Luxembourgish at home, multiple projects and courses have launched to aid teachers in the practical application of this new law (MENJE, 2018). Thus, we developed our professional development course in translanguaging for preschool teachers in Luxembourg to support their work with multilingual children and their families. The disruption of the linguistic hegemony in Luxembourgish classrooms was implicitly carried through three distinct objectives of the project : (1) 18-hours professional development course in translanguaging to 38 preschool teachers from June to December 2019 divided into 7 sessions (multilingual ecology, home-school collaboration, multilingual brain, multilingual oracy and literacy), (2) active inclusion of children’s families to foster home-school collaboration through parents’ questionnaires and interviews and the promotion of partnerships between families and teachers in the course, and (3) support of children’s linguistic, socio-emotional and cognitive development and engagement in the classroom through early literacy and numeracy tests in the school and home languages, and video observations of classroom activities and interactions. As the goal of social justice was thematized implicitly throughout the course given that most teachers are monolingually and monoculturally biased to be confronted with the topic of cultural imperialism and linguistic hegemony head-on, we tried to assess the teachers change in attitudes through the use of focus group and questionnaires at the beginning and the end of the course. This is the present focus. As the voluntary participation in a translanguaging course would already suggest, the preliminary results of our project show an overall openness of the participating teachers towards other languages and cultures and an awareness of the need of inclusion of the home languages of the children for the benefit of their development and well-being. The results from teacher questionnaires show that there was a significant increase in positive attitudes towards multilingualism (t(35) = -3.83, p < .001) and significant decrease in exclusive interest in Luxembourgish (t(35) = 3.45, p < .001), after the course. This openness and awareness do, however, not automatically translate into social justice as only a very small number of teachers was open to the idea of disrupting linguistic hegemonies and in the video observations unconsciously put all the languages at a same level. The majority of the participants did change their views about their multilingual students (from deficit to richness) realizing that the inclusion of children’s home languages and cultures is a valuable tool for comprehension, learning and socio-emotional development instead of only being a stepping-stone until full mastery of Luxembourgish is achieved. Yet, their strong focus on the development of Luxembourgish and its absolute untouchable status as the language that receives the most recognition did not change. Beside the linguistic superiority of Luxembourgish, even linguistic hierarchies became blatantly obvious during video observations, showing just how much work still needs to be done for teachers to truly interiorize the potentially harmful consequences of linguistic hegemonies and hierarchies. It is our responsibility as researchers to continue to work with teachers, and involve parents, children, and their communities. Change in attitudes and raise of social responsibility and justice is a process. At this point of our project, we see it in fragments, and it is important for all of us not to disrupt it. If we do, the networks that we created will dissolve and the positive impact on multilingual children’s lives and their families could disappear. Therefore, we see two opportunities to continue the work on translanguaging pedagogy by: (1) organizing an additional training for teachers in which we will analyze the video observations to focus on power relations, and (2) organizing a teacher/parent conference in which we will facilitate the discussion on translanguaging pedagogy. Educational and social contexts are rapidly changing and we believe that our professional development course in translanguaging pedagogy is contributing to the process of adaptation to these changes by explicitly inviting us to be more socially responsible and fair. The Conference will give us the opportunity to present the final results and future directions of the project. References Celic, C., & Selzer, K. (2011). Translanguaging: A CUNY-NYSIEB Guide for Educators. New York: CUNY-NYSIEB. García, O. (2019). Translanguaging: a coda to the code?, Classroom Discourse, 10(3-4), 369-373, doi: 10.1080/19463014.2019.1638277 Ministry of National Education, Childhood and Youth [MENJE]. (2018). Les chiffres clés de l'Éducation nationale: statistiques et indicateurs - Année scolaire 2016-2017 [Key numbers of the national education: statistics and indicators – School year 2016-20167]. Retrieved from http://www.men.public.lu/fr/actualites/publications/themes-transversaux/statistiques-analyses/chiffres-cles/index.html OECD (2019). PISA 2018 Results (Volume I): What students know and can do. PISA, OECD Publishing: Paris. doi: https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named langauges: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistic Review, 6(3), 281–307. [less ▲]

Multi-GNSS Slant Wet Delay Retrieval Using Multipath Mitigation Maps

Scientific Conference (2021, April 24)

The conventional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) processing is typically contaminated with errors due to atmospheric variabilities, such as those associated with the mesoscale phenomena. These ... [more ▼]

The conventional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) processing is typically contaminated with errors due to atmospheric variabilities, such as those associated with the mesoscale phenomena. These errors are manifested in the parameter estimates, including station coordinates and atmospheric products. To enhance the accuracy of these GNSS products further, a better understanding of the local-scale atmospheric variability is necessary. As part of multi-GNSS processing, station coordinates, carrier phase ambiguities, orbits, zenith total delay (ZTD) and horizontal gradients are the main parameters of interest. Here, ZTD is estimated as the average zenith delay along the line-of-sight to every observed GNSS satellite mapped to the vertical while the horizontal gradients are estimated in NS and EW directions and provide a means to partly account for the azimuthally inhomogeneous atmosphere. However, a better atmospheric description is possible by evaluating the slant path delay (SPD) or slant wet delay (SWD) along GNSS ray paths, which are not resolved by ordinary ZTD and gradient analysis. SWD is expected to provide better information about the inhomogeneous distribution of water vapour that is disregarded when retrieving ZTD and horizontal gradients. Usually, SWD cannot be estimated directly from GNSS processing as the number of unknown parameters exceeds the number of observations. Thus, SWD is generally calculated from ZTD for each satellite and may be dominated by un-modelled atmospheric delays, clock errors, unresolved carrier-phase ambiguities and near-surface multipath scattering. In this work, we have computed multipath maps by stacking individual post-fit carrier residuals incorporating the signals from four GNSS constellations, i.e. BeiDou, Galileo, Glonass and GPS. We have selected a subset of global International GNSS Service (IGS) stations capable of multi-GNSS observables located in different climatic zones. The multipath effects are reduced by subtracting the stacked multipath maps from the raw post-fit carrier phase residuals. We demonstrate that the multipath stacking technique results in significantly reduced variations in the one-way post-fit carrier phase residuals. This is particularly evident for lower elevation angles, thus, producing a retrieval method for SWD that is less affected by site-specific multipath effects. We show a positive impact on SWD estimation using our multipath maps during increased atmospheric inhomogeneity as induced by severe weather events. [less ▲]

Keynote Speaker: War Heroes Became Deserters and War Whores Turned into Singing Babushkas: Displaced Persons and Gender in Cold War Belgium

Scientific Conference (2021, April 22)

Les jeunes dans les flux de travailleurs au Luxembourg : Evolutions et caractéristiques socioprofessionnelles

Scientific Conference (2021, April 22)

Multilingual practices and literacies in Luxembourg: perspectives from teachers, parents and children

Scientific Conference (2021, April 21)

Panel Organiser: Peripheries at the Centre: Borderland Schooling in Interwar Europe

Scientific Conference (2021, April 17)

Third-country National Labour Workers' Mobility to and inside Europe during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Scientific Conference (2021, April 15)

This presentation analyses the situation generated by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis regarding border closures and the reintroduction of temporary border controls at the internal borders in the EU and the ... [more ▼]

This presentation analyses the situation generated by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis regarding border closures and the reintroduction of temporary border controls at the internal borders in the EU and the impact that this border closures and the pandemic had on third-country nationals living or visiting the European Union. [less ▲]

Cheminformatics and the Exposome in Health and Disease

Scientific Conference (2021, April 10)

Designing EMI lecturer training programmes: what and how

Scientific Conference (2021, April 08)

This workshop will provide insights into designing and delivering English Medium Instruction (EMI) lecturer training. Although universities have been slow to organize EMI lecturer support, an increasing ... [more ▼]

This workshop will provide insights into designing and delivering English Medium Instruction (EMI) lecturer training. Although universities have been slow to organize EMI lecturer support, an increasing awareness of the challenges faced by EMI lecturers and their students now appears to be boosting the demand for EMI lecturer training and support initiatives. Consequently, EAP practitioners can increasingly expect requests to design and deliver such programmes. However, the efficient design and delivery of EMI lecturing training and support is a complex challenge. First, the EMI context is very varied and initiatives should be adapted to the local cultural, educational, linguistic and institutional contexts (Herington, 2020; Martinez & Fernandes, 2020; Tuomainen, 2018). Second, most literature highlights the need for language, pedagogical and intercultural components (e.g. Fortanet Gómez, 2020). Third, we need to be sensitive to lecturers’ attitudes towards EMI and EMI training (Tsui, 2018). Fourth, there are practical considerations such as the timely provision of support (Guarda & Helm, 2017), promoting participation, facilitating learning transfer to lectures, and optimizing the support in view of what are often heterogeneous participant groups in terms of English proficiency, (EMI) lecturing experience and discipline (Ball & Lindsay, 2013). Finally, the design of these programmes typically needs to happen with very limited institutional resources, few (if any) published materials and relatively little published research on lecture discourse and EMI lecturer training. The workshop will start with an overview of published training initiatives with their reported successes and challenges (Deroey, 2021). Next, participants will work in small groups, brainstorming ideas for an EMI support programme based on a brief we have recently received at the multilingual University of Luxembourg Language Centre. Finally, these proposals will be discussed in the whole group and key ideas summarized to consolidate the insights gained. Ball, P., & Lindsay, D. (2013). Language demands and support for English-medium instruction in tertiary education. Learning from a specific context In A. Doiz, D. Lasagabaster, & J. M. Sierra (Eds.), English-medium instruction at universities: Global challenges (pp. 44-61). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. -Deroey, K. L. B. (2021). Lecturer training for English Medium Instruction: what and how? In B. D. Bond, A. & M. Evans (Ed.), Innovation, exploration and transformation. Proceedings of the 2019 BALEAP Conference. Reading: Garnet. -Fortanet Gómez, I. (2020). The dimensions of EMI in the international classroom: training teachers for the future university. In M. Del Mar Sánchez-Pérez (Ed.), Teacher training for English-medium instruction in higher education (pp. 1-20). Hershey: IGI Global. -Guarda, M., & Helm, F. (2017). A survey of lecturers’ needs and feedback on EMI training. In K. Ackerley, M. Guarda, & F. Helm (Eds.), Sharing perspectives on English-medium instruction (pp. 167-194). Bern: Peter Lang. -Herington, R. (2020). Observation as a tool to facilitate the professional development of teaching faculty involved in English as a Medium of Instruction: trainer and trainee perspectives. In M. L. Carrió-Pasto (Ed.), Internationalising Learning in Higher Education (pp. 65-82). Hershey: IGI Global. -Martinez, R., & Fernandes, K. (2020). Development of a teacher training course for English medium instruction for higher education professors in Brazil. In M. Del Mar Sánchez-Pérez (Ed.), Teacher Training for English-Medium Instruction in Higher Education (pp. 125-152). Hershey: IGI Global. -Tuomainen, S. (2018). Supporting non-native university lecturers with English-medium instruction. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. 10(3), 230-242. -Tsui, C. (2018). Teacher efficacy: a case study of faculty beliefs in an English-medium instruction teacher training program. Taiwan Journal of TESOL, 15(1), 101-128. [less ▲]

Transition from traditional to hybrid to online courses for pre-service elementary school teachers at the University of Luxembourg: STEAM integrated approach in the project MathEduc @ BScE

Scientific Conference (2021, April 07)

During the past year, technology has started enabling new forms of teaching and learning in higher education in Luxemburg. Thus, to be able to work more closely with elementary school pre-service teachers ... [more ▼]

During the past year, technology has started enabling new forms of teaching and learning in higher education in Luxemburg. Thus, to be able to work more closely with elementary school pre-service teachers, we shifted our mathematics education course during the past years to flipped classroom approaches and worked with synchronous and asynchronous teaching on- and off-campus modes. Furthermore, due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to shift our teaching to entirely online flipped classroom approaches together with outdoor mathematical trails with STEAM integrated assessments. This final shift to a fully online flipped classroom, with self-paced, student-centred teachings and learnings, showed strong positive effects on pre-service elementary school teachers in mathematics teaching. In this presentation, we will outline results of this transition period and describe results from different studies. [less ▲]

Joint Beam-Hopping Scheduling and Power Allocation in NOMA-Assisted Satellite Systems

Scientific Conference (2021, March 31)

In this paper, we investigate potential synergies of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and beam hopping (BH) for multi-beam satellite systems. The coexistence of BH and NOMA provides time-power-domain ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we investigate potential synergies of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and beam hopping (BH) for multi-beam satellite systems. The coexistence of BH and NOMA provides time-power-domain flexibilities in mitigating a practical mismatch effect between offered capacity and requested traffic per beam. We formulate the joint BH scheduling and NOMA-based power allocation problem as mixed-integer nonconvex programming. We reveal the xponential-conic structure for the original problem, and reformulate the problem to the format of mixed-integer conic programming (MICP), where the optimum can be obtained by exponential-complexity algorithms. A greedy scheme is proposed to solve the problem on a timeslot-by-timeslot basis with polynomial-time complexity. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed efficient suboptimal algorithm in reducing the matching error by 62.57% in average over the OMA scheme and achieving a good trade-off between computational complexity and performance compared to the optimal solution. [less ▲]

Co-concevoir des outils d’évaluation : Impliquer les utilisateurs pour une meilleure expérience. Retour sur la collaboration avec des enseignants pour développer l’outil d’évaluation en ligne OASYS4schools.

Scientific Conference (2021, March 30)

Mapping wartime Jewish diaries and their postwar trajectories

Scientific Conference (2021, March 26)

If Auschwitz has become the key symbol of the Holocaust, then the fate of Anne Frank and her family has become symbolic of Jewish wartime experiences in Nazi-occupied Europe, and Anne’s diaries of Jewish ... [more ▼]

If Auschwitz has become the key symbol of the Holocaust, then the fate of Anne Frank and her family has become symbolic of Jewish wartime experiences in Nazi-occupied Europe, and Anne’s diaries of Jewish diary writing. As such they are constitutive of people’s ideas about the Holocaust and the Jewish experience during World War II. Indeed, the Anne Frank diaries are intrinsic to the development of postwar Holocaust memory. Yet we know that the case of Anne Frank was far from representative, and insofar as scholars strive to recover the full range of Jewish wartime experiences, as filtered through autobiographical texts, this situation is obviously problematic. In contrast to Anne Frank and her diary, the ‘context of textual production’ (Garbarini 2014) for any Jew writing in Eastern Europe, in the very centre of the killings, could not be more different. As a result diary writing here diferred starkly in terms of both content and intent. This is particularly true for Yiddish diaries, which reflect the experiences of the poorest Jews in Eastern Europe. This paper focuses on wartime Jewish diaries from Poland. It is based mostly upon the collection of diaries from the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, 75% of which are written in Polish and around 20% in Yiddish. Importantly, the collection’s inventory indicates both the locations were the writer is known to have been, as well as those locations which are mentioned in the diary, which of course do not necessarily overlap. As a result the collection’s metadata allow us to map several things: the spatio-linguistic distribution of wartime diaries and the areas covered by them; and the spread of news, as reflected by the locations covered by the diaries’ contents. Moreover, in addition to enabling the analysis of a wealth of contextual information, the inventory also lists known translation and/or publication data for each diary. As a result, we can get a glimpse in their postwar trajectories and analyse which diaries were published, where and at what time, and in which translations. This, in turn, can tell us much about the relation between translation and Holocaust memory since, as Naomi Seidman has argued (2006), “the canon of Holocaust literature should be read as the rewriting of this historical event for new audiences”. A final step would be to embed information from the diaries’ themselves, and the actual experiences that are conveyed, into the maps, thus creating a deep map which combines more factual information about the diaries with the subjective lived experiences contained within them. The project seeks to contribute to a more balanced understanding of wartime Jewish diaries and writing during WWII in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, though the prism of a specific collection. The broader aim of the paper is to provide an example of the type of new spatio-temporal insights that can be gleaned from collections’ metadata, in addition to ‘traditional’ textual content analysis. The project uses Nodegoat (nodegoat.net) as a way to manage, explore and visualise the data. [less ▲]

The role of European Migration Network in supporting European migration policymakers: Mechanisms, Tools and contemporary challenges

Scientific Conference (2021, March 26)

The role of the EMN in the collection of information to provide timely, comparable information to EU and national policymakers.

Die Burg in St. Vith - Eine typisch „sponheimische“ Anlage?

Scientific Conference (2021, March 25)

Der Vortrag geht zwei Leitfragen nach: 1) Wer kommt als Erbauer der kürzlich archäologisch nachgewiesenen Burg in St. Vith in Frage? 2) Entspricht die Burg in ihrer repräsentativen und fortifikatorischen ... [more ▼]

Der Vortrag geht zwei Leitfragen nach: 1) Wer kommt als Erbauer der kürzlich archäologisch nachgewiesenen Burg in St. Vith in Frage? 2) Entspricht die Burg in ihrer repräsentativen und fortifikatorischen Gestaltung eventuell einem „sponheimischen Burgentypus“? [less ▲]

Die Pädagogik des Translanguaging: Weitere Beispiele und Handlungsanweisungen in Vorschulen und Klassen 1 und 2. Workshop.

Scientific Conference (2021, March 20)

Die Pädagogik des Translanguaging: Möglichkeiten und Herausforderungen. Keynote.

Scientific Conference (2021, March 20)

Unfolding the Science Diplomacy Toolbox: Science and Innovation Centres

Scientific Conference (2021, March 18)

Keynote roundtable presentation: Digital History and the Politics of Cultural Heritage Digitisation

Scientific Conference (2021, March 16)

Negative mood increases desire to eat, but not event-related potentials, for food images in bulimia nervosa

Scientific Conference (2021, March 12)

Digital history and the politics of digitization

Scientific Conference (2021, March 10)

This paper addresses the question of the politics of (cultural heritage) digitisation and its consequences for historical research. To put it simply, it discusses the question of why, where and how we can ... [more ▼]

This paper addresses the question of the politics of (cultural heritage) digitisation and its consequences for historical research. To put it simply, it discusses the question of why, where and how we can access what we can access. The online documentary record affects historical research and we need to understand how and in what ways our online evidentiary basis is constituted and might affect our research. [less ▲]

Exploring the History of Digital History

Scientific Conference (2021, March 01)

This short paper will present the first results, and outline my new project which investigates the early trajectories of history and computing and focuses on the networks of computing historians in the ... [more ▼]

This short paper will present the first results, and outline my new project which investigates the early trajectories of history and computing and focuses on the networks of computing historians in the pre-PC and early PC period. [less ▲]

Presenter: Elite School Principals and Democratic Citizenship in the Belgian-German Borderlands (1919–1939)

Scientific Conference (2021, February 26)

Importance marking in EMI lectures: A comparative study

Scientific Conference (2021, February 23)

In this presentation we focus on how lecturers mark important information in their lectures. Being able to identify important information is fundamental to the learning process (Benson, 1989, p. 437), and ... [more ▼]

In this presentation we focus on how lecturers mark important information in their lectures. Being able to identify important information is fundamental to the learning process (Benson, 1989, p. 437), and the different levels of information in a lecture may be highlighted through a careful choice of language, including explicit macro markers (Chaudron & Richards, 1986; Allison & Tauroza, 1995; Jung, 2003; Titsworth & Kiewra, 2004). Previous research has focussed particularly on importance markers in native speaking (NS) lecturer discourse (e.g. Crawford Camiciottoli 2004; Deroey & Taverniers 2011, 2012; Deroey 2012, 2014, 2015). Our study expands this research to compare the use of lexicogrammatical importance markers in both NS and non-native speaker (NNS) lectures. A specially compiled corpus of about 365,000 words of Physical Science lectures was used in our study, featuring a balanced number of words from lectures in Italy (Johnson & Picciuolo, 2020; Picciuolo & Johnson, 2020) as well as in New Zealand, the UK and Malaysia (‘Engineering Lecture Corpus’ ). A qualitative analysis was done to annotate all instances of markers evaluating the importance of lecture content. These included verb, adjective or noun phrases containing an evaluation of importance. Assessment-related expressions were also marked. 378 separate instances were identified. More delicate analysis of the importance-marking phrases was done, with distributions and variations in frequent patterns identified in both NS and NNS lectures. While Verb phrases were found to be the most frequent in both NS and NNS lectures (62%), there was variation in the type of Verb patterns according to NS and NNS, as well as in verb choice. In general, though importance markers were distributed evenly over NS (=191) and NNS (=187) lectures, NS showed more variety than NNS in the type of pattern used, with adjective, metanoun and assessment-related expressions as well as idiomatic expressions figuring more frequently than in NNS, although there were significant differences also within the NS and NNS sub-corpora themselves. Whether these findings show that NNS are more aware of the risks of misunderstanding among their international student audiences (House, 2003; Mauranen, 2006), and thus use a smaller variety of less ambiguous importance markers, or that NNS have fewer language resources to draw on in the first place, awareness-raising among EMI lecturers is vital when preparing teacher training materials, given the expansion of ELF in international academic contexts where both lecturers and students are non-native speakers. References Allison, D., & Tauroza S. (1995). The effect of discourse organisation on lecture comprehension. English for Specific Purposes 14: 157-173. Benson, M.J. (1989). The Academic Listening Task: a case study. TESOL quarterly, vol. 23(3) 421-445. Chaudron, C., & Richards J. C. (1986). The effect of discourse markers on the comprehension of lectures. Applied Linguistics, vol. 7 (2) 113-127. Crawford Camiciottoli, B. (2004). Audience-oriented relevance markers in business studies lectures. In Del Lungo Camiciotti, G. & Tognini Bonelli, E. (Eds.), Academic Discourse: New Insights into Evaluation. Peter Lang, pp. 81–98. Deroey, K. L. B. (2012). What they highlight is: the discourse functions of basic wh-clefts in lectures. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 11/2: 112–24. Deroey, K.L.B. (2014). ‘Anyway, the point I'm making is': lexicogrammatical relevance marking in lectures. In Vandelanotte L., Kristin, D. Caroline G. & Ditte K. (Eds.), Recent advances in Corpus Linguistics: Developing and exploiting corpora, Amsterdam/New York, Rodopi, 265-291. Deroey, K. L. B. (2015) Marking importance in lectures: Interactive and Textual Orientation. Applied Linguistics 2015: 36/1: 51-72. Deroey, K. L. B., & Taverniers, M. (2011). A corpus-based study of lecture functions. Moderna Sprak 105/2: 1–22. Deroey, K. L. B., & Taverniers, M. (2012). Just remember this: Lexicogrammatical relevance markers in lectures. English for Specific Purposes. 31 (4) 221-233. House, J. (2003). Misunderstanding in intercultural university encounters. In House J., Kasper G and Ross S. (Eds.), Misunderstanding in social life: discourse approaches to problematic talk, London: Longman, 22-56. Johnson, J. H., & Picciuolo, M. (2020). Interaction in spoken academic discourse in an EMI context: the use of questions. Conference proceedings of the Congress UPV 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’20) Domenech, J., Merello, P., de la Poza, E. & Peña-Ortiz, R. (Eds.), Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València, pp. 211-219. Mauranen, A. (2006). Signalling and preventing misunderstanding in English as a lingua franca communication. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 177: 123-150. Picciuolo, M., & Johnson, J. H. (2020). Contrasting EMI lecturers’ perceptions with practices at the University of Bologna. In Miller, D.R. (Ed.), Quaderni del CeSLiC. Occasional papers. Bologna: Centro di Studi Linguistico-Culturali (CeSLiC), Università di Bologna. AlmaDL, p. 23. http://amsacta.unibo.it/6399/ Titsworth, S. B., & Kiewra, K.A. (2004). Spoken organizational lecture cues and student notetaking as facilitators of student learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology 29: 447-461. [less ▲]