This article indicates that Arab Libyan EFL learners are incompetent in oral communication. Despite spending years in learning English, they fail to employ that knowledge in real communicative situations. This might be the outcome of inadequate teaching approaches that are employed by Arab EFL teachers. Diaaba (2016) pointed out that, their overreliance on traditional approaches which emphasize extensive linguistic input rather than communicative output result in what Wolff (2010 cited in ibed, 2016 p. 338) calls 'mute English learners', who can read and write but cannot speak. The purpose of this study was to uncover challenges facing Arabic-speaking ESL students as well as teachers .13 participations are included in this article. Research questions focused on the needs of the Arab Libyan-speaking ESL students, the factors that influence their learning, and the problems the teachers face in supporting these students. Data sources included teacher and student interviews, classroom observations the results revealed that Arab Libyan learners face challenges in speaking skills due to linguistic and psychological barriers. The study concluded that several important challenges for teachers and students exist, including time, language support, and knowledge insufficient exposure to the target language and frequent use of Arabic were the main factors contributing to the Libyan EFL learners' speaking difficulties. Lack of speaking activities and overemphasis on accuracy at the expense of fluency by the teachers were other contributing factors.

Keywords: Speaking skills; speaking difficulties; instructional approaches; linguistic and psychological barriers

Abstract

This paper is the report of the first Under-Display Camera (UDC) image restoration challenge in conjunction with the RLQ workshop at ECCV 2020. The challenge is based on a newly-collected database of Under-Display Camera. The challenge tracks correspond to two types of display: a 4k Transparent OLED (T-OLED) and a phone Pentile OLED (P-OLED). Along with about 150 teams registered the challenge, eight and nine teams submitted the results during the testing phase for each track. The results in the paper are state-of-the-art restoration performance of Under-Display Camera Restoration. Datasets and paper are available at https://yzhouas.github.io/projects/UDC/udc.html.

Keywords

Under-display camera Image restoration Denoising Debluring 

Abstract

Background: Ginkgo biloba extract (GbE) is known to contain several bioactive compounds and exhibits free radical scavenging activity. Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons and is associated with oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and apoptosis.

Objective: The current study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effect of GbE in a rat model of PD induced by rotenone (ROT; a neurotoxin).

Methods: Twenty-four male albino rats were randomly divided into four groups of six rats each: normal control, GbE treated, toxin control (ROT treated) and GbE+ROT group.

Results: Oral administration of ROT (2.5 mg/kg b.w.) for 50 days caused an increased generation of lipid peroxidation products and significant depletion of reduced glutathione, total thiol content and activities of enzymatic antioxidants, i.e., superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in the brains of treated rats. Furthermore, ROT caused an elevation in acetylcholinesterase, interleukin-1β, interleukin- 6 and tumor necrosis factor-α and a significant reduction in dopamine in the stratum and substantia nigra. Immunohistochemical results illustrated that ROT treatment reduced the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). GbE treatment (150 mg/kg b.w./day) significantly reduced the elevated oxidative stress markers and proinflammatory cytokines and restored the reduced antioxidant enzyme activities, DA level and TH expression. These results were confirmed by histological observations that clearly indicated a neuroprotective effect of GbE against ROT-induced PD.

Conclusion: GbE mitigated ROT-induced PD via the inhibition of free-radical production, scavenging of ROS, and antioxidant enhancement.

Keywords: Ginkgo biloba; Parkinson's disease; ROT treatment; neuroprotection; oxidative stress; rotenone.