Conference Programme FULL (1)

An exploration of English for Legal Purposes in the Algerian Higher Education
Leila Benseddik
Algerian law students face serious obstacles in joining the legal communities locally and internationally. This is due to their
lack of the disciplinary knowledge of legal genre, behaviours and practices. The present research is an exploration of the
field of law regarding the teaching of legal English. It aims at developing and evaluating an experimental English course
which will enable law students not only to be highly competent academically, but also to possess a strong command of
the English language in order to better perform in the legal profession. Since the study is a case of English for Specific
Purposes (ESP), the first step was to conduct a Needs Analysis regarding students’ needs, lacks and necessities in legal
English. In order to do so, the researcher conducted interviews with ELP teachers, administered questionnaires to Law
students and attended their English sessions to do the classroom observation. The Needs Analysis findings revealed that
these students need the ability to truly integrate in the legal community which necessitates a good knowledge of the
specific language and practice (discourse and genre) that characterize this community. Based on the outcomes of the
Needs Analysis, the researcher’ s second step is to design an experimental course to be taught for law students aiming at
teaching them the legal behaviours associated with legal uses of the English language in order to help them practice their
legal skills in their future communities successfully.
Evaluating enzymatic catalysis with the Heat-Transfer Method (HTM)
K. Betlem , M. Zubko , D. Sawtell , P. Kelly , M. Peeters
The heat-transfer method (HTM) is a novel thermal detection principle that has already shown its use in the analysis of
DNA mutations, the identification of cancer cells and the detection of neurotransmitters. Depending on the measurement
at hand, the chip surface will be functionalized accordingly. This surface is the central element through which the heat flux
will pass. The internal temperature of the heat sink, T 1, is measured by a thermocouple and steered via a controller, which
is connected to a power resistor. The front side of the functionalized chip is exposed to the liquid, where T 2 is measured
at the solid−liquid interface. To extract the heat-transfer resistance R th (°C/W) quantitatively, the ratio of the temperature
difference ΔT = T 1 − T 2 and the input power P according to R th = ΔT/P, is analysed. Changes in the interface will reflect in a
difference in the overall thermal resistance.
As a first proof-of-principle, evaluation of the catalytic activity of two DNA sequences that only vary in one or two
nucleotides will be performed. This difference makes one of the sequences a substrate for a restriction enzyme (EcoR1),
while the other sequence lacks a recognition site and is not a suitable substrate for digestion with EcoR1. It is suggested
that any differences in HTM responses (shorter DNA strand = lower thermal resistance) will be the reflection of the
catalytic activities. As a proof-of-application, catalytic activity of restriction enzymes in vivo will be studied using cell
extracts of wild type and cdc13-1 mutant.