4,186 research outputs found
A study of reading among secondary school pupils in a developing nation
A study of the nature of advanced literacy among senior secondary
school pupils in a developing country, Botswana, was made to test
five hypotheses: 1) that there is a substantial relationship
between reading ability in English (the second language) and
reading ability in Setswana (the mother-tongue); 2) that there is
a substantial relationship between reading ability in English and
reading habits, and 3) between Sotswana reading ability and reading
habits; 4) that there is a substantial relationship between English
reading ability and success in school, and 5) between Setswana
reading ability and success in school. Cloze tests in English and
Setswana were administered to 441 Form Five subjects in nine
secondary schools in Botswana. A sample of 97 of the subjects was
selected by performance on the English close test and interviewed
about their reading habits. The Cambridge School Certificate
results for 435 of the subjects were obtained after they had sat
the examination five months after the interviews. The results
were treated by correlational and contingency analysis. The
findings were that there was a significant relationship between
reading ability in English and in Setswana, though not a very large
one; that there was a significant relationship between reading
ability in each of the two languages and the Cambridge Examination,
though the relationship of the Setswana ability was smaller; and
that there was a
relationship between English ability and reading
habits, but almost none between the habits and Setswana reading
ability. It is suggested that there is an optimum level of
proficiency in English required for success in school, and that
increased proficiency produces diminishing returns. Suggestions
are made for future research
Passing Muster: Evaluating Teacher Evaluation Systems
Describes how state or federal governments could reward exceptional teachers based on a uniform standard across various district-level teacher evaluation systems by determining the systems' reliability in predicting future performance. Includes Q & A
ResearchFanshawe Magazine Special Edition 1
https://first.fanshawec.ca/researchfanshawemag/1006/thumbnail.jp
Research methodology in contextually- based second language research
We suggest a combined research methodology for studying SLA in real-life and important contexts, a methodology sensitive to the demands of such contexts. For studying IL learning in context, our suggested methodology combines and integrates aspects from three fields: grounded ethnography in ethnomethodol ogy ; subject-specialist informant procedures in language for specific purposes; and rhetorical/grammatical strategies in discourse analysis. We first present evidence for the importance of devising a research approach to contexually based SLA. Then we sketch the suggested research methodology and present two extended case studies which illustrate the methodology. We view such research as complimentary to universal approaches to core IL grammar. Finally, we sketch our theoretical approach, showing a possible link between research in universal and contextually-based SLA.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68815/2/10.1177_026765838900500201.pd
Evaluating Teachers: The Important Role of Value-Added
Outlines issues for evaluating teachers based on value added -- their contribution to student learning -- and the use of value added information, implications of classifying teachers, and reliability compared with other fields and evaluations
Identification of a conserved protein motif in a group of growth factor receptors
AbstractResidues 370–383 (helix C) of the human nerve growth factor receptor (NGF-R) are highly similar to the sequence of the 14 residue wasp toxin, mastoparan. Both regions are predicted to form amphiphilic α-helices, as is the amino-terminal region of the third intracytoplasmic loop (i3) of the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR). As both mastoparan and the β2AR i3 interact with G-proteins, it is suggested that helix C of the NGF-R may facilitate interactions with a cytoplasmic protein. A similar structural motif was identified in the cytoplasmic domains of a number of other growth factor receptors, suggesting an important role for this motif in signal transduction mechanisms
Evidence Of Dark Matter Annihilations In The WMAP Haze
The WMAP experiment has revealed an excess of microwave emission from the
region around the center of our Galaxy. It has been suggested that this signal,
known as the ``WMAP Haze'', could be synchrotron emission from relativistic
electrons and positrons generated in dark matter annihilations. In this letter,
we revisit this possibility. We find that the angular distribution of the WMAP
Haze matches the prediction for dark matter annihilations with a cusped density
profile, in the inner kiloparsecs. Comparing the
intensity in different WMAP frequency bands, we find that a wide range of
possible WIMP annihilation modes are consistent with the spectrum of the haze
for a WIMP with a mass in the 100 GeV to multi-TeV range. Most interestingly,
we find that to generate the observed intensity of the haze, the dark matter
annihilation cross section is required to be approximately equal to the value
needed for a thermal relic, cm/s. No
boost factors are required. If dark matter annihilations are in fact
responsible for the WMAP Haze, and the slope of the halo profile continues into
the inner Galaxy, GLAST is expected to detect gamma rays from the dark matter
annihilations in the Galactic Center if the WIMP mass is less than several
hundred GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Prospects For Detecting Dark Matter With GLAST In Light Of The WMAP Haze
Observations by the WMAP experiment have identified an excess of microwave
emission from the center of the Milky Way. It has previously been shown that
this "WMAP Haze" could be synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons and
positrons produced in the annihilations of dark matter particles. In
particular, the intensity, spectrum and angular distribution of the WMAP Haze
is consistent with an electroweak scale dark matter particle (such as a
supersymmetric neutralino or Kaluza-Klein dark matter in models with universal
extra dimensions) annihilating with a cross section on the order of sigma
v~3x10^-26 cm^3/s and distributed with a cusped halo profile. No further exotic
astrophysical or annihilation boost factors are required. If dark matter
annihilations are in fact responsible for the observed Haze, then other
annihilation products will also be produced, including gamma rays. In this
article, we study the prospects for the GLAST satellite to detect gamma rays
from dark matter annihilations in the Galactic Center region in this scenario.
We find that by studying only the inner 0.1 degrees around the Galactic Center,
GLAST will be able to detect dark matter annihilating to heavy quarks or gauge
bosons over astrophysical backgrounds with 5sigma (3sigma) significance if they
are lighter than approximately 320-500 GeV (500-750 GeV). If the angular window
is broadened to study the dark matter halo profile's angular extension (while
simultaneously reducing the astrophysical backgrounds), WIMPs as heavy as
several TeV can be identified by GLAST with high significance. Only if the dark
matter particles annihilate mostly to electrons or muons will GLAST be unable
to identify the gamma ray spectrum associated with the WMAP Haze.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
The Sensitivity of the IceCube Neutrino Detector to Dark Matter Annihilating in Dwarf Galaxies
In this paper, we compare the relative sensitivities of gamma-ray and
neutrino observations to the dark matter annihilation cross section in
leptophilic models such as have been designed to explain PAMELA data. We
investigate whether the high energy neutrino telescope IceCube will be
competitive with current and upcoming searches by gamma-ray telescopes, such as
the Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescopes (ACTs) (HESS, VERITAS and MAGIC), or the
Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, in detecting or constraining dark matter
particles annihilating in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We find that after ten
years of observation of the most promising nearby dwarfs, IceCube will have
sensitivity comparable to the current sensitivity of gamma-ray telescopes only
for very heavy (m_X > 7 TeV) or relatively light (m_X < 200 GeV) dark matter
particles which annihilate primarily to mu+mu-. If dark matter particles
annihilate primarily to tau+tau-, IceCube will have superior sensitivity only
for dark matter particle masses below the 200 GeV threshold of current ACTs. If
dark matter annihilations proceed directly to neutrino-antineutrino pairs a
substantial fraction of the time, IceCube will be competitive with gamma-ray
telescopes for a much wider range of dark matter masses.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. v2: references added and minor revisions. v3: as
published in PRD
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