Literacy difficulties in Higher Education:identifying students’ needs with a Hybrid Model

Aims Aims Studies on literacy difficulties have mainly focused on children or adults who have a diagnosis of dyslexia. Some students enter university without such a diagnosis, but with literacy difficulties, and this may impact their ability to become independent learners and achieve academically. This exploratory study aims to employ a hybrid model for developing profiles for such individuals. The hybrid model encompasses the causal modelling framework (CMF; Morton & Frith, 1993), the proximal and distal causes of literacy difficulties (Jackson & Coltheart, 2001) and the conceptual framework for identification of dyslexia (Reid & Came, 2009). Method In this multiple case study design, three young adults with literacy difficulties were interviewed. Using narrative analysis, we compared the cases’ responses with the responses of a matched control student without literacy difficulties. Findings The main findings of the comparison suggested that the proposed hybrid model could be an effective way to highlighting potential obstacles to learning in those with literacy difficulties and would, therefore, be an invaluable tool for educational psychologists who work in adult educational settings. Limitations This is an exploratory study based on multiple case studies. A group study with more individuals should be conducted in order to further validate the proposed hybrid model. Conclusions The current study highlights the importance of understanding the psychosocial, as well as the cognitive and biological aspects of literacy difficulties, without claiming generalisability

Donor-acceptor dyads and triads employing core-substituted naphthalene diimides:a synthetic and spectro (electrochemical) study

Donor-acceptor dyads and triads comprising core-substituted naphthalene diimide (NDI) chromophores and either phenothiazine or phenoxazine donors are described. Synthesis combined with electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical investigations facilitates characterisation of the various redox states of these molecules, confirming the ability to combine arrays of electron donating and accepting moieties into single species that retain the redox properties of these individual moieties

A critical re-evaluation of the Thorne-Zytkow object candidate HV 2112

It has been argued in the literature that the star HV 2112 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is the first known example of a Thorne–Żytkow object (TŻO), a red supergiant with a degenerate neutron core. This claim is based on the star having a high luminosity (log (L/L⊙) ≳ 5), an extremely cool effective temperature, and a surface enriched in in lithium, calcium, and various irp-process elements. In this paper we re-examine this evidence, and present new measurements of the stellar properties. By compiling archival photometry from blue to mid-infrared for HV 2112 and integrating under its spectral energy distribution, we find a bolometric luminosity in the range of log (L/L⊙) = 4.70–4.91, lower than that found in previous work and comparable to bright asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We compare a VLT+XSHOOTER spectrum of HV 2112 to other late-type, luminous SMC stars, finding no evidence for enhancements in Rb, Ca, or K, though there does seem to be an enrichment in Li. We therefore conclude that a much more likely explanation for HV 2112 is that it is an intermediate mass (∼5 M⊙) AGB star. However, from our sample of comparison stars we identify a new TŻO candidate, HV 11417, which seems to be enriched in Rb but for which we cannot determine a Li abundance

Effects of 5-HT2C, 5-HT1A receptor challenges and modafinil on the initiation and persistence of gambling behaviours

Rationale Problematic patterns of gambling are characterised by loss of control and persistent gambling often to recover losses. However, little is known about the mechanisms that mediate initial choices to begin gambling and then continue to gamble in the face of losing outcomes. Objectives These experiments first assessed gambling and loss-chasing performance under different win/lose probabilities in C57Bl/6 mice, and then investigated the effects of antagonism of 5-HT2CR with SB242084, 5-HT1AR agonism with 8-OH-DPAT and modafinil, a putative cognitive enhancer. Results As seen in humans and other species, mice demonstrated the expected patterns of behaviour as the odds for winning were altered increasing gambling and loss-chasing when winning was more likely. SB242084 decreased the likelihood to initially gamble, but had no effects on subsequent gambling choices in the face of repeated losses. In contrast, 8-OH-DPAT had no effects on choosing to gamble in the first place, but once started 8-OH-DPAT increased gambling choices in a dose-sensitive manner. Modafinil effects were different to the serotonergic drugs in both decreasing the propensity to initiate gambling and chase losses. Conclusions We present evidence for dissociable effects of systemic drug administration on different aspects of gambling behaviour. These data extend and reinforce the importance of serotonergic mechanisms in mediating discrete components of gambling behaviour. They further demonstrate the ability of modafinil to reduce gambling behaviour. Our work using a novel mouse paradigm may be of utility in modelling the complex psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of gambling problems, including the analysis of genetic and environmental factors

Family wide molecular adaptations to underground life in African mole-rats revealed by phylogenomic analysis

During their evolutionary radiation, mammals have colonized diverse habitats. Arguably the subterranean niche is the most inhospitable of these, characterized by reduced oxygen, elevated carbon dioxide, absence of light, scarcity of food, and a substrate that is energetically costly to burrow through. Of all lineages to have transitioned to a subterranean niche, African mole-rats are one of the most successful. Much of their ecological success can be attributed to a diet of plant storage organs, which has allowed them to colonize climatically varied habitats across sub-Saharan Africa, and has probably contributed to the evolution of their diverse social systems. Yet despite their many remarkable phenotypic specializations, little is known about molecular adaptations underlying these traits. To address this, we sequenced the transcriptomes of seven mole-rat taxa, including three solitary species, and combined new sequences with existing genomic data sets. Alignments of more than 13,000 protein-coding genes encompassed, for the first time, all six genera and the full spectrum of ecological and social variation in the clade. We detected positive selection within the mole-rat clade and along ancestral branches in approximately 700 genes including loci associated with tumorigenesis, aging, morphological development, and sociality. By combining these results with gene ontology annotation and protein–protein networks, we identified several clusters of functionally related genes. This family wide analysis of molecular evolution in mole-rats has identified a suite of positively selected genes, deepening our understanding of the extreme phenotypic traits exhibited by this group.The European Research Council (ERC Starting grant 310482 [EVOGENO]) awarded to S.J.R.; the DST-NRF SARChI Chair of Mammalian Behavioral Ecology and Physiology (grant number 64756) (funds to N.C.B.).http://mbe.oxfordjournals.orghb201

Describing unpaid carers’ health service use in local areas across Wales: A retrospective cohort study using linked routinely collected data

Objectives Using anonymised linked data across primary care general practice (GP) and local authority (LA) services to (1) identify unpaid carers in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot (NPT), (2) describe their health and health service use and, (3) compare these with a matched non-carer population. Methods Unpaid carers were identified using a) LA carers’ assessment data and b) GP Read codes within the Secured Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. An age, sex and area-matched non-carers cohort was created using demographic data and assigned pseudo-index dates. Linked GP and secondary care data was used to establish GP interactions, hospital admissions, emergency department and outpatient attendances in the year prior to identification as a carer. Long-term conditions (LTCs) were identified using published Cambridge multimorbidity Read code lists. Chi-square, Mann Whitney U-test, and rate ratios were used to test differences in aforementioned factors between carers and non-carers. Results We have identified a total of 2,950 unpaid carers (N=2,024 in NPT; N=926 in Swansea), primarily via Read codes (80% in NPT; 70% in Swansea). Overlap between LA and GP identified individuals is less than five percent, and GP identified individuals are significantly younger than LA identified (NPT: χ2=176, p<0.001; Swansea: χ2=35.0, p<0.001). Further research is currently ongoing to utilise these anonymised linked data to ascertain key differences between carers and non-carers in the two local authorities. Results will include the significance of differences in rates of GP interactions, emergency department attendances, hospital admissions, outpatient attendances, rates of multimorbidity (0, 1, 2+ conditions), and top five specific LTCs between carers and matched non-carers in NPT and Swansea. Conclusion We demonstrate the novel use of local authority-held data linked to national anonymised data sources to provide locally informative evidence for this priority population. Results will provide novel insight into the health and health service usage of unpaid carers at a LA level, assisting evidence-informed local support for unpaid carers

Molecular evolution of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors in long-lived, small-bodied mammals

Mammals typically display a robust positive relationship between lifespan and body size. Two groups that deviate markedly from this pattern are bats and African mole-rats, with members of both groups being extremely long-lived given their body size, with the maximum documented lifespan for many species exceeding 20 years. A recent genomics study of the exceptionally long-lived Brandt's bat, Myotis brandtii (41 years), suggested that its longevity and small body size may be at least partly attributed to key amino acid substitutions in the transmembrane domains of the receptors of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1). However, whereas elevated longevity is likely to be common across all 19 bat families, the reported amino acid substitutionswere only observed in two closely related bat families. To test the hypothesis that an altered GH/IGF1 axis relates to the longevity of African mole-rats and bats,we compared and analysed the homologous coding gene sequences in genomic and transcriptomic data from 26 bat species, five mole-rats and 38 outgroup species. Phylogenetic analyses of both genes recovered themajority of nodes in the currently accepted species tree with high support. Compared to other clades, such as primates and carnivores, the bats and rodents had longer branch lengths. The single 24 amino acid transmembrane domain of IGF1Rwas found to bemore conserved across mammals compared to that of GHR.Within bats, considerable variation in the transmembrane domain of GHR was found, including a previously unreported deletion in Emballonuridae. The transmembrane domains of rodents were found to be more conserved, with mole-rats lacking uniquely conserved amino acid substitutions. Molecular evolutionary analyses showed that both genes were under purifying selection in bats andmole-rats. Our findings suggest thatwhile the previously documentedmutations may confer some additional lifespan to Myotis bats, other, as yet unknown, genetic differences are likely to account for the long lifespans observed in many bat and mole-rat species.DST–NRF SARChI Chair for Behavioural Ecology and Physiology (64756), the European Research Council (310482 EVOGENO) and the National Science Foundation (DEB-0949759).http//www.elsevier.com/locate/genehb201

Genome-wide signatures of convergent evolution in echolocating mammals

Evolution is typically thought to proceed through divergence of genes, proteins, and ultimately phenotypes(1-3). However, similar traits might also evolve convergently in unrelated taxa due to similar selection pressures(4,5). Adaptive phenotypic convergence is widespread in nature, and recent results from a handful of genes have suggested that this phenomenon is powerful enough to also drive recurrent evolution at the sequence level(6-9). Where homoplasious substitutions do occur these have long been considered the result of neutral processes. However, recent studies have demonstrated that adaptive convergent sequence evolution can be detected in vertebrates using statistical methods that model parallel evolution(9,10) although the extent to which sequence convergence between genera occurs across genomes is unknown. Here we analyse genomic sequence data in mammals that have independently evolved echolocation and show for the first time that convergence is not a rare process restricted to a handful of loci but is instead widespread, continuously distributed and commonly driven by natural selection acting on a small number of sites per locus. Systematic analyses of convergent sequence evolution in 805,053 amino acids within 2,326 orthologous coding gene sequences compared across 22 mammals (including four new bat genomes) revealed signatures consistent with convergence in nearly 200 loci. Strong and significant support for convergence among bats and the dolphin was seen in numerous genes linked to hearing or deafness, consistent with an involvement in echolocation. Surprisingly we also found convergence in many genes linked to vision: the convergent signal of many sensory genes was robustly correlated with the strength of natural selection. This first attempt to detect genome-wide convergent sequence evolution across divergent taxa reveals the phenomenon to be much more pervasive than previously recognised

INCHEM-Py v1.2 : A community box model for indoor air chemistry

The Indoor CHEMical model in Python, INCHEM-Py, is an open-source and accessible box model for the simulation of the indoor atmosphere, and is a refactor and significant development of the INdoor Detailed Chemical Model (INDCM). INCHEM-Py creates and solves a system of coupled ordinary differential equations that include gas-phase chemistry, surface deposition, indoor/outdoor air change, indoor photolysis processes and gas-to-particle partitioning for three common terpenes. It is optimised for ease of installation and simple modification for inexperienced users, while also providing unfettered access to customise the physical and chemical processes for more advanced users. A detailed user manual is included with the model and updated with each version release. In this paper, INCHEM-Py v1.2 is introduced, the modelled processes are described in detail, with benchmarking between simulated data and published experimental results presented, alongside discussion of the parameters and assumptions used. It is shown that INCHEM-Py achieves excellent agreement with measurements from two experimental campaigns which investigate the effects of people and different surfaces on the concentrations of different indoor air pollutants. In addition, INCHEM-Py shows closer agreement to experimental data than INDCM. This is due to the increased functionality of INCHEM-Py to model additional processes, such as deposition-induced surface emissions. Published community use-cases of INCHEM-Py are also presented to show the variety of applications for which this model is valuable to further our understanding of indoor air chemistry

INCHEM-Py v1.2: a community box model for indoor air chemistry

The Indoor CHEMical model in Python, INCHEM-Py, is an open-source and accessible box model for the simulation of the indoor atmosphere, and is a refactor and significant development of the INdoor Detailed Chemical Model (INDCM). INCHEM-Py creates and solves a system of coupled ordinary differential equations that include gas-phase chemistry, surface deposition, indoor/outdoor air change, indoor photolysis processes and gas-to-particle partitioning for three common terpenes. It is optimised for ease of installation and simple modification for inexperienced users, while also providing unfettered access to customise the physical and chemical processes for more advanced users. A detailed user manual is included with the model and updated with each version release. In this paper, INCHEM-Py v1.2 is introduced, the modelled processes are described in detail, with benchmarking between simulated data and published experimental results presented, alongside discussion of the parameters and assumptions used. It is shown that INCHEM-Py achieves excellent agreement with measurements from two experimental campaigns which investigate the effects of people and different surfaces on the concentrations of different indoor air pollutants. In addition, INCHEM-Py shows closer agreement to experimental data than INDCM. This is due to the increased functionality of INCHEM-Py to model additional processes, such as deposition-induced surface emissions. Published community use-cases of INCHEM-Py are also presented to show the variety of applications for which this model is valuable to further our understanding of indoor air chemistry