The relationship between socio-affective factors and reading proficiency: Implications for tertiary reading instruction

Research in the field of reading literacy has focussed predominantly on the foundation phase and primary and secondary levels. In addition, these studies in reading literacy are predominantly cognitive-oriented. As a result, information on academic reading at tertiary level is sparse; even  more so with regard to socio-affective factors and students’ reading  proficiency. This paper explores the relationship between tertiary-level students’ socio-affective profile and their reading proficiency. The Test of Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) was used to measure students’ reading proficiency, and ANOVA tests were applied to analyse and yield data on students’ reading background, reading habits, social literacy and several motivational components. The results and the data so obtained indicated arobust relationship between these socioaffective factors and students’ reading proficiency. The paper discusses the research findings and their implications for instructing tertiary-level students in a way that would ensure successful academic reading.Keywords: socio-affective factors, reading proficiency, academic reading,reading instructio

A computer program for calculating external thermal-radiation heat loads and temperatures of spacecraft orbiting the planets or the moon

Computer program for computation of thermal radiation heat loads and temperatures of spacecraft orbiting planets or moo

Osteosarcoma is characterised by reduced expression of markers of osteoclastogenesis and antigen presentation compared with normal bone

BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone tumour in children and adolescents. Patients who respond poorly to chemotherapy have a higher risk of metastatic disease and 5-year survival rates of only 10-20%. Therefore, identifying molecular targets that are specific for OS, or more specifically, metastatic OS, will be critical to the development of new treatment strategies to improve patient outcomes

Sunlight and red to far-red ratio impact germination of tropical montane cloud forest species

Context: Australia’s tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) exhibit exceptional species richness and endemism. Determinants of regeneration via seed of these species are next to unknown, limiting our ability to quantify and project their vulnerability to climate change. The ratio of red to far-red light (R:FR) has been shown to influence seed germination of many tropical species.Aims: We investigated germination of six previously unstudied TMCF species in relation to the presence or absence of light (light/dark) and light quality (R:FR). We hypothesised that increased R:FR would lead to increased germination and that small-seeded species would be more likely to have a light requirement and be less sensitive to R:FR compared to larger-seeded species.Methods: Sunlight and polyester filters were used to create a gradient of R:FR ranging from 0.1 to 1.14. Seeds were also sown in constant darkness.Key results: Across species we saw varying germination responses. Three of the four smallest-seeded species exhibited an absolute light requirement for germination and did not discriminate between different R:FR. Germination of the small-seeded TMCF endemic Dracophyllum increased exponentially with increasing R:FR. Germination of the largest-seeded species was inhibited by both low and high R:FR, and germination was higher in constant darkness than diurnal light/dark. All six species were able to germinate at remarkably low R:FR values.Conclusions: Light affects seed germination of Australia’s TMCF plant species in a variety of ways.Implications: The findings of this study provide insights into plant recruitment in situ, and the acclimation potential of these species under reduced R:FR predicted for the future

Black holes and a scalar field in an expanding universe

We consider a model of an inhomogeneous universe including a massless scalar field, where the inhomogeneity is assumed to consist of many black holes. This model can be constructed by following Lindquist and Wheeler, which has already been investigated without including scalar field to show that an averaged scale factor coincides with that of the Friedmann model. In this work we construct the inhomogeneous universe with an massless scalar field, where we assume that the averaged scale factor and scalar field are given by those of the Friedmann model including a scalar field. All of our calculations are carried out in the framework of Brans-Dicke gravity. In constructing the model of an inhomogeneous universe, we define the mass of a black hole in the Brans-Dicke expanding universe which is equivalent to ADM mass if the mass evolves adiabatically, and obtain an equation relating our mass to the averaged scalar field and scale factor. As the results we find that the mass has an adiabatic time dependence in a sufficiently late stage of the expansion of the universe, and that the time dependence is qualitatively diffenrent according to the sign of the curvature of the universe: the mass increases decelerating in the closed universe case, is constant in the flat case and decreases decelerating in the open case. It is also noted that the mass in the Einstein frame depends on time. Our results that the mass has a time dependence should be retained even in the general scalar-tensor gravitiy with a scalar field potential. Furthermore, we discuss the relation of our results to the uniqueness theorem of black hole spacetime and gravitational memory effect.Comment: 16 pages, 3 tables, 5 figure