FreeForAll: Free Articles to Those in Need

FreeForAll is an international collaboration of libraries whose mission is to provide underserved nations with health science journal articles for free and to foster lending between nations through the creation of a database of international libraries’ (non–North American) holdings.     

The performance status of higher educational institutions: A transfer of knowledge perspective

Education and Information Technologies - The study is the empirical application of Gul and Jamal's (2021) Transfer of Knowledge Index. The study presents the ranking of 17 public sector HEI by...     

Development and validation of Online Classroom Learning Environment Inventory (OCLEI): The case of Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Learning Environments Research - This paper reports the development and validation of a new questionnaire to assess students' perceptions of the online learning environment in Indonesia during...     

Islamized Ideologies in the Pakistani Education System: The Need for Religious Literacy

This article focuses on the critical ideologies of the curriculum behind the religious education (Madrassa system) and modern education systems (public and private schools) in Pakistan. These systems use different types of curriculum and have faced many challenges in the past, particularly with regard to the curriculum itself. Both systems of education teach students to develop their personalities in favor of their own system and against the other system. Religion plays a central role in the formation of the students' personality through both systems. Thus, both systems need religious literacy for the better use of religion in Pakistani society.     

Overexpression of the phytochrome B gene from Arabidopsis thaliana increases plant growth and yield of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)

The phytochrome B (PHYB) gene of Arabidopsis thaliana was introduced into cotton through Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Integration and expression of PHYB gene in cotton plants were confirmed by molecular evidence. Messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in one of the transgenic lines, QCC11, was much higher than those of control and other transgenic lines. Transgenic cotton plants showed more than a two-fold increase in photosynthetic rate and more than a four-fold increase in transpiration rate and stomatal conductance. The increase in photosynthetic rate led to a 46% increase in relative growth rate and an 18% increase in net assimilation rate. Data recorded up to two generations, both in the greenhouse and in the field, revealed that overexpression of Arabidopsis thaliana PHYB gene in transgenic cotton plants resulted in an increase in the production of cotton by improving the cotton plant growth, with 35% more yield. Moreover, the presence of the Arabidopsis thaliana PHYB gene caused pleiotropic effects like semi-dwarfism, decrease in apical dominance, and increase in boll size.     

Morality and science teaching: expanding the idea of giving zakah

Cultural Studies of Science Education - In this forum, I explore how science teaching and learning as a moral act needs to be based in the context of a local community. I agree with Alaina...     

The media–terrorism symbiosis: a case study of Mumbai attacks, 2008

There has been a long-standing debate among scholars, policy-makers, politicians and journalists about the relationship between terrorism and the news media for whom terrorism is usually a newsworthy story. A primary focus of the debate is to investigate the media–terrorism symbiotic relationship. This paper explores this relationship through a qualitative, thematic analysis of how British TV news channels covered a major terrorist incident after the 9/11 – Mumbai attacks 2008. It examines the interpretive theme of ‘awe, terror and chaos’, and how it is selected, prioritized and developed in the presentation of the events which spread over a period of more than 72 hours. Additionally, it considers the kind of political and organizational factors that might shape or modify the editorial decision-making processes and ideological assumptions that may lie behind such coverage. Ultimately, the study maintains that British TV news outlets play an important role in mediating terrorist messages and focus primarily on images of terror and violence during the coverage of Mumbai attacks. While there are key differences between public and commercial TV news in the style and presentation of coverage, with the former being more careful in approach, the news channels concentrate on televising death and injury and the propagation of chaos and confusion in the affected city.     

Reading sources and academic freedom as determinants of trends in English language teacher research in Egypt: an interview-based study

Little attention has been given to investigating the experiences of teacher researchers while undertaking their studies. In an attempt to explore what accounts for the stereotyped and imitative trends in the studies conducted by English language teachers in Egypt, the present study has explored how they select research topics and the factors influencing their research orientations and processes. The study used semi-structured interviews with 25 Egyptian teachers who were doing MA and Ph.D. studies in TESOL. It was found that they view good language teaching research as either testing the effectiveness of instructional techniques or evaluating textbooks, though most of them opt for experimental research due to its practical nature. The study also revealed that reading sources and academic freedom are the two main determinants of research trends in this context. Apart from the association found between the teacher researchers’ perceived academic freedom and the type of literature they read, the following three other factors also accounted for the relative variance in such freedom: (a) the stage undertaken in the research, (b) the number of supervisors available or assigned and (c) the research degree registered for. The article concludes with discussing the implications of these results.     

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