Effectiveness of Direct Instruction (DI) approach on remediating children with learning disability in the area of reading in the United Arab Emirates

Children with learning disability face many challenges in reading comprehension and proficiency which affects their learning progress across all academic areas. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of “Direct Instruction” (DI) approach in improving reading for children with learning disability in the UAE. A total of 60 students aged seven through eight, participated in the study. All participants were classified as having mild, moderate to severe reading difficulties. An experimental design where participants randomly assigned to control (N=30) and experimental (N=30) groups was used in order to compare the effectiveness of utilizing the direct instruction. The experimental group students received training on basic morphological and phonological skills using the direct instruction approach, whereas the control group students received traditional instruction. A reading performance test was administered as pre-test and post-test to measure reading proficiency among participants. Results from the statistical analysis indicated a significant difference between the two groups in favor of the experimental group who received the direct instruction. Keywords: Reading Disabilities, Direct Instruction, Resource Room, and Reading Remediatio

Deconfinement and freezeout boundaries in equilibrium thermal models

In different approaches, the temperature-baryon density plane of QCD matter is studied for deconfinement and chemical freezeout boundaries. Results from various heavy-ion experiments are compared with the recent lattice simulations, the effective QCD-like Polyakov linear-sigma model, and the equilibrium thermal models. Along the entire freezeout boundary, there is an excellent agreement between the thermal model calculations and the experiments. Also, the thermal model calculations agree well with the estimations deduced from the Polyakov linear-sigma model (PLSM). At low baryonic density or high energies, both deconfinement and chemical freezeout boundaries are likely coincident and therefore the agreement with the lattice simulations becomes excellent as well, while at large baryonic density, the two boundaries become distinguishable forming a phase where hadrons and quark-gluon plasma likely coexist.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in AHE

Pramipexole protective effect on rotenone induced neurotoxicity in mice

Introduction: 
Pramipexole is a new dopaminergic drug which has been approved for PD treatment. However, we tried to find a new capacity for this drug rather than symptomatic effect. 

Materials and Methods: 
A chronic rotenone model with daily oral dose of 30mg/kg was induced in mice. Pramipexole was tried in a new approach where the treatment began in the middle of rotenone course with oral dose 1mg/kg/day of pramipexole. 

Results: 
Further analysis of behavioral tests and immunohistochemistry revealed success of pramipexole in improving the rotenone intoxicated mice. 

Conclusion: 
These results showed possible beneficial effects of pramipexole against rotenone-induced neurotoxicity

La pandémie du coronavirus et l’enseignement à distance au Maroc

La crise sanitaire mondiale qui a touché le Maroc a poussé les autorités compétentes à prendre des mesures de prévention pour éviter la propagation de la pandémie. Les établissements scolaires, secondaires et supérieurs, les centres de formation et les universités sont alors fermés. Depuis, l'enseignement se fait à distance tout au long de la période de confinement pour assurer la continuité pédagogique. Ce texte discute la problématique de l’enseignement à distance (EAD) à travers l’analyse des différentes contraintes entravant sa mise en place dans le système éducatif marocain ainsi que les principaux leviers de son développement. Si le Covid 19 a accéléré l’adoption d’une telle pratique, l’EAD ne doit pas être une réponse conjoncturelle à une circonstance exceptionnelle mais pourra faire l’objet d’une stratégie globale et intégrée pour promouvoir notre système éducatif. Ce chantier implique un travail sur plusieurs fronts pour asseoir les piliers d’un enseignement solide basé sur les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour l’Enseignement (TICE)

Design and manufacturing challenges of a microturbine wheel

Micro gas turbine (MGT) is a core technology in many hybrid and integrated power systems to address the low-emission future aviation and decentralisation of energy generation. To achieve a high power-to-weight ratio as well as lowering the required maintenance, a new compact configuration with an air-bearing compartment was developed to build a 2 kW micro gas turbine. Designing a turbine wheel faced a multidisciplinary problem with many inputs and constraints in aerodynamic, heat transfer, strength, and manifesting aspects. To meet all requirements of these aspects, a design procedure is proposed in this paper. Since the manufacturing process affects the performance and life of the system, several processes, including casting, additive manufacturing (AM) and machining of the turbine wheel with different materials, were carried out, and the structural strength and performance of the components were investigated in this study. The prototype was tested experimentally to prove its performance and validate the concept. The cast wheel demonstrated both the required performance of 2 kW power output of the MGT in turbine inlet temperature of 1200 K and rotational speed of 170 krpm. However, the machined and additive manufactured samples for low-temperature/low-speed off-design conditions did not withstand structurally and called for a re-design or change in conditions.European Union funding: Marie Skłodowska-Curie 80160

Assessing the impact of deficit irrigation strategies on agronomic and productive parameters of Menara olive cultivar: implications for operational water management

The olive tree is an iconic tree in the Mediterranean region, traditionally cultivated under rainfed conditions; however, olive cultivars are also found outside the Mediterranean region and are widely used for oil and olive production. However, with the increasing aridity and global changes, olive agroecosystems are facing sustainability challenges. This study aims to evaluate the effect of two deficit irrigation strategies on the agronomic and productive parameters of the Menara, olive cultivar as a tool for operational irrigation water management. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted on an olive orchard for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022), comparing four regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) treatments and two sustained deficit irrigation (SDI) treatments, with fully irrigated trees. The results showed that moderate and controlled water stress under RDI did not significantly affect the yield of the Menara olive cultivar. In addition, by reducing plant water requirement by 20% during sensitive periods and by 40% during normal periods, under RDI, it is possible to save between 25% and 30% of irrigation water and to increase water productivity by 5%–20% with a slight decrease in fruit yield ranging between 10% and 15%. However, the trees subjected to the sustained deficit irrigation strategy exhibited a reduced capacity for shoot growth compared to those under RDI and fully irrigated conditions. Our findings showed that water deprivation during sensitive periods reduced phenological traits and slowed down shoot growth. Furthermore, the water status of the trees was reflected in fruit volume, as a decrease in water supply resulted in a corresponding reduction in fruit volume. Although the study provides important insights into water management strategies for olive cultivation, the short observation period does not allow for long-term plant adaptation evaluation and productivity beyond 2 years. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies extend the observation period to better understand plant adaptation to irrigation regimes