Culturally Responsive Evidence-based Practices with English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities: A Qualitative Case Study

This study describes the instruction of one special education teacher with English Language Learners (ELLs) with learning disabilities in an urban elementary school setting. This study was situated in a culturally responsive, evidence-based teaching framework. In investigating this instruction with ELLs, this study focused on how one teacher’s knowledge of culturally responsive pedagogy and evidence-based practices impacted her special education instruction. Findings resulted in three major themes that were aligned with the literature in this area: The Garment of Diversity, Culture Matters in Special Education, and Their Collaborative Spirit. The results indicated that the success of special education with ELLs at the elementary education level may be dependent on how well the teacher integrates culturally responsive and evidence-based instruction with ELLs’ sociocultural needs.Este estudio describe la enseñanza de una maestra de educación especial y sus aprendientes de inglés (ELLs) con discapacidades de aprendizaje en una primaria urbana. Este estudio se situó en un marco de enseñanza culturalmente relevante y basada en la evidencia. Al investigar la instrucción de la maestra con ELLs, este estudio se enfocó en cómo su conocimiento de pedagogía culturalmente sensible y de las prácticas basadas en la evidencia impactaron su instrucción de educación especial. Los resultados dieron lugar a tres temas principales que se alinearon con la literatura en este campo: La Túnica de la Diversidad, La Cultura Importa en la Educación Especial, y Su Espíritu Colaborativo. Los resultados indicaron que el éxito de la educación especial con ELLs en el nivel de primaria puede depender de cuán bien el maestro integre la instrucción culturalmente sensible y basada en la evidencia con las necesidades socioculturales de ELLs

Examining comprehension strategy instruction with English learners' problem solving: study findings and educator preparation implications

Educator preparation in comprehension strategy instruction (CSI) is essential to meeting the needs of English learners (ELs) in contemporary schools. This article provides teacher educators and professional developers with concrete examples of practices to prepare classroom teachers in comprehensive strategy instruction, based on an experimental study that examined the effect (.37) of CSI on third-grade students’ (n = 78) word-problem-solving (WPS) performance. CSI included problem-solving strategies that (a) helped students to understand the relevant and irrelevant information in a word problem’s question; (b) helped students to restate the problem orally, which allowed them to understand, to construct meaning, and to clarify any misunderstanding about the question; and (c) provided instructional feedback with student collaboration for problem solving and solution. Findings indicate that a focus on CSI may help facilitate WPS skills developing for ELs at risk of mathematics-learning difficulties (MLD). Educator preparation recommendations are embedded throughout with implications for future research and practice also discussed

Time series analyses of mean monthly rainfall for drought management in Sokoto, Nigeria

This paper analyses the time series characteristics of rainfall data for Sokoto metropolis for 40 years with a view to understanding drought management. Data for this study was obtained from the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET), Sokoto Airport; Sokoto. The data was subjected to time series tests (trend, cycle, seasonal and decomposition analyses) using additive and multiplicative modeling approach. The results showed an increasing trend of rainfall amount over the metropolis within the period under review. Analysis of seasonality in monthly precipitation showed a concentration of rainfall in the months of June, July and August while it decreases in September; however, the months of March, April, and October do experience some showers of rainfall sometimes. Obviously, result of the seasonality analysis showed that January, February, March, April, May, November and December are dry months. This implies that growing season in Sokoto do end around September. The implication is that farmers in the study area need to stream line their farming activities with a view to making effective use of the available rainfall. The paper also suggests a need for building micro dams, developed underground water resources and or adopts conjunctive water management as part of drought management efforts.Keywords: Rainfall, seasonality, cycle, decomposition, multiplicative modeling, drough

Analytical simulation of two dimensional advection dispersion equation of contaminant transport

The study was designed to investigate the analytical simulation of two dimensional advection dispersion equation of contaminant transport. The steady state flow condition of the contaminant transport where inorganic contaminants in aqueous waste solutions are disposed of at the land surface where it would migrate through the verdoze zone to underground water is considered. We solved the two dimensional advection dispersion equation analytically which is solute transport model without sorption or degradation using change of variable method. We critically reviewed two dimensional equations depicting the transport of contaminant in groundwater and investigate with the help of graphical representation the effect of Peclet number on the concentration of contaminant and established real life interpretation of contaminant transport. Two cases were considered, when Peclet number is less than one and when Peclet number is greater than one. The result obtained revealed that the contaminant concentration increases along x direction and decreases along y direction for both values of peclet number greater than one and less than one. The study has contributed to knowledge through the method utilized to achieve the model analytical solution and the Physical interpretation of Peclet number. From the analysis, we recommend for further studies on the contaminant transport which also depends on the available data, that the extension of advection –dispersion model to three dimensions and comparison of travel time of contaminant transport solution to Kinetic or multi-component mode.Keywords: Contaminant, Seepage Velocity, Aquifer, Advection-dispersion Equation, change of variable method

Combustion Modeling of a Fixed Bed Downdraft Biomass Gasifier Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Design

Thermochemical conversion of biomass in a gasifier for the production of syngas provides the enabling technology for efficient biomass resource utilization. Gasification is a complex process involving the interactions of numerous parameters, hence CFD tool is usually utilized to numerically optimize the design and operation of the gasifier reactor for improved performance. The gasification of multiple biomass usually requires a complex set of facilities for experimental set up in order to determine the optimum operating conditions for maximum gas yield. When this is not available, it can pose a bottle-neck to process development and optimization.  In this study, the GAMBIT and FLUENT were used to model and simulate the gasifier reactor with emphasis on the combustion and gasification (reduction) zones in order to maximize the thermal output of the combustor by an optimization of biomass fuel types. Model validation was achieved by showing a close agreement between numerical and experimental results within the same configuration, particularly to show the effect of temperature on the gasification of Fixed Bed Downdraft gasifier. The fraction of initial moisture content, air flow rate, temperature of the pyrolysis zone, and chemical composition of the biomass were the required input data for the model to predict the gasification temperature. Computations were carried out for rice husk, saw dust and corn cobs as gasifier fuels, whereby air was used as the oxidizing agent. The porosity and oxidizer velocity were varied between 0.1 – 0.5 and 5 – 15 m/s respectively. The predicted results compared with experimental data showed good agreement. The simulated temperature gradient also indicated that rich fuel combustion zone was greater for rice husk - corn cobs, an indication that improved gasification and pyrolysis were present

Application of Stearic Acid for Solar Thermal Energy Storage in a Double Compartment Solar Box Cooker

Energy storage in some form is the need of the hour to even out the mismatch between energy supply and demand. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system employing a phase change material (PCM) has been widely considered as an effective way to store and retrieve energy due to its high heat storage capacity at almost constant temperature during the phase change. In this work, an energy storage system was designed to study the heat transfer characteristics of stearic acid (as a phase change material in a double compartment solar box cooker (DCSBC) fabricated using wooden materials with high thermal energy storage system. In order to analyze the various characteristics of the PCM, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) was used throughout the experiment. Investigations were performed to determine the first and second figure of merits (F1 and F2) of compartments 1 and 2 (C1 and C2) simultaneously. The results for F1 were found to be (C1= 0.14 and C2= 0.15) and F2 were (C1=0.47 and C2= 0.4) while the overall thermal efficiency of the cooker after water boiling test for C1 with 2.5kg and C2 with 3kg of water were deduced to be 77% for C1 and 92% for C2 after six hours of the load test, showing considerable temperature increase and extension of heat retention making possible to cook the dinner and even breakfast the next day

Modified Hartree-Fock Relationship to Calculate the Effective Energy of Atomic Sub-shells in Transition Elements

In this study, the part in question of the total energy is that due to the mutual interactions between the electrons themselves, the fact that this is the total effective energy of sample electrons in shells and sub-shells. The result was that only 0.2564 of the total energy of the atom is divided between the individual electrons and the effective energy of each of them is proportional to the reciprocal of their occupation numbers i.e. 1/(n+2l+1)2, the proportionality constant was fortunately equivalent to the effective nuclear charge (Zeff) of the sub-shell type according to the studies done by both Slater and Clementi and Raimondi. The amazing news was that the algebraic sum of the effective energy for each electron was again very close to 0.2564 ET. Keywords: Hartree-Fock, Effective Energy of Atomic, Transition Element

Distribution of influenza A and B antibodies and correlation with ABO/Rh blood grouping

Background: Influenza is a clinically-significant infection with significant number of globally reported annual deaths. The aim of this study was to study the distribution of influenza A and B antibodies in Najran, the Southwest region of Saudi Arabia, and to investigate the correlation between demographic characteristics and influenza virus antibody levels.Methods: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect antibody level of influenza A and B. The correlation with ABO/Rh blood groupings was also examined. The total number of participants was 252. Only twenty-four subjects received the flu vaccine.Results: It was found that 33.7% and 24.1% of unvaccinated subjects were IgG-positive for influenza A and B, respectively. Interestingly, the antibody levels of the unvaccinated participants were higher than the vaccinated group. A significant difference was found between unvaccinated participants with O+ and influenza A and B antibody levels (**p=0.0045). The antibody level was inversely correlated with age in influenza B IgG subjects but not influenza A IgG (r=-0.1379; R squared=0.01900; p=0.0375). Forty-three subjects (17%) were positive for antibodies of both influenza A and B.Conclusions: IgG antibody positivity is greater in cases of influenza type A compared to influenza B. A significant correlation was found in the unvaccinated group between influenza B IgG antibody levels and age, but not influenza A (*p=0.0375). More research is needed to investigate the role of O+ blood group in influenza infections