Effective components on the promotion of sense of community in high school educational spaces

Background and Objectives: Creating a sense of community provides desirable conditions for students' moral, social and physical development. Understanding this sense of community has received growing attention of researchers in various fields. Sociology stresses the sense of people’s belonging to a place, mainly by exploring social and emotional ties between people in a place, which deals with the mental perception and feelings that people have about a given place. From the perspective of anthropologists, it deals with subjects such as individual perception of place, the meaning of place, as well as aesthetic and emotional issues. In this context, belonging chiefly refers to the emotional connections between people and place. This issue is defined by anthropologists as the sense of belonging to a place or a symbolic relationship with a place, which is forged by attaching a symbolic meaning to a specific place. It further provides collective and individual perception and relationship with the environment. Landscape architects also see the sense of community as a concept closely associated with the sense of belonging to a place, contending that it is primarily cognitive and emotional. That is, this concept is explained for individuals through various common events, beliefs, experiences and cultural habits. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of identifying factors affecting students' sense of community. With respect to its goal, this research is classified as an applied research. Methods: In this research, attempts have been made to use the survey method to answer the research hypotheses and measure the studied indices. To do so, by studying the existing sources, 16 components affecting the sense of community were extracted. By designing, distributing and collecting the questionnaire, the views of the research community were examined. Accordingly, 40 questionnaires were distributed among a group of university professors and the effect and priority of the obtained psychological, physical and behavioral components were evaluated. After removing incomplete questionnaires, 19 questionnaires were included in the final analysis. We used hierarchical analysis process for this purpose. Findings: The factors of security and knowing individuals and places among psychological components, the factor of spatial quality component among physical components, and the factor of collective activity among behavioral components were identified as the most important components affecting the sense of community in educational settings. Conclusion: To promote the sense of community in educational settings, the following issues should be taken into account. 1) The importance of the place of activity: encouraging students to engage in various educational activities, such as sharing ideas with others, participating in class discussions, connecting with the teacher and providing an environment for gathering (amphitheater in a convenient place with ease of access). 2) The importance of security in a place: an external danger or threat or common threats can damage a sense of community in the environment or the solidarity of individuals. To overcome the problems and issues that may arise from danger, social norms are required, especially when they provide security for individuals in the group. 3) The recognition of individuals and places: when students know each other, it fosters a social feature that leads to an improved sense of community. 4) Spatial quality: desirable and pleasant places that are visually stimulating enhance aware and environmental knowledge of people. The richer the place, the more people are encouraged to stay together. ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS©2021 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. ====================================================================================

Effect of physical dimensions of classroom on Promotion of Active Participation in the Learning Process

The existing educational space in schools has been accused of assuming a passive role for children and creating negative effects on their mental development. Although this educational environment initially paved the way for introducing the modern educational program, it lacked the required ability to mobilize and activate a child’s mind, and create motivation for learning. Due to the significance of active learning, its effective elements are first described in this study. From among the 3 effective elements in active learning, “participation” was selected. Subsequently, the effective factors on a child’s participation in the learning process were determined in the form of two models, namely, the social model and the activity model. The research typology is a quantitative method through a surveying study The theoretical content analysis method was used to classify the different perspectives and the interview and observation method was implemented for the selected case study. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of class room size on the students’ participation in the learning process. The statistical population of this study was the middle school children in Bojnourd, Iran, in the 2014-2015 academic year. Subsequently, 279 students were randomly selected from among the above population for completing the questionnaire.  The results showed that the majority of the students preferred smaller classrooms, therefore, the overall conclusion in this study is that, to promote participation in the learning process, the following criteria must be considered in designing closed educational spaces: 1) socialization; 2) individual and group activity, and 3) involvement and experience in learning

Role of microRNAs in COVID-19 with implications for therapeutics

COVID-19 is a pneumonia-like disease with highly transmittable and pathogenic properties caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which infects both animals and humans. Although many efforts are currently underway to test possible therapies, there is no specific FDA approved drug against SARS-CoV-2 yet. miRNA-directed gene regulation controls the majority of biological processes. In addition, the development and progression of several human diseases are associated with dysregulation of miRNAs. In this regard, it has been shown that changes in miRNAs are linked to severity of COVID-19 especially in patients with respiratory diseases, diabetes, heart failure or kidney problems. Therefore, targeting these small noncoding-RNAs could potentially alleviate complications from COVID-19. Here, we will review the roles and importance of host and RNA virus encoded miRNAs in COVID-19 pathogenicity and immune response. Then, we focus on potential miRNA therapeutics in the patients who are at increased risk for severe disease

Pro-tumorigenic role of type 2 diabetes-induced cellular senescence in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. The disease still remains incurable and highly lethal in the advanced stage, representing a global health concern. Therefore, it is essential to understand the causes and risk factors leading to its development. Because age-related cellular senescence and type 2 diabetes (T2D) have been recognised as risk factors for CRC development, the recent finding that type 2 diabetic patients present an elevated circulating volume of senescent cells raises the question whether type 2 diabetes facilitates the process of CRC tumorigenesis by inducing premature cell senescence. In this review, we will discuss the mechanisms according to which T2D induces cellular senescence and the role of type 2 diabetes-induced cellular senescence in the pathogenesis and progression of colorectal cancer. Lastly, we will explore the current therapeutic approaches and challenges in targeting senescence

The mechanistic immunosuppressive role of the tumour vasculature and potential nanoparticle-mediated therapeutic strategies

The tumour vasculature is well-established to display irregular structure and hierarchy that is conducive to promoting tumour growth and metastasis while maintaining immunosuppression. As tumours grow, their metabolic rate increases while their distance from blood vessels furthers, generating a hypoxic and acidic tumour microenvironment. Consequently, cancer cells upregulate the expression of pro-angiogenic factors which propagate aberrant blood vessel formation. This generates atypical vascular features that reduce chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy efficacy. Therefore, the development of therapies aiming to restore the vasculature to a functional state remains a necessary research target. Many anti-angiogenic therapies aim to target this such as bevacizumab or sunitinib but have shown variable efficacy in solid tumours due to intrinsic or acquired resistance. Therefore, novel therapeutic strategies such as combination therapies and nanotechnology-mediated therapies may provide alternatives to overcoming the barriers generated by the tumour vasculature. This review summarises the mechanisms that induce abnormal tumour angiogenesis and how the vasculature’s features elicit immunosuppression. Furthermore, the review explores examples of treatment regiments that target the tumour vasculature

Potential crosstalk between pericytes and cathepsins in the tumour microenvironment

Cancer remains a formidable global health challenge, and as such, investigators are constantly exploring underlying mechanisms that drive its progression. One area of interest is the role of lysosomal enzymes, such as cathepsins, in regulating cancer growth and development in the tumour microenvironment (TME). Pericytes, a key component of vasculature, play a key role in regulating blood vessel formation in the TME, have been shown to be influenced by cathepsins and their activity. Although cathepsins such as cathepsins D and L have been shown to induce angiogenesis, currently no direct link is known between pericytes and cathepsins interaction. This review aims to shed light on the potential interplay between pericytes and cathepsins in the TME, highlighting the possible implications for cancer therapy and future research directions

The Comparison of Postural Control Ability in Children with/without Dyslexia

Objective: In some reviewed studies on children with dyslexia it is observed that there is a significant relationship between the ability of postural control and dyslexia. In this study, by controlling the interfering factors, we have reviewed this relation by comparing postural control and balance ability in normal and dyslexic children. Materials & Methods: This case-control study is done on 19 boys with dyslexia (112.90±13.78) and 19 Normal boys (118.42±15.62). Normal children and children with dyslexia were matched in age, height and weight. Positioning duties included standing with adjacent feet on firm surface with open and closed eyes, and with close eyes on the foam and with internal perturbation on firm surface. Duration of each assignment was 35 seconds and the force plate device was used to evaluate the condition performance. Balances component of Bruininks Oseretsky test were take from all of the samples and correlation between functional and laboratory test were examined. Results: The results showed that the area on firm surface with open eyes, internal perturbation dependency rate in the standard deviations of the lateral body sways (SDX) and of the antero-posterior body sways (SDY) and the surface area, there were significant differences between normal and dyslexic children, but there was not any significant difference between the two groups in path length and mean velocity in different postural control modes (foam, firm surface, open and close eyes) and visual dependence in all parameters (path length, velocity and surface area). We did not find significant correlation between Center of Pressure (COP) and the balance part of Bruininks Oseretsky test in children with dyslexia. Conclusion: In spite of differences in some postural control parameters between normal group and children with dyslexia, it was not found significant relationship between postural control and dyslexia

Synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles and composites as bactericides

In the present study, SiO2-TiO2 hybrid nanomaterial and zeolite-TiO2 (Z-TiO2) composites were synthesized by the sol-gel method. Then, the antibacterial activity of the above-mentioned synthesized materials, SiO2 and zeolite (Z) was investigated by the disk diffusion method using Echerichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes as test microorganisms. All the materials showed antibacterial activity against E. coli with 7.2, 10.7, 3.5 and 8.2 mm of inhibition zone for SiO2-TiO2 hybrid nanomaterial, SiO2, zeolite and Z-TiO2 composite, respectively. However, none of them showed antibacterial activity against E. aerogenes. The obtained results pointed out that these natural-based materials (i.e. Z, SiO2, Z-TiO2 and SiO2-TiO2), known to be noncarcinogenic and nontoxic, can be used as disinfectants against E. coli (an important indicator of the bacteriological quality of water) as safe and eco-friendly alternatives to chlorine. © 2019 Elsevier B.V