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

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

Recent insights into the roles of circular RNAs in human brain development and neurologic diseases

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of non-coding RNAs. They are single-stranded RNA transcripts characterized with a closed loop structure making them resistant to degrading enzymes. Recently, circRNAs have been suggested with regulatory roles in gene expression involved in controlling various biological processes. Notably, they have demonstrated abundance, dynamic expression, back-splicing events, and spatiotemporally regulation in the human brain. Accordingly, they are expected to be involved in brain functions and related diseases. Studies in animals and human brain have revealed differential expression of circRNAs in brain compartments. Interestingly, contributing roles of circRNAs in the regulation of central nervous system (CNS) development have been demonstrated in a number of studies. It has been proposed that circRNAs play role in substantial neurological functions like neurotransmitter-associated tasks, neural cells maturation, and functions of synapses. Furthermore, 3 main pathways have been identified in association with circRNAs's host genes including axon guidance, Wnt signaling, and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling pathways, which are known to be involved in substantial functions like migration and differentiation of neurons and specification of axons, and thus play role in brain development. In this review, we have an overview to the biogenesis, biological functions of circRNAs, and particularly their roles in human brain development and the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's diseases, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and brain tumors