A Mother Promotes Cognitive and Affective Outcomes Via Museum Education on Arab American Immigrants’ Culture: A Vygotskian Perspective

A Chaldean Catholic immigrant mother from Iraq kept a journal about how her Arab American daughters (ages 9 and 15) visited museums for the first time and participated in museum-related activities that focused on them (1) understanding and developing empathy for all new immigrants coming to the U.S.; (2) understanding and developing appreciation of Arab American im- migrants’ culture; and (3) being exposed to limited Arabic vocabulary related to museum artifacts. The mother’s anecdotal observations, informal conver- sational interviews, and photographs documented her daughters’ learning processes and outcomes. The cognitive processes and outcomes (e.g., under- standing, meaning making through personal memories, information-seeking skills, co-construction of knowledge, creative self-expression, new vocabulary) and affective processes and outcomes (e.g., empathy, appreciation, parent– child–sibling socioemotional collaboration) are discussed within a Vygotskian sociocultural framework. The mother scaffolded the girls to reach their up- per Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) using multiple Vygotskian cultural and physical tools (e.g., museum artifacts, visual and culinary arts materials, children’s books, technology). Lastly in this report from the field, the lessons learned are discussed, including conclusions and recommendations for parents and teachers on museum education

The reality of water and electricity services in the city of Jaramana between the years (1994-2010)

The planning of the services is essentially the basis of the overall structural plan of the region or city, taking into consideration the other aspects of planning with all its elements, components, components, present and future to determine the size of the spatial interactions between the residential and public services. The aim of the research is to study the reality of the service in the city of Jeramana in order to identify the services provided and their adequacy in proportion to the growing numbers of the population, , As a result of immigration to the city, either from the province of Damascus or other provinces. Where the lack of organized urban planning led to the phenomenon of informal housing, which put pressure on the infrastructure and lack of services provided therein and shed light on the service problems experienced by the city. The study deals with the basic services in the infrastructure of electricity and drinking water networks. The research has led to the deterioration of the service reality in this area due to weak planning in the city on the one hand and the population increase concurrent with the development of random housing on the other. The service sector in the city and thus the low level of service provided in this area

Novel adaptation of Marston's stress solution for inclined backfilled stope

In underground mining, it is crucial to consider the arching phenomenon, especially for inclined backfilled trenches and mine stopes. That phenomenon decreases the vertical stress of the fill material, so, the in-site stress has already redistributed itself to the hanging- and foot-walls when the stope was excavated. In such cases, the mobilized resistance due to friction between the granular backfill material and the inclined walls can substantially reduce the pressure at the bottom of the stope, which could have a major impact on the stability of the backfill medium and consequently also on economic aspects. Most of researchers used numerical analysis or Lab. tests to predict both of vertical and lateral stresses in inclined stopes. However, there is a need to investigate analytical solution to describe the behaviour of those stresses in inclined stopes. Based on Marston’s formula, this research provides a new approach to predicting vertical stresses at any depth in inclined backfilled stopes. The proposed approach introduces a new parameter, η, to account for the contribution of backfill arching. This parameter specifies the ratio of normal stresses on the hanging wall and foot wall of the inclined backfilled stope. This differs from previous approaches, which assumed that the normal stress on the inclined backfilled stope's hanging wall and foot wall was equal. To validate the proposed approach, results obtained are compared with numerical, analytical, and experimental results from previous research. It is found that if the proposed parameter, η, is modified to 0.2 for the lateral earth pressure coefficient at rest with an angle of inclination of 60° to 80°, good agreement with experimental data is achieved

Applications of nano-zeolite in wastewater treatment: An overview

Nano-zeolite is an innovative class of materials that received recognition for its potential use in water and tertiary wastewater treatment. These applications include ion-exchange/sorption, photo-degradation, and membrane separation. The aim of this work is to summarize and analyze the current knowledge about the utilization of nano-zeolite in these applications, identify the gaps in this field, and highlight the challenges that face the wide scale applications of these materials. Within this context, an introduction to water quality, water and wastewater treatment, utilization of zeolite in contaminant removal from water was addressed and linked to its structure and the advances in zeolite preparation techniques were overviewed. To have insights into the trends of the scientific interest in this field, an in-depth analysis of the variation in annual research distribution over the last decade was performed for each application. This analysis covered the research that addressed the potential use of both zeolites and nano-zeolites. For each application, the characterization, experimental testing schemes, and theoretical analysis methodologies were overviewed. The results of the most advanced research were collected, summarized, and analyzed to allow an easy visualization and comparison of these research results. Finally, the gaps and challenges that face these applications are concluded

The effect of long-term consolidation on foundations underpinned by micropiles in soft clay

So far insufficient research has been done on the long-term behavior of micropiles embedded in a clay medium, even though this has a significant influence on the expected total settlement. This paper considers a square foundation placed on a clay bed and tested under vertical loads until the clay reached its bearing capacity. Subsequently, the plate was underpinned with four micropiles, and the load test was repeated. These test data were used to validate the coupled hydraulic-mechanical three-dimensional finite difference model presented in this paper. In the numerical modelling, four different load transfer scenarios were considered to simulate different approaches to adding floors to an existing building. Consolidation periods of zero months, six months, and five years between the application of the load due to the existing building, and the application of loads due to additional storeys were considered. The six-month period represents a short-term, and the five-year period a long-term scenario. Following the first consolidation period and the application of loads representing additional storeys, a second consolidation period was implemented, such that the combined length of the two consolidation periods was five years. In this study, the results showed that the installation of micropiles immediately after the completion of existing floors is most successful in controlling the settlement of additional floors later on