The Impacts of Economic Growth, Energy Consumption and Openness on the Environmental Quality In I. R. Iran

Countries efforts to achieve rapid economic growth and lack of adequate attention to environmental issues in recent years have caused serious damage to the countries environment. Hence, examining factors affecting the quality of environment is more important. This article aims to investigate the Impact of economic growth, energy consumption and openness on Environment pollution in Iran from 1967-2007. This paper uses some econometric techniques, including Johansson approach and DOLS model to explore the influence of economic growth, energy consumption and openness on Environment quality. The result of the analysis reveals a positive sign for the coefficients of economic growth, energy consumption and openness. Also the findings does not support the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and invironmental pollution

Investigating the Relationship between School Culture and Academic Enthusiasm with Academic Hope and Motivation in High School Students

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between school culture and academic enthusiasm with academic hope and motivation in high school students. Research methodology: The present study is applied in terms of purpose and is among the descriptive studies of correlation type. The statistical population includes all high school students in Zahak city,whose number in the academic year 2021-2022 is 1324 people.Using Morgan table and Cochran's formula, 297 students were selected by statistical random sampling as a statistical sample.To prevent statistical sample loss and better adequacy, a sample of 320 questionnaires was distributed by multi-stage random cluster sampling method. Results: The results of the analysis showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between academic motivation and students' academic enthusiasm.The intensity of this relationship is very strong and academic motivation has the power to predict academic enthusiasm. There is no significant relationship between school culture and academic motivation and school culture does not have the power to predict academic motivation. Limitations: What should be considered by school parents is to pay attention to creating a correct and flexible culture in school, because each student spends more than half of his time in school and is exposed to school relationships and culture, and these relationships over time. Contribution: Among the limitations of the research are the lack of sufficient scientific content around the research variables,the lack of cooperation of some schools in the implementation of the questionnaire and the limitation in the generalizability of the results of this research

Investigating the relationship between e-learning and mobile learning on students' academic self-handicapping during the outbreak of COVID-19

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between virtual education and mobile learning on students' academic self-handicapping during the outbreak of COVID19. Research Methodology: The present study is a descriptive study of correlation type. The statistical population includes all primary school students in Zabol city. Using Cochran's formula and Morgan’s table and cluster random sampling method, 277 people were selected as the research sample. Data were collected using the Jones & Rudwalt (1982) Academic Self-handicapping Scale Questionnaire, Mobile Learning Ability Questionnaire, and Virtual Learning Questionnaire. Results: The results of statistical analysis indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between students’ academic disability and virtual education. The intensity of this relationship is very strong and virtual education has the power to predict academic self-handicapping(P?0.05). Besides that, there is no significant relationship between students’ academic disability and mobile learning. Conclusion: Therefore, we conclude that students who are more prone to academic disability are less likely to participate in the classroom. Limitations: One of the most important limitations of the present study is that due to the timing of the conference, researchers did not have enough time to conduct follow-up tests to sustain the impact of brain teasers

Investigating the effect of intellectual computer games on creative thinking skills and increasing concentration in children of divorce

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of intellectual computer games on creative thinking skills and increase concentration in children of divorce. Research methodology: The statistical population of the study includes all single parent children 7 to 10 years old in Zahedan in the academic year 2021-2022. To select the research sample, first 40 people were available as a sample through cluster random sampling. Data collection tools in this study included a questionnaire. Results: Findings showed that intellectual computer games affect increasing creative concentration and thinking in children of divorce. Based on the findings, it can be stated that computer games are a mental and cognitive activity that leads children to reach high levels of thinking and increase their concentration and creative thinking. Limitations: One of the most important limitations of the present study is that due to the timing of the conference, researchers did not have enough time to conduct follow-up tests to sustain the impact of brain teasers. Contribution: Another use of mind games is in teaching and learning, especially for single parents and divorced children who have less concentration. Therefore, due to the high desire and tendency of children to computer games

Investigating the Relationship Between E-learning and Mobile Learning on Students' Academic Self-handicapping During the Outbreak of COVID-19

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between virtual education and mobile learning on students' academic self-handicapping during the outbreak of COVID19. Research Methodology: The present study is a descriptive study of correlation type. The statistical population includes all primary school students in Zabol city. Using Cochran's formula and Morgan's table and cluster random sampling method, 277 people were selected as the research sample. Data were collected using the Jones & Rudwalt (1982) Academic Self-handicapping Scale Questionnaire, Mobile Learning Ability Questionnaire, and Virtual Learning Questionnaire. Results: The results of statistical analysis indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between students' academic disability and virtual education. The intensity of this relationship is very strong and virtual education has the power to predict academic self-handicapping(P?0.05). Besides that, there is no significant relationship between students' academic disability and mobile learning. Conclusion: Therefore, we conclude that students who are more prone to academic disability are less likely to participate in the classroom. Limitations: One of the most important limitations of the present study is that due to the timing of the conference, researchers did not have enough time to conduct follow-up tests to sustain the impact of brain teasers

Carbonate biomineralization potential of endospore-laden polymeric fibers (BioFibers) for bio-self-healing applications

This study explores the capacity and kinetics of microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP) using BioFibers—endospore-laden polymeric fibers. Innovatively developed as a delivery system, BioFibers incorporate a bio-self-healing feature into quasi-brittle composites like concrete. Constructed with a load-bearing core fiber, a bio-compatible hydrogel sheath, and an outer protective shell layer, BioFibers represent a novel approach to enhancing material healing properties. BioFibers have been engineered to provide the matrix with three functionalities: autonomous self-healing, crack growth control, and damage-induced activation. The primary goal of this study was to focus on the self-healing functionality of BioFibers and evaluate the biomineralization performance through advanced material characterization techniques. In this context, we conducted quantitative and qualitative experiments to study bio-self-healing kinetics and precipitates material characterizations using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). TGA results revealed that the self-healing kinetics based on calcium carbonate precipitation were mainly exhibited by three stages: (i) endospore germination lag phase, (ii) ureolytic activity, and (iii) saturation degree of carbonate, resulting in precipitations of calcium carbonate per one activated BioFiber (with an average mass of 56.9 ± 1.4 mg) equal to: (i) 3.35–30.30 mg, (ii) 31.08–140.91 mg, and (iii) 381.39–620.08 mg, respectively. SEM imaging revealed growing calcium carbonate crystal formation, primarily vaterite, during the progression of MICCP. EDS data in the initial stage indicated traces of phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, sodium, and sulfur, signaling the endospore germination phase. In subsequent stages, carbon, calcium, and oxygen elements dominated, confirming calcium carbonate precipitation. XRD phase analysis showed that amorphous content was the primary residue in the first stage, with 85.5% associated with organic matter and 5.6 wt% due to amorphous calcium carbonate. As the MICCP process continued, the amorphous content, mainly organic matter, decreased, reaching 23.5 wt% in the last stage. Conversely, the crystalline phase increased, with calcite accounting for 21.4 wt% and vaterite accounting for 51.7 wt% in the final stage

Development of bio-inspired multi-functional polymeric-based fibers (BioFiber) for advanced delivery of bacterial-based self-healing agent in concrete

The goal of this research is to develop innovative damage-responsive bacterial-based self-healing fibers (hereafter called BioFiber) that can be incorporated into concrete to enable two functionalities simultaneously: (1) crack bridging functionality to control crack growth and (2) crack healing functionality when a crack occurs. The BioFiber is comprised of a load-bearing core fiber, a sheath of bacteria-laden hydrogel, and an outer impermeable strain-responsive shell coating. An instant soaking manufacturing process was used with multiple reservoirs containing bacteria-laden, hydrophilic prepolymer and crosslinking reagents to develop BioFiber. Sodium-alginate was used as a prepolymer to produce calcium-alginate hydrogel via ionic crosslinking on the core fiber. The dormant bacteria (spore) of Lysinibacillus sphaericus was incorporated in hydrogel as a self-healing agent. Then, an impermeable polymeric coating was applied to the hydrogel-coated core fibers. The impermeable strain-responsive shell coating material was manufactured using the polymer blend of polystyrene and polylactic acid. The high swelling capacity of calcium-alginate provides the water required for the microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) chemical pathway, i.e., ureolysis in this study. The strain-responsive impermeable coating provides adequate flexibility during concrete casting to protect the spores and alginate before cracking and sufficient stress-strain behavior to grant damage-responsiveness upon crack occurrence to activate MICP. To evaluate the behavior of developed BioFiber, the swelling capacity of the hydrogel, the impermeability of shell coating, the spore casting survivability, and MICP activities were investigated

Understanding the importance of endosporulation methods for generating endospores that can resist harsh conditions and produce calcite in bio self-healing of concrete

Vegetative cells used for the concrete bio self-healing process often face threatening environmental conditions such as extreme temperature, pH, salinity, shear stress, and starvation during the hardening process and the service life of the concrete. These conditions can eventually lead to cell death. Since endospores are likely to remain dormant for prolonged periods and can survive, germinate, and grow under inhospitable conditions, they are a suitable bacterial phenotype to introduce into concrete for microbial-inducing calcite precipitation. This study investigated how different endosporulation methods affect the endosporulation ratio (i.e., the fraction of vegetative cells that are converted to endospores during endosporulation), as well as the germination ratio (i.e., the fraction of endospores that are converted to vegetative cells following germination) and the microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) performance of germinated endospores after facing harsh conditions of concrete, specifically, freeze and that cycling. Results from this study show that thermal shock followed by cell incubation in alkaline conditions leads to increased sporulation and germination ratios. It was also observed that freeze and thaw cycling had negligible effects on calcite production by endospores, while exposure of vegetative cells to these harsh conditions led to not only less biomass and calcite production but also to a lower mass of calcite produced per mass of cells, as determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results from this study provide key insights into improving methods for endosporulation and germination to effectively use them for bio self-healing applications in concrete