Investigating the Correlation between Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies and Students’ Academic Well-being Mediated by Academic Engagement

Background: Puberty is known to be a stressful period for students, and managing its associated crises helps guarantee students’ mental health and sense of well-being in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of academic engagement in the correlation between cognitive and metacognitive strategies and academic well-being in high school students.Methods: The method used in this research was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population included all the female high-school students in Kermanshah, Iran, in 2021, out of whom a sample of 350 students was selected. The Standard Schoolrelated Well-being Questionnaire, the Learning Strategies Questionnaire, and the Academic Engagement Scale were utilized herein. The data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics (structural equation modeling).Results: The results revealed that cognitive (r=0.34, P=0.001) and metacognitive (r=0.36, P=0.001) strategies were significantly and positively correlated with academic well-being. Furthermore, cognitive (r=0.33, P=0.001) and metacognitive (r=0.42, P=0.001) strategies were significantly and positively correlated with academic engagement. These strategies also had an indirect and significant association with academic well-being mediated by academic engagement (P=0.001).Conclusions: The results demonstrated the desirable fit of the model. It could be therefore recommended that cognitive and metacognitive strategies be instructed to students in order to promote their academic well-being by increasing their academic engagement

A Comprehensive Review on the Metabolic Cooperation Role of Nuclear Factor E2-Related Factor 2 and Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 against Homeostasis Changes in Diabetes

Objective: Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are associated with metabolic disorders including hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and inflammation, leading to the production of reactive oxygen species and nitrogen activators. In these cases, some of the body’s innate factors are activated to cope with these dangerous situations. The purpose of the review is to explain the collaboration between the nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (NRF2) and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) in homeostasis and body metabolism with a focus on diabetes. Materials and methods: This review is based on searching the PubMed database, SCOPUS, Elsevier and citation lists of relevant publications. Subject heading and key words used include diabetes, oxidative stress, inflammation, NRF2, and FGF21. Only articles in English were included. Results: NRF2 and FGF21 are two attractive biomarkers for the diagnosis of specific metabolic disorders and therapeutic targets, which have been implicated as therapeutic targets for the management of diabetic complications. The combination of both factors leads to the regulation of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses and metabolic pathways. Conclusions: Given most studies of NRF2- and FGF21-based therapeutic interventions in animal models and the possibility of not achieving the same results in humans, further clinical studies are needed to determine the efficacy of NRF2 and FGF21 in treatment of patients with diabetes

The Impact of Parents’ Involvement in and Attitude toward Their Children’s Foreign Language Programs for Learning English

Since parents and their involvement and attitude have a crucial role in children’s achievement in learning English, the present study is to explore and evaluate the impact of Iranian parents’ involvement in and attitude toward their children’s foreign language programs for learning English. In other words, the effectiveness of their high level of involvement and strength of attitude will be evaluated. Besides, this study is to explore whether some factors such as parents’ gender, knowledge of English, income, and educational background are related in the parents’ involvement and attitude or not. To this end, first of all, a reliable questionnaire, checked through a pilot study, was distributed among 140 parents to find out the level of their involvement in and attitude toward the programs. Based on the normal curve and the Z score, the parents were divided into two groups, one with a higher level of involvement and more positive attitude and the other with a lower level of involvement and less positive attitude. By using a standard final achievement test of the course book among 70 primary school student in third grade and Independent T-test analysis, the impact of parents’ involvement and attitude were checked. As the results revealed those parents who have high level of involvement in and positive attitude toward their children’s English language programs made their children’s higher level of achievement in the language program. Besides, the further outcomes showed that there are significant differences between the parents’ knowledge of English, income, and educational background and their level of involvement and attitude. The aforementioned factors affect children’s achievement test scores as well.

Energy-Aware Scheduling of Workflow Using a Heuristic Method on Green Cloud

Energy consumption has been one of the main concerns to support the rapid growth of cloud data centers, as it not only increases the cost of electricity to service providers but also plays an important role in increasing greenhouse gas emissions and thus environmental pollution, and has a negative impact on system reliability and availability. As a result, energy consumption and efficiency metrics have become a vital issue for parallel scheduling applications based on tasks performed at cloud data centers. In this paper, we present a time and energy-aware two-phase scheduling algorithm called best heuristic scheduling (BHS) for directed acyclic graph (DAG) scheduling on cloud data center processors. In the first phase, the algorithm allocates resources to tasks by sorting, based on four heuristic methods and a grasshopper algorithm. It then selects the most appropriate method to perform each task, based on the importance factor determined by the end-user or service provider to achieve a solution designed at the right time. In the second phase, BHS minimizes the makespan and energy consumption according to the importance factor determined by the end-user or service provider and taking into account the start time, setup time, end time, and energy profile of virtual machines. Finally, a test dataset is developed to evaluate the proposed BHS algorithm compared to the multiheuristic resource allocation algorithm (MHRA). The results show that the proposed algorithm facilitates 19.71% more energy storage than the MHRA algorithm. Furthermore, the makespan is reduced by 56.12% in heterogeneous environments

Estimation of the residential radon levels and the annual effective dose in dwellings of Shiraz, Iran, in 2015

Introduction: Radon is the second most important cause of lung cancer after smoking. Thus, the determination of indoor radon concentrations in dwellings and workplaces is an important public health concern. The purpose of this research was to measure the concentration of radon gas in residential homes and public places in the city of Shiraz and its relationship with the type and age of the buildings as well as the type of materials used to construct the building (brick, block). We also determined the radon dosages that occupants of the building would receive. Methods: The present study is a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional research that was conducted on the building’s indoor air in the city of Shiraz in 2015. Using geographic information system (GIS) software and a spatial sampling cell with an area of 25 square kilometers, 200 points were selected. In this study, we used passive diffusive samplers as Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD) CR-39 polycarbonate films for three months in the winter. Sampling was conducted in accordance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s protocol. We determined the concentrations of radon gas at the time of sampling, and calibration factors were determined. The data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS, version 20, descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann– Whitney tests. Results: This study showed that the average radon concentration was 57.6 ± 33.06 Bq/m3 in residential dwellings. The average effective dose was 1.45 mSv/y. The concentration of radon in 5.4% of the houses was found to be greater than 100 Bq/m3 , which is above the level allowed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Conclusion: Since radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, it seems necessary to increase the public’s awareness of this issue and to take action to reduce radon in homes when the concentrations are above the WHO’s guidelin

Indoor concentrations of VOCs in beauty salons; association with cosmetic practices and health risk assessment

Abstract Background The use of cosmetic products in beauty salons emits numerous kinds of toxic air pollutants. The objectives of this study were to measure the concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde in 20 large beauty salons in Tehran and relate the observed concentrations to environmental and occupational characteristics of the salons. Methods Samples were collected from inside and outside air of 20 selected salons located in different areas of the city. Several additional parameters were recorded during the sampling process including surface area, number of active employees, type of ventilation, type of ongoing treatments, temperature, humidity. Deterministic and stochastic health risk assessment of the compounds were performed. Results Indoor concentrations of each pollutant were significantly higher than its outdoor concentrations. Health risk assessment showed that benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde represent a possible cancer risk in the beauty salons. In addition, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene had negligible non-carcinogenic risks. Ventilation with air purifier, and fan with open window were more effective than using just a fan. Concentrations of benzene and toluene were affected by the number of hair dying treatments. The concentration of xylene was affected by the number of hair styling. The concentration of formaldehyde was affected by the number of hair styling and number of nail treatments. Conclusion With improved ventilation and requirements for reformulated cosmetic, concentrations of toxic air pollutants in beauty salons could be reduced