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PurposeThis action research explored the use of structured writing formats including writing frames and writing guides to improve high school student historical writing.Design/methodology/approachCollected data involved the result of a pre-test and post-test comparing writing scores of students before and after the intervention, students' survey and co-teacher's interview.FindingsThe findings indicated that the intervention of writing frames and writing guides had a positive effect on student writing performances. Discussions and implications for further studies were also included.Originality/valueThe findings informed the teacher that general writing skills could be applied across the curriculum.

This study attempted to examine whether academic performance of pre-service teachers (PST) in virtual field experiences was the same as that of their peers in the previous semester who had regular face-to-face field experiences. Data for this study included PST’ scores in three course sections in the Spring 2020 semester at a mid-size public university located in the Midwest of the United States where all of their field experiences were conducted virtually and compared with that of their peers in the Fall 2019 semester when all of their field experiences were conducted face-to-face. Our findings indicated that PST’s academic performance in the virtual field experiences was the same as that of their peers in the previous semester who had regular face-to-face field experiences.

Stirling motor is a type of outside ignition heat motor that can utilize various fuel sources from customary structures (coal, oil, kindling, rice husk, and so forth) to sustainable power sources (sun-oriented energy), climate, squander heat usage, and so forth). The article centers around introducing the fundamental highlights of the improvement history, activity qualities, and plan techniques for certain sorts of Stirling motors, in this way offering useful appropriateness as well as a college preparing for understudies. The understudy studying Thermal Engineering in our nation today.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, our institution, like others in higher education, suspended face- to-face classes and offered remote learning as an alternative. We report five cases of undergraduate and graduate courses that transitioned from a face-to-face to a remote mode. Each case will provide a detailed description of how the course was moved to an online mode, how the course was managed, the instructors’ previous experience in online teaching, their self-reflection on the process of transitioning to remote learning and their recommendations for a more successful experience in a similar potential scenario in the future. Further, we report the students’ perspectives based on their responses to an online survey. The combined results of the cases reported in this study reflect the resilience on both sides. A sudden shutdown of the university along with disease- related fears caused anxiety both for the students and instructors regardless of previous experience in online education. However, having online material pre-pandemic, possessing the technical skills, and previous online teaching or learning experience as well as having the infrastructure in place, facilitated the smooth navigation of the courses. The mode of delivery of the course (synchronous, asynchronous or blended) did not have an effect on students’ satisfaction.

The novel COVID-19 pandemic, with its global impact, has fundamentally altered the way in which universities function. The current manuscript presents four educational initiatives, including experiences and practices of faculty members at a mid-sized Great Plains university. From the perspective of three different academic colleges and popular research programs, this paper explores how a difficult situation was approached as an opportunity to face challenges yet still provide students a high-quality educational experience. This paper is applicable to faculty, staff, and administrators at institutions of higher education as they explore innovative pedagogical approaches.

The principal object of this study is blast-induced groundvibration (PPV), which is one of the dangerous side effects of blastingoperations in an open-pit mine. In this study, nine artificial neuralnetworks (ANN) models were developed to predict blast-induced PPV inNui Beo open-pit coal mine, Vietnam. Multiple linear regression and theUnited States Bureau of Mines (USBM) empirical techniques are alsoconducted to compare with nine developed ANN models. 136 blastingoperations were recorded in many years used for this study with 85% ofthe whole datasets (116 blasting events) was used for training and the rest15% of the datasets (20 blasting events) for testing. Root Mean SquareError (RMSE), Determination Coefficient (R2), and Mean Absolute Error(MAE) are used to compare and evaluate the performance of the models.The results revealed that ANN technique is more superior to othertechniques for estimating blast-induced PPV. Of the nine developed ANNmodels, the ANN 7-10-8-5-1 model with three hidden layers (ten neuronsin the first hidden layer, eight neurons in the second layers, and fiveneurons in the third hidden layer) provides the most outstandingperformance with an RMSE of 1.061, R2 of 0.980, and MAE of 0.717 ontesting datasets. Based on the obtained results, ANN technique should beapplied in preliminary engineering for estimating blast-induced PPV inopen-pit mine.

Instructor performance plays a critical role in fostering student learning. Unlike the postsecondary level, many states in the United States, have substantially regulated class size in the p-12 education system with the aim of enhancing quality learning. Thus, the purpose of this research paper is to examine the correlation between instructor evaluations and class size in tertiary institutions as the findings can inform regulatory decisions regarding class sizes in postsecondary facilities. The study reviewed 97-course evaluations garnered in the Fall of 2019 from a Midwest University. The feedback of students, undertaking physical, and virtual classes, was considered regarding teachers’ performance. Different course evaluations included in the study were adjunct faculty, full-time faculty, graduate level, and undergraduate level course assessments. The research findings depicted a negative correlation between class size and instructor evaluation, positing that teachers teach the same way in smaller classes as they do in larger classes. Nonetheless, the study results showed that the sizes of conventional virtual classes had a lower correlation with course performances compared to traditional face-to-face classes. In the latter, there was more engagement between teachers and students, as the latter appeared to be more active than in online classes. With the technological effect that Covid-19 has brought forth in online learning, population sizes of online classes have changed. Therefore, considering the data used for the research was collected preCovid-19, it is essential that future studies pay considerable focus on the quality of evaluation of virtual classes to help with directing of school budget allocations toward online learning.

Students’ perspective on the higher educators’ performance matters because the ultimate goal of teaching is education quality and students’ satisfaction. Student evaluations are important to university professors to improve their teaching quality and in many cases, secure their promotion and tenureship. Excellent teaching does not have a universal definition, and students often have different perspectives on effective and excellent teaching. In this study, we examined the factors contributing to excellent teaching as rated by students on the website ratemyprofessors.com, a popular website among students to rate their educators voluntarily. The information from this website can be valuable, despite all the critics it has received, given that students provide feedback on a volunteer basis to help their peers with selecting the best class. The website provides a forum for opinions that are not influenced by fear of possible consequences, such as a low grade or tension with faculty. Our study results show that the five top characteristics that are important to students include being caring, respectful, inspirational, as well as giving good feedback, and delivering “amazing” lectures. Further data analysis shows that subject content, in terms of manageable workload, reasonable content difficulty, and grading, can influence students' ratings. The findings indicate that students value interpersonal relationships and cherish individualized feedback and receiving personal support.

In stretchable strain sensors, highly elastic elastomers such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), Ecoflex, and polyurethane are commonly used for binder materials of the nanocomposite and substrates. However, the viscoelastic nature of the elastomers and the interfacial action between nanofillers and binders influence the critical sensor performances, such as repeatability, response, and hysteresis behavior. In this study, we developed a stretchable nanocomposite strain sensor composed of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and a silicone elastomer binder. The effects of binder and substrate materials on the repeatability, response, hysteresis behavior, and long-term endurance of the strain sensors were systematically investigated using stretching, bending, and repeated cyclic bending tests. Three different binder and substrate materials including PDMS, Ecoflex, and a mixture of PDMS/Ecoflex were tested. The stretchable strain sensors showed an excellent linearity and stretchability of more than 130%. Therefore, the long-term endurance of the strain sensors fabricated with Ecoflex binder should be improved. The strain sensors fabricated with Ecoflex binder showed a relatively large variation in electrical resistance during 10,000-cycle bending tests and repeatability errors at large bending angles. The strain sensors fabricated with PDMS binder showed repeatability errors at small bending angles and a slight response delay of 1 second. On the contrary, the strain sensors fabricated with a mixture of PDMS/Ecoflex binder showed excellent repeatability and response characteristics. The PDMS material showed hysteresis behavior; therefore, the strain sensors fabricated with PDMS binder on PDMS substrate exhibited a large hysteresis behavior in the first stretch–release cycle. It was found that the hysteresis behavior of the strain sensors was mainly dependent on substrate materials than on binder materials. The stretchable strain sensors made of the mixture of PDMS/Ecoflex exhibited excellent repeatability, response, hysteresis behavior, and excellent capability in detecting finger and wrist bending.

Even though game-based learning is trending both in research and in practice, there is still a limited understanding about the relationships between teachers' and students' perceptions of academic achievement, levels of learning engagement, and challenges implementing this pedagogical approach in a PK-12 setting. Data used for this research project were extracted from responses to an annual online survey administered to teachers and students at middle schools and high schools in a Midwest state in America. The authors' results indicate that teachers and students agree that students were more engaged in class learning activities if they were managed like games, and GBL helped improve student academic performances. Finally, “Insufficient time” was the most common barrier to the teachers' effort of implementing GBL in their classrooms.

The thin-film fabrication of PEDOT:PSS-based dispersions via solution-processing techniques is critical to developing a hole transporting layer (HTL) for inverted organic photovoltaic (iOPV) devices. However, the highly hydrophilic nature of PEDOT:PSS solutions is a drawback that strongly inhibits their usage as HTLs in iOPV devices. In this study, the hydrophilic nature of PEDOT:PSS solutions was tuned successfully using various solvents and surfactants. Additionally, the dispersion of graphene oxide (GO) colloidal suspensions within the PEDOT:PSS was used to enhance the electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS. These modifications have the benefit of enabling effective coating of a PEDOT:PSS/GO blend as an HTL on top of a hydrophobic photoactive layer, resulting in a homogeneous, conductive thin film for iOPV devices. In order to further optimize the ratio of PEDOT:PSS to GO, the effect of the GO dosage is investigated systematically, which demonstrated the influence of this ratio on the overall power conversion efficiency of devices. The results demonstrate that the additive- and GO-modified PEDOT:PSS can lead to enhancement of device efficiency, mainly due to enhanced HTL film morphology, high electrical conductivity, high adhesiveness, and well-matched bandgap energy. We believe that the modified PEDOT:PSS/GO is a prospective candidate for utilization in the HTL for iOPV devices in next-generation energy conversion applications and other potential energy management devices.

This study examined how one-to-one initiatives were conducted in rural public K-12 educational settings in a mid-western US state. Research data were gathered from interview responses from 15 school personnel who were either educational technology directors or school principals at 15 rural public K-12 schools. The study found that when schools decided to embrace one-to-one initiatives, decisions were often made by committees with limited membership and cost was frequently and/or primarily the committees’ major consideration. In addition to cost, device management, durability, and ease of use were factors that school committees were interested in, when selecting devices. Two notable discrepancies cited that should be addressed by committees considering implementing one-to-one initiative are: 1. Not preparing teachers and administrators to effectively use those devices prior to the implementation of the initiative. 2. Not evaluating the instructional effectiveness and learning gains after the implementation of the initiative.

The topic of this paper is about operational planning of construction site and their control. This paper has two parts. The first part is theoretic and the second part is practical. In the theoretical part of this paper the writer describing how to do operational planning and explains its importance. Further, the paper will introduce the reader with the type of operational planning, their strengths and weaknesses. The next part of this paper is practical and is focused on software, which is used for controlling the cost of a construction site in real time. This part contains an instruction on how to control operational plans.

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the commonest hospital-acquired infection (HAI) in intensive care. In Asia, VAP is increasingly caused by resistant gram-negative organisms. Despite the global antimicrobial resistance crisis, the epidemiology of VAP is poorly documented in Asia. Methods: We systematically reviewed literature published on Ovid Medline, Embase Classic, and Embase from 1 January 1990 to 17 August 2017 to estimate incidence, prevalence, and etiology of VAP. We performed a meta-analysis to give pooled rates and rates by country income level. Results: Pooled incidence density of VAP was high in lower- and upper-middle-income countries and lower in high-income countries (18.5, 15.2, and 9.0 per 1000 ventilator-days, respectively). Acinetobacter baumannii (n = 3687 [26%]) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 3176 [22%]) were leading causes of VAP; Staphylococcus aureus caused 14% (n = 1999). Carbapenem resistance was common (57.1%). Conclusions: VAP remains a common cause of HAI, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and antibiotic resistance is high.