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The present study aimed to compare the effects of information and communication technology (ICT)-based and conventional methods of instruction on ninth-grade students’ academic enthusiasm for L2 learning (English). The statistical population included all ninth-grade students from lower secondary schools for girls located in the city of Tehran, Iran, in 2019–2020. For this purpose, applied research with a quasiexperimental design was employed to meet the study objectives. To select the statistical sample, the convenience sampling method was used, so one school equipped with the essential facilities was chosen to implement the ICT-based education. Then, two classrooms at the given school were selected as the experimental and control groups, each one consisting of 27 students, based on the random sampling method. The research tool was the 15-item Academic Enthusiasm Questionnaire (AEQ) containing behavioral, emotional, and cognitive subscales, and recruiting a five-point Likert-type scale. All the classrooms initially received a pretest, and then the experimental group was instructed by the ICT-based education. Finally, all the study groups completed a posttest. Moreover, inferential and descriptive statistics were applied for data analysis. The study results demonstrated a significant difference in terms of the baseline academic enthusiasm between the experimental and control groups. In addition, the ICT-based method of instruction showed stronger effects on students’ academic enthusiasm than the conventional one.

In this paper, the mesopore-activated red mud (M-ARM) was prepared by treating red mud (RM) with acid under an ultrasonic batch and through heat treatment at 750 C. The surface area and adsorption average pore width of M-ARM were calculated and obtained values of 13.408 m2 g-1 and 25.160 nm, respectively. Therefore, the maximum adsorption capacity of M-ARM for phosphorus was 200.85±1.66 mg g−1 at 318 K and pH=5. At a low initial concentration (75 mg L-1), the phosphorus removal capacity by M-ARM material was up to 97.09±0.15% at 313 K. With the temperature scales varying from 298 to 313 K, the values of Gibbs free energy change (ΔG°) were negative and also vary from -37.47 to -36.68. The phosphorus adsorption process in an aqueous solution is spontaneous, and this adsorption process was exothermic with enthalpy change ∆Ho=−14.36. From the results of investigations and calculations of thermodynamic values, kinetics, and adsorption capacity of materials, we can confirm that the materials in this study had a low-cost and potential material for applications to treat phosphorus-contaminated water. In addition, the adsorption kinetics of this material for phosphorus were also studied and discussed.

Over the past few years, attention to environmental problems, legal necessities, and economic advantages emerging from reproduction activities has attracted attention to reverse logistics activities in the form of a closed-loop supply chain, whether in industry or scientific research. The current study aims to model competitiveness and comparison between two closed-loop three-level supply chains, each of which includes a manufacturer, a retailer, and a third party to collect the products used by the customer, taking into account the concepts of game theory and the existence of aggregates. Moreover, a separate supplier for each chain is considered. In the forward supply chain, the manufacturer produces new products using new components or re-used products that have been collected from the consumer, then sells these products mainly to the retailer, and the retailer sells them. In the reverse chain, the collector provides the used products to the manufacturer after collection. The study utilized the definitions and concepts of game theory to model this closed loop chain as a Stackelberg game to obtain the optimal value of wholesale and retail price and the optimal value of the product return coefficient for the collector. Finally, the models based on some numerical examples are solved. Given the results, the remanufacturing costs have a significant role in making more profits for all members in such chains, and competitive chains should attempt to remanufacture the products at lower costs.

Investigation in radioactive contaminant removal from aqueous solutions has been considered essential upon unexpected nuclear accidents. In this report, we have successfully prepared Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) with different substituted cations (A2[Fe(CN)6] (A: Cu2+, Co2+, and Ni2+)). The synthesized PBAs were characterized and employed for the removal of Cs+, Sr2+, and Co2+ as sorption models, which are commonly found in radioactive waste. Sorption examinations reveal that Cu2[Fe(CN)6] has the highest sorption capacity towards Cs+, Sr2+, and Co2+ compared with those of Co2[Fe(CN)6] and Ni2[Fe(CN)6]. This is mainly attributed to the cation-exchange ability of substituted metal within the framework of PBAs. The sorption mechanism is qualitatively and quantitatively supported by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy analysis (TXRF). In addition, it was found that Cs+ is adsorbed most effectively by PBAs due to the size matching between Cs+ ions and the channel windows of PBAs. These findings are important for the design of sorbents with suitable ion-exchange capacity and selectivity toward targeted radioactive wastes.

Lead poisoning is a public health problem in many areas of the world. Children are at particularly high risk for adverse effects of lead exposure; even at low concentrations, lead can affect physical, mental, and behavioral development. Children living near lead-zinc mines are at high risk for environmental lead poisoning, especially the contaminated soil. We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study in Ban Thi Commune, northern Vietnam. 195 children (92,9% participation) aged 3-14 years old (average: 7.69 ± 2.90) were randomly selected from a list of all children prepared by the village health collaborators. 109 (55.90%) were boys and 86 (44.10%) were girls. The research measures were the lead concentration in native soil and the children’s total blood lead concentration determined by the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method. The results showed that lead content in soil was many times higher than American Environmental Protection Agency and Vietnam standards (average 2980.23 ± 6092.84 mg/kg dry weight of soil (range 80.05 – 33820.62)). Average blood lead levels for children were 15.42 ± 6.45 μg/dL (95% CI: 14.50 -16.33 μg/dL). The percentage of children with lead levels >10 μg/dL (value considered to be lead poisoning for children according to the Ministry of Health of Vietnam) was 79.49% of the total number of children. None of the children in this study had blood lead level (BLL) that required chelation treatment according to Vietnam MOH guideline (BLL ≥45 μg/dL). There is weakly evidence that lead exposure relates to the physical development of children. Children with low lead concentrations (less than 10 μg/dL) had height and weight of 1.47-3.51 cm and 1.19-2.81 kg, greater than those with BLL >10 μg/dL (p>0.05).

Recently, utilizing appropriate inventory control policy and determining the optimal selling price for various goods has been the main topic of scientific and industrial research. Inventory management policy 1 by the seller is one solution that improves the chain’s performance by creating coordination between members of the supply chain. The current study attempts to devise an integrated model of inventory pricing and control under the inventory management policy by the seller for perishable goods with shortages is considered. The purpose of presenting the model is to determine the optimal price, the optimal repayment time, and the order size, in order to maximize the profit. To acquire those optimal values, the profit functions of the buyer and the seller are taken into account. Given the results acquired, it is demonstrated that at any cost, the repayment time is unique and optimal. It is concluded that with the optimal recovery time available, the objective function is a concave function of price, and its optimal value is available. Furthermore, utilizing the inventory management policy by the seller could be a proper means to reducing retailer costs while raising their profit.

In this study, we report that an enzyme-mimicking biocatalyst polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer G2.0-hematin (G2.0-He) was fabricated successfully. The chemical structure of G2.0-He was verified by 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy. G2.0-He exhibited a size distribution from 11.6±1.7 nm to 12.5±2.9 nm and a zeta potential from 32.5 mV to 25.6 mV along with the enhancement of the hematin conjugation degree. The relative activity of G2.0-He was evaluated based on pyrogallol oxidation reactions at pH=7. The results showed that G2.0-He was more stable than horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme in high H2O2 concentrations. The HRP-mimic ability of G2.0-He was also confirmed by the catalyzation when preparing catecholic gelatin hydrogels under mild conditions. Moreover, our results also revealed that these hydrogels performed with excellent cytocompatibility in an in vitro study and could be used as a potential scaffold for adhesion and proliferation of fibroblast cells. The obtained results indicated that G2.0-He is a suitable platform for altering the HRP enzyme in several biomedical applications.

The effects of the substitution of V 5+ with Ni 2+ at the corresponding sites in BiVO 4 on the crystal structures, optical properties, and photocatalytic efficiency of BiVO 4 was investigated. Ni 2+ cations doped at the V 5+ sites in BiVO 4 was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectra, and photoluminescence spectra. Ni-doped BiVO 4 exhibited excellent degradation of crystal violet (CV) compared with the bare BiVO 4 . For optimal Ni 2+ doping of 5%, the degradation rate of CV, which reached about 95% within 180 min of LED light irradiation, was obtained. Ni doping can introduce advantageous defect states that significantly increase the separation and diffusion efficiency of the photo-induced charge carriers, thereby boosting the photocatalytic activity of crystal structures.

In this study, pluronics (P123, F127, F87 and F68) and their gelatin modified pluronic (GP) forms (GP-P123, GP-F127, GP-F87 or GP-F68) were used to investigate the effect of gelatin conjugation as well as the lipophilic properties of each pluronic on quercetin (QU) delivery. The anti-cancer property of QU was also evaluated using breast cancer (MCF-7) and cervical cancer (HeLa) cell lines. The QU are encapsulated in the GP nanogels via self-assembly process. Their structures were characterized by 1 H-NMR and TGA. All GP nanogels performed significant higher loading efficiency compared to bare pluronic form. The size distribution of the QU-loaded GP nanogels ranged from 79.52 ± 3.22 nm to 152.51 ± 4.97 nm. The study interestingly shows that of the grafted pluronic induced the QU loading efficiency due to its higher hydrophobicity. Indeed, pluronic P123-grafted gelatin exhibited the highest QU entrapment efficiency of up to 93.02 ± 3.7%. Our obtained results indicated that the QU-loaded GP nanogels performed a sustained release ability of QU compared to pluronic-based micelles. The QU-loaded GP-P123 system performed higher activity against growth of HeLa and MCF7 cancer cell lines compared to the free QU. The preliminary results could offer a further study via co-encapsulation of the QU and anti-cancer drugs for enhancing effectiveness in chemotherapy.

This paper examines whether and how the emissions trading schemes (ETS) pilot program could influence the capital expenditures of firms in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). We use the ETS pilot in the PRC as a quasinatural experiment and obtain a comprehensive dataset of 28,213 firm–year observations, covering 3,557 listed Chinese firms observed annually between 2010 and 2022. We use difference-in-differences regressions to examine the impacts of the ETS pilot on the capital investments of firms. We document that the ETS pilot could motivate firms to increase their capital investments. This finding holds in various robustness and sensitivity checks, including dynamic timing tests, placebo tests, and subsample analyses that exclude outliers. Importantly, we further document that innovative firms increase capital expenditures more following the ETS, whereas noninnovative firms do not increase capital investments after the ETS pilot. These findings suggest that the ETS could play a pivotal role in advancing the PRC’s economic restructuring efforts.