Critical contextual factors of sustainable online teaching: learning the lessons of pandemic times from physical education teachers’ and school administrators’ perspectives

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has upended schooling around the world and prompted a shift to online teaching and learning, including in primary (elementary) physical education (PE). PE is typically characterized by physicality and close proximity to others, the shift to online delivery has drastically changed this landscape and brings significant consequences for the future of PE in schools. Teacher and school administrator perspectives on the critical enablers to effective online delivery of primary PE during the pandemic can help inform the development of sustainable online education that enhances teaching, learning, and professional development in the post-COVID context. Purpose: Informed by the job characteristics theory (JCT) and social-ecological model (SEM), this study aimed to explore the contextual factors contributing to effective and potentially sustainable online teaching from the perspectives of PE teachers and school administrators. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with a total of 16 teaching staff including two principals, two vice principals, and 12 PE teachers were conducted. Taking a combined inductive/deductive thematic approach, the data analysis was underpinned by JCT to explore participants’ perception and motivation towards online teaching in PE that fostered its adoption, use, and enhancement during the pandemic. The SEM was also applied to enable further exploration of facilitators perceived by PE teachers and school administrators at the interpersonal, institutional, community and policy levels. Findings: : Contextual factors of sustainable online teaching in PE at each level of SEM were identified by the participants. On the intrapersonal level, the motivating potential of the job and readiness appeared to enable the effective transition to online PE by teachers and schools. Of the interpersonal, community, institutional, and policy factors, parental engagement, reach out to the community, institutional leadership and policy making, influenced participant perceptions toward the effectiveness of online PE teaching and its potential sustainability. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that the effectiveness of online teaching in primary PE setting during the COVID-19 pandemic was influenced by the interaction of factors across all levels of SEM. The lessons learned from PE teachers and school administrators have several implications for the potential sustainable development of online PE teaching. First, school leaders and policy makers need to understand the potential benefits of offering quality online PE lessons by schools during class suspension. Second, a review of teacher training programmes and professional development for the pedagogical shift in PE is warranted. Third, there is an equally pressing need to identify effective parental involvement practices that contribute to students’ home online PE learning during the school suspension

Cooperative assemblies featuring hydrogen bonding and C-H...π interactions in 2-(methanesulfonamido)benzohydrazide derivatives: Experimental, computational and biochemical assessment

The significant involvement of noncovalent interactions in catalyst design and synthesis of materials provides a fundamental impetus to explore various synthons that produce complex frameworks. Therefore, in the present work, cooperative assemblies of two methanesulfonamide containing benzohydrazide derivatives (6 and 7) were designed and analyzed. These compounds were synthesized through a straightforward approach using hydrazide 3 and 4-methyl-2-acetylthiophene (4) and 4-methoxyacetophenone (5) in refluxing ethanol. Both compounds were characterized by FTIR, NMR, LCMS and X-ray crystallography. Noncovalent interactions such as Csingle bondH…π interactions and hydrogen bonding played a crucial and dominant role in the structural design of complex molecular architectures. X-ray crystal analysis reveals the presence of an intramolecular classical Nsingle bondH…O strong hydrogen bond and a weaker Csingle bondH…O interaction in compounds 6 and 7. The Nsingle bondH…O arrangement of hydrazone-hydrazone cores also facilitates a Csingle bondH…π close contact between the sulfonamide methyl group and the proximal benzoyl aromatic ring. Moreover, the methoxy group in 7 is also involved in Csingle bondH…O/S and Csingle bondH…π interactions. Hirshfeld surface analysis further revealed the involvement of these noncovalent contacts in the stabilization of molecular topology of both compounds. The energetic features of noncovalent interactions were characterized by DFT calculations while molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), QTAIM and NCIPlot computational tools rationalized the structural assemblies found in the crystal packing of both compounds. Furthermore, the biological assessment against urease enzyme revealed 13-fold superior inhibition with an IC50 value of 1.67 ± 0.19 µM for compound 6. In vitro inhibitory data was complemented with an in silico modeling where the observed interactions between the active site amino acids and compound 6 underscored the importance of heteroaryl (thienyl) component for strong inhibitory effects. Finally, the assessment of pharmacokinetic parameters proposed compound 6 as a suitable druggable inhibitor for further evaluation

Regioselective metal-free synthesis of sulfostyril-quinoline hybrid framework: Experimental and computational mechanistic insights

Polycyclic sultams are widely encountered in both natural products and bioactive drug candidates. In cognizance to their synthetic and medicinal chemistry applications, the exploration of facile approaches remains at high demand. In the present work, a straightforward, efficient and operationally simple methodology has been developed. The coupling of β-chloroaldehyde with a diverse range of anilines as bis-nucleophile containing N–C–C fragment was achieved to deliver a sulfostyril-quinoline hybrid framework. The formation of target scaffolds bearing various substituents avoiding the need of column chromatographic purification represents one of the key advantages associated with this transformation. The exclusive regioselectivity achieved for the formation of linear tetracyclic products over angular products was corroborated with density functional theory (DFT) calculations as well as single crystal X-ray analysis. Furthermore, the density functional theory calculations allowed us to understand the formation of tetracyclic sulfostyril-quinoline hybrid skeleton, and are in fair agreement with the observed regioselectivity of this reaction

Groundwater estuaries of salt lakes: buried pools of endemic biodiversity on the western plateau, Australia

Subterranean or groundwater estuaries occur in porous and cavernous substrates where groundwater abuts the ocean. Like surface estuaries, they are strongly stratified, temporally and hydrochemically heterogeneous environments that support complex hydrogeochemical and biological processes and ecological communities. Here, we contend that groundwater estuaries also occur where groundwater flow approaches salt lakes and provide evidence in the context of groundwater (valley or phreatic) calcretes in palaeovalleys of the arid western plateau of Australia. The calcrete groundwater estuaries display marked and complex physico-chemical gradients along, across and through the groundwater flow path. From the first principles and the density differences between water bodies, we may expect the form and dynamics of the saltwater front to mimic that of marine estuaries but with the dynamic and temporal response to changing hydrology heavily dampened, and driven by the episodic groundwater recharge and lake filling typical of arid regions. The calcrete aquifers support diverse biological communities of obligate groundwater animals, largely endemic to a given calcrete body. These communities comprise both macro and microinvertebrates, predominantly a suite of crustacean higher taxa, and a great diversity of diving beetles (Dytiscidae) isolated in the calcrete aquifers between ca. 5 and 8 million years ago. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.W. F. Humphreys, C. H. S. Watts, S. J. B. Cooper, R. Leij

Detoxification of crude oil

NoPetroleum contributes significantly to our lives and will continue do so for many years to come. Petroleum derivatives supply more than 50% of the world's total supply of energy (Jarullah, 2011). Traditionally crude oil goes though fractional distillation to produce different grades of fuel such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, etc. providing fuel for automobiles, tractors, trucks, aircraft, and ships. Catalytic hydrotreating (HDT) is used to detoxify the oil fractions produced by fractional distillation in the petroleum refining industries which involve removal of pollutants such as sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and asphaltene in trickle bed reactors. Recently Jarullah and co-workers proposed detoxification of whole crude oil a priori before the crude oil enters further processing in a fractionating column. This chapter highlights this new technology