Organizing the Phenomenon of Distance Education in the Field of Architecture

Architecture includes a wide range of courses from only theoretical courses to only practical ones. Applying distance education for transferring the learning from teacher to student requires deliberation and exact programming. In this research, we have compared the level of learning of students in traditional education system with that of the students in distance education system in architecture field. For this purpose, students a course arbitrary choose traditional or distance education system for given course materials. Selection of studied course materials among specialized ones considering the level of action of its presentation will be illustrated in the text. This study is a semi-experimental research. The population which has been studied includes the students of architecture in associate and bachelor level program of the University of Mohaggeg in Ardebil during the academic years of 2007-8 and 2006-7.  The collected data is the result of the qualitative –quantitative assessment of these students in their academic courses and comparison of their level of learning with one another. The result of this research focuses on the success of distance education system in theory vs. the relative lack of success in practical courses. These conditions, different plan for practical courses in distance education system takes

Kinetic and mechanistic studies of Pt/C-catalysed hydrothermal conversion of butyric acid for on-purpose production of renewable propane

Catalytic hydrothermal decarboxylation of butyric acid represents a promising pathway to produce renewable propane as a major product. The decarboxylation reaction of butyric acid, which can be sourced from biomass at industrial scale, has demonstrated the potential to yield significant amounts of propane, making the process attractive for commercialisation. However, the development of industrial-scale process for the butyric acid-propane route requires the availability of accurate data on reaction kinetics, thermodynamics and equilibria. This present study examines the kinetics of butyric acid hydrothermal decarboxylation to produce propane using a 5 wt% Pt/C catalyst. Reactions were conducted between temperatures of 513 K and 533 K using a non-stirred batch reactor. To confirm that the results reflected true reaction kinetics, potential limitations due to both external and internal mass transport were thoroughly evaluated. A second-order rate expression with respect to butyric acid, with an activation energy value of 118 kJ mol−1 was obtained via power-law fitting of the experimental data. Additionally, a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism-based kinetic model yielded a value of 113 kJ mol−1 for activation energy, closely aligning with the power-law data. Furthermore, a low adsorption enthalpy value of −35.14 kJ mol−1 obtained from this work, indicating weak interaction between butyric acid and the surface of the catalyst. The kinetic data and models developed offer valuable insights for process optimisation, reactor design and scale-up, contributing to the advancement of sustainable biopropane production

Kinetics of hydrothermal reactions of n-butanol over Pt/Al2O3 catalyst for biopropane fuel gas production

Energy defossilisation using drop-in biofuels is an important step towards Net Zero. Producing low-carbon clean-burning propane fuel from biomass provides such additional sustainability benefits. In this work, kinetics of hydrothermal reactions of n-butanol, a biomass-derived feedstock, to produce propane over 5 wt% Pt/Al2O3 catalyst have been studied from 523- 573 K. Experimental data revealed negligible internal and external mass transfer effects and, when fitted to an integral power-rate law equation, gave activation energy of 70 kJ mol−1 (n-butanol reaction order = 1). Furthermore, an appropriate Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was developed, which predicted similar activation energy 62 kJ mol−1. Low adsorption enthalpies for n-butanol (–33.51 kJ mol−1) and water (−18.16 kJ mol−1) indicated weak interactions on the catalyst surface. These agreed with the fast reaction rate of ≈1.0 x 10-5 mol gcat-1 s−1 obtained at ≥ 548 K. As a new research area, generation of such accurate kinetics data will contribute to process development for large-scale biopropane production

Effects of written feedback and revision on learners' accuracy in using two English grammatical structures

The study compared the effects of two types of form-focused written feedback-direct corrective feedback (DCF) and metalinguistic explanation (ME) given to the whole class-on Japanese university students' accuracy of use of two grammatical structures: indefinite article and the hypothetical conditional. Both types of feedback were given with and without an opportunity to rewrite. Accuracy of use was measured in new pieces of writing. The feedback led to increased accuracy for the hypothetical conditional but not for the indefinite article. The effectiveness of the DCF proved longer lasting than the ME. Also, providing opportunity for revision enhanced the effect of the feedback. Overall, DCF followed by revision proved the most effective type of feedback. The results suggest that when form-focused written feedback is directed at two features that vary in saliency and complexity, learners are likely to focus on the structure that contributes more to the global meaning of the text. The results also indicate that directly correcting the errors learners make with respect to a complex syntactical structure is more beneficial than giving them a metalinguistic explanation. © 2013 Language Learning Research Club, University of Michigan

Inflamed EFL Learning: A Qualitative Study to Explore Factors Affecting EFL Learning

The purpose of the present study is to conduct a qualitative content analysis to explore factors affecting EFL learning in Iran. To achieve this aim, the researcher carried out face-to-face unstructured interviews with 10 EFL teachers and 12 university students. The researcher used MAX QDA 10 (Qualitative Data Analysis) software to analyze the data. In order to organize the data, open coding, creating categories, and abstraction processes were used. Using the conventional content analysis method, 950 primary codes were collected based on the participants’ own statements in the original codes. The researcher immersed himself in the data, listened to the interviews, reviewed transcribed notes several times, excluded overlapping codes and, finally, obtained 640 open codes out of 950 primary codes which were classified into 42 subcategories. This reduction process in all categories and subcategories continued until the researcher reached four main categories and finally one abstracted main theme. The four main categories were factors associated with ‘language planning and policy’, ‘teacher characteristics’, ‘environmental/social elements’, and ‘learners’ individual characteristics.’ It was concluded that the absence of the four mentioned factors leads to ‘inflamed EFL learning’. Finally, implications are drawn for language planners and policymakers (LPP) and EFL teachers

Applying Freire’s Critical Pedagogy to Iranian EFL Bilingual and Monolingual Speaking Performance

The purpose of the present pre-experimental study is to examine the extent to how Critical Pedagogy (CP) may function in EFL teaching in Iran. Compared with the growing but far from conclusive body of research, virtually few studies have been covered comparatively among monolinguals and bilinguals. Also, no studies have examined Freire’s CP among monolinguals and bilinguals especially in Iran, which considered as two privileged and less privileged groups respectively. Therefore, this study was done among sixty Iranian monolingual and bilingual university sophomores to know if CP affects them differently. The study is done under two available classes in bilingual and two other classes in monolingual context. The first groups received problem-posing and the second groups were exposed to banking model. The scoring procedure of participants’ performance was based on IELTS speaking band descriptors. Findings reveal that applying problem-posing model cause improvement in speaking performance of both monolingual and bilingual learners than banking model. More importantly, it is concluded that there is no significant difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in terms of problem-posing model, perhaps because the standards of educational justice have been partially observed among both communities. Finally, implications were drawn for EFL teachers and syllabus designers.</jats:p