The objective of this study was to develop and assess an instructional approach to teaching purposeful reading comprehension strategies to vocational school students. These students specialize for an occupational field, but they often experience difficulties with school tasks that involve reading and using written documents. Grounded in a definition of reading that emphasizes goal-setting and task management, a set of 10 explicit instruction workshops focused on purposeful reading strategies was co-designed with a group of vocational high school teachers from various disciplines. A different group of teachers was then trained by the research team and implemented the workshops in their regular classrooms. The effectiveness of the approach was tested using a quasi-experimental pre-test/training/post-test design involving an experimental group (N = 17 classes and 241 students) and a control group (N = 15 classes and 174 students). The intervention led to improvements on several indicators of purposeful reading proficiency, with pre-post-test comparisons suggesting particularly notable benefits for the students who initially exhibited greater difficulties. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of reading comprehension, instructional approaches and researcher-teacher collaboration.
This study presents a numerical analysis of an indirect-expansion water-to-air heat pump (HP) combined in series with linear concentrating photovoltaic thermal collectors (CPVT), to meet the space heating demand of a residential house during the cold season, while maximizing the solar contribution. The system is dynamically simulated in TRNSYS under real climatic conditions in Constantine, Algeria, based on the actual thermal load of a modeled house. The CPVT collector field and the thermal storage volume are sized to optimize solar coverage and limit thermal losses. The results show an optimal thermal efficiency of the collectors throughout the heating season, with an average of 47% during sunlit hours. However, the concentration of solar radiation affects the electrical efficiency, which averages 6.29% during these hours. The CPVT collectors supply 58% of the heat pump's thermal demand, with coverage ranging from 34% to 83%, while the heat pump meets 93% of the total heating demand with an average coefficient of performance of 4.88, demonstrating the relevance of the CPVT-HP system. A sensitivity analysis indicates that thermal efficiency increases with ambient temperature, whereas electrical efficiency slightly decreases with higher irradiation. The economic analysis, conducted under two operating scenarios, reveals that in the most favorable scenario, energy savings reach 8000 USD with an estimated payback period of 9 years, confirming the system's profitability when operated year-round. Overall, the results highlight the technical, economic, and environmental viability of this CPVT-HP coupling, particularly in regions with high solar potential.
This work demonstrates that repeated weak measurements together with postselection can produce sharp dynamical discontinuities in meter observables, even in minimal quantum systems. The discontinuous behavior is governed by the polar angle of the postselected state, which serves as a continuous control parameter. As this angle is varied, the expectation value of the meter observables changes abruptly at the point where the imaginary part of the associated weak value, a complex quantity that arises in weak measurements with postselection, becomes zero. Such nonanalytic behavior emerges only when the weak value is genuinely complex for a range of postselection angles. If the weak value remains purely real for all angles, the dynamics remain smooth. The discontinuity originates from an exchange of stability between fixed points of the nonunitary Kraus operator governing the meter's evolution. Remarkably, despite the absence of a thermodynamic limit, the relaxation time in the vicinity of the discontinuity exhibits universal critical behavior characterized by a critical exponent equal to 1, independent of system parameters. These results establish the weak value as a tunable control parameter capable of inducing nonanalytic dynamical responses and reshaping the stability structure of measurementinduced quantum dynamics.
The increased disposal of plastic waste has raised significant environmental concerns, prompting interest in its reuse within the construction sector. Incorporating two types of waste into cementitious mixtures presents a sustainable and synergistic approach to enhance the performance and mitigate the environmental impact. The aim of this study is to investigate the possibility of the combined use of ceramic waste powder (CWP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic shreds in cement mortar to achieve sustainability and reduce CO2 emissions. Mortar mixes were prepared by incorporating 10% CWP as a partial cement replacement and varying PET content (0-20%) as fine aggregate. The experimental program was conducted in two phases. In the first stage, an assessment of the fresh and hardened properties under normal conditions was presented. The investigation included slump flow, density, thermal conductivity, and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV). The second phase evaluated durability under aggressive conditions: elevated temperatures (300 degrees C-600 degrees C for 3 h) and chemical exposure to 5% magnesium sulfate and sulfuric acid for 1 month. Microstructural analysis was performed to evaluate deterioration. Results indicated a significant reduction in flow diameter at 20% PET content. Based on UPV results, a proposed novel Specific Quality Indicator (SQI) was introduced to evaluate the quality of PET mortar. Compressive strength decreased from 35 to 27 MPa at 300 degrees C and from 30 to 10 MPa at 600 degrees C, with more pronounced degradation observed under acid exposure. At high PET content, the flexural strength under sulfate attack was reduced and greater weight loss. Nevertheless, the integration of CWP and PET waste has potential for sustainable mortar production, provided that optimal proportions are maintained.
The long-term behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) structures under sustained loading is strongly affected by creep and cracking, particularly under service conditions where tension stiffening and curvature changes are significant. This study investigates the flexural response of cracked RC beams through combined numerical and experimental analyses. A new 1D finite element model is proposed, integrating nonlinear material behavior, damage mechanics, and time-dependent effects, including creep in both compression and tension. The model relies on a layered fiber section approach and uses a Newton-Raphson iterative procedure to solve equilibrium, allowing accurate prediction of strain, curvature, and internal force evolution over time. The model shows excellent agreement with experimental observations and ABAQUS simulations, accurately capturing deflection trends and crack development. Its performance is further validated using a database of 55 RC beams, including specimens with recycled aggregates and fiber reinforcement. Across this dataset, 84.5% of predicted deflections fall within +/- 1 mm of measured values, with an R2 of 0.960, demonstrating strong reliability. A Sobol-based sensitivity analysis identifies load ratio as the most influential parameter on long-term deflection, followed by concrete strength and humidity. Overall, the model offers an efficient and robust tool for long-term deflection prediction, bridging simplified design rules and complex 3D simulations.
