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This article draws from narratives of 14 slum dwellers of Christian Colony, Islamabad, Pakistan, to explore their struggle through a web of barriers and enablers to participate in higher education. Using the qualitative approach, primary data was collected through in-depth interviews. The respondents were mostly from the families where males worked as sanitary workers or unskilled laborers while the females worked as sanitary workers or housemaids. The interview data was transcribed, labelled and thematically analyzed. As a result, various themes around the barriers and enablers to participation in higher education emerged. For the most recurrent themes that emerged from the data, a second round of interviews was conducted and four illustrative examples were chosen that richly provide contextual information about their respective themes. Thus, the study used narrative storytelling technique under Systems Theory Framework to depict the struggle of individual slum dwellers within multiple intrapersonal and social systems. The study concluded that lack of guidance and dearth of financial resources were the key barriers that the slum dwellers faced to participate in higher education. Also, the study concluded that the coping strategy for the key barriers could be affirmative interventions of career counselling and financial assistance to support egalitarian participation of the slum dwellers in higher education.

Disinfection during tertiary municipal wastewater treatment is a necessary step to control the spread of pathogens; unfortunately, it also gives rise to numerous disinfection byproducts (DBPs), only a few of which are regulated because of the analytical challenges associated with the vast number of potential DBPs. This study utilized polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) passive samplers, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS), and non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) spectral deconvolution for suspect screening of DBPs in treated wastewater. PDMS samplers were deployed upstream and downstream of the chlorination unit in a municipal wastewater treatment plant located in Abu Dhabi, and their extracts were analyzed using GC×GC-TOFMS. A workflow incorporating a multi-tiered, eight-filter screening process was developed, which successfully enabled the reliable isolation of 22 candidate DBPs from thousands of peaks. The NMF spectral deconvolution improved the match factor score of unknown mass spectra to the reference mass spectra available in the NIST library by 17% and facilitated the identification of seven additional DBPs. The close match of the first-dimension retention index data and the GC×GC elution patterns of DBPs, both predicted using the Abraham solvation model, with their respective experimental counterparts—with the measured data available in the NIST WebBook and the GC×GC elution patterns being those observed for the candidate peaks—significantly enhanced the accuracy of peak assignment. Isotopic pattern analysis revealed a close correspondence for 11 DBPs with clearly visible isotopologues in reference spectra, thereby further strengthening the confidence in the peak assignment of these DBPs. Brominated analogues were prevalent among the detected DBPs, possibly due to seawater intrusion. The fate, behavior, persistence, and toxicity of tentatively identified DBPs were assessed using EPI Suite™ and the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard. This revealed their significant toxicity to aquatic organisms, including developmental, mutagenic, and endocrine-disrupting effects in certain DBPs. Some DBPs also showed activity in various CompTox bioassays, implicating them in adverse molecular pathways. Additionally, 11 DBPs demonstrated high environmental persistence and resistance to biodegradation. This combined approach offers a powerful tool for future research and environmental monitoring, enabling accurate identification and assessment of DBPs and their potential risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal management of hydropower resources is highly dependent on accurate and reliable hydrological runoff forecasting. The development of a suitable runoff-forecasting model is a challenging task due to the complex and nonlinear nature of runoff. To meet the challenge, this study proposed a three-stage novel hybrid model namely IVG (ICEEMDAN-VMD-GRU), by coupling gated recurrent unit (GRU) with a two-stage signal decomposition methodology, combining improved complete ensemble empirical decomposition with additive noise (ICEEMDAN) and variational mode decomposition (VMD), to forecast the monthly runoff of SWAT river, Pakistan. ICEEMDAN decomposed the runoff time series into subcomponents, and VMD performed further decomposition of the high-frequency component obtained by ICEEMDAN decomposition. Afterward, the GRU network was employed to the decomposed subcomponents for forecasting purposes. The performance of the IVG model was compared with other hybrid models including, ICEEMDAN-VMD-SVM (support vector machine), ICEEMDANGRU, VMD-GRU, ICEEMDAN-SVM, VMD-SVM; and standalone models including GRU and SVM by utilizing statistical indices. Experimental results proved that the IVG model outperformed other models in terms of accuracy and error reduction, which indicates the feasibility of the IVG model to analyze the nonlinear features of runoff time series and for runoff forecasting with applicability for future planning and management of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation expects to study the effect of the new Instructional methodology on Interest and achievement. In this exploratory investigation 60 students of the two Schools were separated into two likened groups. Irregular task was made to control (N=30) and tested Groups (N=30). The treatment time of the analysis was 30 days. The control group was educated by the customary address technique while the test amass was instructed with the ICT instructional methodology. The tools utilized for the information accumulation were the pretest, posttest and Interest stock. Based on result it was presumed that the group test aggregate which was educated with the ICT instructional methodology performed altogether superior to anything the control amass instructed by the conventional method. Additionally the enthusiasm of the exploratory gathering students was better in the technique when contrasted with the understudies of the control group which were taught by the lecture Strategy. Based on result it was obvious that the new ICT instructional methodology is superior to conventional techniques of teaching in improving the academic achievement and interest of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of verbal and mixed (verbal and non-verbal) teaching on the student achievement in 4 schools (2 male and 2 females) of Dera Ismail Khan. A sample of 120 male students and 120 female students was selected through random sampling technique. The research hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the academic achievement of students taught through verbal and mixed communication and also there is no difference across the gender were tested. Pre-test, post-test equivalent group design was used. The t-test was used to check the mean difference between the two groups, the result shows that there is a significant difference between the academic achievement of students taught through verbal and mixed communication. The mixed communication, teaching resulted in better result as compared to verbal teaching. Also the male performed significantly better than female. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]