Improving students’ use of argumentation is front and center in the increasing emphasis on scientific practice in K-12 Science and STEM programs. We explore the construct validity of scenario-based assessments of claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) and the structure of the CER construct with respect to a learning progression framework. We also seek to understand how middle school students progress. Establishing the purpose of an argument is a competency that a majority of middle school students meet, whereas quantitative reasoning is the most difficult, and the Rasch model indicates that the competencies form a unidimensional hierarchy of skills. We also find no evidence of differential item functioning between different scenarios, suggesting that multiple scenarios can be utilized in the context of a multi-level assessment framework for measuring the impacts of learning experiences on students’ argumentation.
In this study water quality index (WQI) was calculated to classify the flowing water in the Tigris River in Baghdad city. GIS was used to develop colored water quality maps indicating the classification of the river for drinking water purposes. Water quality parameters including: Turbidity, pH, Alkalinity, Total hardness, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Chloride, Sulfate, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia, Orthophosphate and Total dissolved solids were used for WQI determination. These parameters were recorded at the intakes of the WTPs in Baghdad for the period 2004 to 2011. The results from the annual average WQI analysis classified the Tigris River very poor to polluted at the north of Baghdad (Alkarkh WTP) while it was very poor to very polluted in t
... Show MoreThe main challenge is to protect the environment from future deterioration due to pollution and the lack of natural resources. Therefore, one of the most important things to pay attention to and get rid of its negative impact is solid waste. Solid waste is a double-edged sword according to the way it is dealt with, as neglecting it causes a serious environmental risk from water, air and soil pollution, while dealing with it in the right way makes it an important resource in preserving the environment. Accordingly, the proper management of solid waste and its reuse or recycling is the most important factor. Therefore, attention has been drawn to the use of solid waste in different ways, and the most common way is to use it as an alternative
... Show MoreThe problem of solid waste from domestic, industrial, commercial and medical sources is one of the most important problems facing the local administration in all Iraqi cities. The danger of this problem increases with the rapid increase in the population, changing lifestyles, consumption patterns, limited land suitable for landfill, and high costs of collection and disposal. This research aims to solve these problems by determining the locations of current landfills located in the outskirts of Baghdad Governorate. The ArcGIS program was used, where the sites of the landfills were determined on the map and through the available data about the areas. it was concluded that the existing landfill sites do not meet environmental conditions and
... Show MoreSoil that has been contaminated by heavy metals is a serious environmental problem. A different approach for forecasting a variety of soil physical parameters is reflected spectroscopy is a low-cost, quick, and repeatable analytical method. The objectives of this paper are to predict heavy metal (Ti, Cr, Sr, Fe, Zn, Cu and Pb) soil contamination in central and southern Iraq using spectroscopy data. An XRF was used to quantify the levels of heavy metals in a total of 53 soil samples from Baghdad and ThiQar, and a spectrogram was used to examine how well spectral data might predict the presence of heavy metals metals. The partial least squares regression PLSR models performed well in pr
Projects suspensions are between the most insistent tasks confronted by the construction field accredited to the sector’s difficulty and its essential delay risk foundations’ interdependence. Machine learning provides a perfect group of techniques, which can attack those complex systems. The study aimed to recognize and progress a wellorganized predictive data tool to examine and learn from delay sources depend on preceding data of construction projects by using decision trees and naïve Bayesian classification algorithms. An intensive review of available data has been conducted to explore the real reasons and causes of construction project delays. The results show that the postpo
Community detection is an important and interesting topic for better understanding and analyzing complex network structures. Detecting hidden partitions in complex networks is proven to be an NP-hard problem that may not be accurately resolved using traditional methods. So it is solved using evolutionary computation methods and modeled in the literature as an optimization problem. In recent years, many researchers have directed their research efforts toward addressing the problem of community structure detection by developing different algorithms and making use of single-objective optimization methods. In this study, we have continued that research line by improving the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm using a
... Show MoreThe city of Samawah is one of the most important cities which emerged in the poverty area within the poverty map produced by the Ministry of Planning, despite being an important provincial centre. Although it has great development potentials, it was neglected for more than 50 years,. This dereliction has caused a series of negative accumulations at the urban levels (environmental, social and economic). Therefore, the basic idea of this research is to detect part of these challenges that are preventing growth and development of the city. The methodology of the research is to extrapolate the reality with the analysis of the results, data and environmental impact assessment of the projec
Internal control system is a safety valve that preserves economic units assets and ensure the accuracy of financial data, as well as to obligation in the laws, regulations, administrative policies ,and improve the efficiency, effectiveness and economic of operation, so it has become imperative for these units attention to internal and developed control system The research problem in exposure the economic units when the exercise of their business to many of the risks to growth or hinder the achievement of its objectives and the risks (financial, operational, strategy, risk) and not it rely on risk Assessment according to modern scientific methods, as in Brown's risk Classification, Which led to the weakness of the internal control identif
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