Search results for: critical abrasion rate

Authors: Trisiladi Supriyanto

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Although much research has been done on the pricing benchmark both in terms of fiqh or Islamic economic perspective, but no substitution for the concept of interest (rate of interest) up to now in the application of Islamic Banking because some of the jurists from the middle east even allow the use of a benchmark rate such as LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) as a measure of Islamic financial asset prices, so in other words, they equate the concept of rate of interest with the concept of rate of profit, which is the core reason (raison detre) for the replacement of usury as instructed in the Quran. This study aims to find the concept of rate of profit on Islamic banking that can create economic justice and stability in Islamic Banking and Capital market. Rate of profit that creates economic justice and stability can be achieved through its role in maintaining the stability of the financial system in which there is an equitable distribution of income and wealth. To determine the role of the rate of profit as the basis of the sharing system implemented in the Islamic financial system, we can see the connection of rate of profit in creating financial stability, especially in the asset-liability management of financial institutions that generate a stable net margin or the rate of profit that is not affected by the ups and downs of the market risk factors including indirect effect on interest rates. Furthermore, Islamic financial stability can be seen from the role of the rate of profit on the stability of the Islamic financial assets that are measured from the Islamic financial asset price volatility in Islamic Bond Market in Capital Market.

Keywords: Rate of profit, economic justice, stability, equitable distribution of income, equitable distribution of wealth

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Authors: H. Tanyildizi, M. Abuqebitah, I. Cavdar, M. Demir, L. Kabasakal

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Aim: Whole liver radiation has the modest benefit in the treatment of unresectable hepatic metastases but the radiation doses must keep in control. Otherwise, RILD complications may arise. In this study, we aimed to calculate amount of maximum permissible activity (MPA) and critical organ absorbed doses with MIRD methodology, to evaluate tumour doses for treatment response and whole liver doses for RILD and to find optimal liver function test additionally. Materials and Methods: This study includes 29 patients who attended our nuclear medicine department suffering from Y-90 microspheres treatment. 10 mCi Tc-99m MAA was applied to the patients for dosimetry via IV. After the injection, whole body SPECT/CT images were taken in one hour. The minimum therapeutic tumour dose is on the point of being 120 Gy1, the amount of activities were calculated with MIRD methodology considering volumetric tumour/liver rate. A sub-working group was created with 11 patients randomly and liver clearance rate with Tc-99m-Mebrofenin was calculated according to Ekman formalism. Results: The volumetric tumour/liver rates were found between 33-66% (Maksimum Tolarable Dose (MTD) 48-52Gy3) for 4 patients, were found less than 33% (MTD 72Gy3) for 25 patients. According to these results the average amount of activity, mean liver dose and mean tumour dose were found 1793.9±1.46 MBq, 32.86±0.19 Gy, and 138.26±0.40 Gy. RILD was not observed in any patient. In sub-working group, the relationship between Bilirubin, Albumin, INR (which show presence of liver disease and its degree), liver clearance with Tc-99m-Mebrofenin and calculated activity amounts were found r=0.49, r=0.27, r=0.43, r=0.57, respectively. Discussions: The minimum tumour dose was found 120 Gy for positive dose-response relation. If volumetric tumour/liver rate was > 66%, dose 30 Gy; if volumetric tumour/liver rate 33-66%, dose escalation 48 Gy; if volumetric tumour/liver rate < 33%, dose 72 Gy. These dose limitations did not create RILD. Clearance measurement with Mebrofenin was concluded that the best method to determine the liver function. Therefore, liver clearance rate with Tc-99m-Mebrofenin should be considered in calculation of yttrium-90 microspheres dosimetry.

Keywords: clearance, dosimetry, liver, RILD

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Authors: Zanjbeel Tabassum

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The main purpose of any economic investment is to get profit at the end. As the investment in large organizations bears complexities, investors are influenced to invest in small or medium enterprises. With the increase of global competition in terms of quality and productivity, these small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are trying to convert to modern production practices using Six Sigma. But this concept is still lacking in Pakistani SMEs. There are some critical success factors which influence the successful implementation of Six Sigma. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to identify various CSF for successful implementation of Six Sigma in Pakistani SMEs with the help of a structured survey. On the basis of responses to the questionnaire, factor analysis is performed on the selected critical success factors (from literature) to prioritize the critical factors and those are rated by calculating descriptive statistics. This paper will provide a base for Pakistani SMEs and future researchers working in six sigma implementation and help them to prepare a road map to eradicate the hurdles in six sigma implementation.

Keywords: critical success factors, SMEs, Six Sigma, CSF

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Authors: Siphat Lim

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The result of the study revealed that the interaction between money, exchange rate, and price level was mainly derived from the policy-induced by the central bank. Furthermore, the variation of inflation was explained weakly by exchange rate and money supply. In the period of twelfth-month, the variation of inflation which caused by exchange rate and money supply were not more than 1.78 percent and 9.77 percent, respectively.

Keywords: money supply, exchange rate, price level, VAR model

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Authors: Wong Hock Tsen

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This study aims to investigate the impact of exchange rate volatility on real export in Malaysia. The moving standard deviation with order three (MSD(3)) is used for the measurement of exchange rate volatility. The conventional and partially asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models are used in the estimations. This study finds exchange rate volatility to have significant impact on real total export and some sub-categories of real total export. Moreover, this study finds that the positive or negative exchange rate volatility tends to have positive or negative impact on real export. Exchange rate volatility can be harmful to export of Malaysia.

Keywords: exchange rate volatility, autoregressive distributed lag, export, Malaysia

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Authors: Simone D'Armi

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The notion of the representational soul is widely discussed within the German metaphysical landscape of the 18th century. The enunciation of the notion implies, within the 18th-century German rationalism, a number of generally accepted metaphysical notions. However, in the pre-critical writings of Immanuel Kant, it is possible to identify a critical stance towards this notion. The paper thematizes two central aspects: on the one hand, it discusses the notion of the vis of the representative soul, and on the other, it addresses the question of the fundamental forces ( Grundkraefte) of the soul. The aim of the present paper is to show how Kant, in the Nova Dilucidatio and in his Lectures on Metaphysics, probably delivered in the mid-1770s, despite the Wolffian terminology he employed in the field of psychology, criticizes the central aspects connected with the notion of the soul as a representative force. Beginning with a critical analysis of the relationship between Kantian ideas and those of some key exponents of German metaphysical rationalism, it emerges how the Kantian position stands as an alternative to its own historical context.

Keywords: German metaphysics, soul, power, pre-critical philosophy

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Authors: V. C. Igwemezie, A. N. Mehmanparast

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The primary focus of this work is to understand how variations in the microstructure and cyclic waveform affect the corrosion fatigue crack growth (CFCG) in steel, especially in the Paris region of the da/dN vs. ΔK curve. This work is important because it provides fundamental information on the modelling, design, selection, and use of steels for various engineering applications in the marine environment. The corrosion fatigue tests data on normalized and thermomechanical control process (TMCP) ferritic-pearlitic steels by the authors were compared with several studies on different microstructures in the literature. The microstructures of these steels are radically different and general comparative fatigue crack growth resistance performance study on the effect of microstructure in these materials are very scarce and where available are limited to few studies. The results, for purposes of engineering application, in this study show less dependency of fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) on yield strength, tensile strength, ductility, frequency and stress ratio in the range 0.1 – 0.7. The nature of the steel microstructure appears to be a major factor in determining the rate at which fatigue cracks propagate in the entire da/dN vs. ΔK sigmoidal curve. The study also shows that the sine wave shape is the most damaging fatigue waveform for ferritic-pearlitic steels. This tends to suggest that the test under sine waveform would be a conservative approach, regardless of the waveform for design of engineering structures.

Keywords: BS7910, corrosion-fatigue crack growth rate, cyclic waveform, microstructure, steel

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Authors: N. Singh, G. K. Darbha

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Since the last decade, a wave of research has begun to study the prevalence and impact of ever-increasing plastic pollution in the environment. The wide application and ubiquitous distribution of plastic have become a global concern due to its persistent nature. The disposal of plastics has emerged as one of the major challenges for waste management landfills. Microplastics (MPs) have found its existence in almost every environment, from the high altitude mountain lake to the deep sea sediments, polar icebergs, coral reefs, estuaries, beaches, and river, etc. Microplastics are fragments of plastics with size less than 5 mm. Microplastics can be classified as primary microplastics and secondary microplastics. Primary microplastics includes purposefully introduced microplastics into the end products for consumers (microbeads used in facial cleansers, personal care product, etc.), pellets (used in manufacturing industries) or fibres (from textile industries) which finally enters into the environment. Secondary microplastics are formed by disintegration of larger fragments under the exposure of sunlight, mechanical abrasive forces by rain, waves, wind and/or water. A number of factors affect the quantity of microplastic present in freshwater environments. In addition to physical forces, human population density proximal to the water body, proximity to urban centres, water residence time, and size of the water body also affects plastic properties. With time, other complex processes in nature such as physical, chemical and biological break down plastics by interfering with its structural integrity. Several studies demonstrate that microplastics found in wastewater sludge being used as manure for agricultural fields, thus having the tendency to alter the soil environment condition influencing the microbial population as well. Inadequate data are available on the fate and transport of microplastics under varying environmental conditions that are required to supplement important information for further research. In addition, microplastics have the tendency to absorb heavy metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants such as PAHs and PCBs from its surroundings and thus acting as carriers for these contaminants in the environment system. In this study, three kinds of microplastics (polyethylene, polypropylene and expanded polystyrene) of different densities were chosen. Plastic samples were placed in sand with different aqueous media (distilled water, surface water, groundwater and marine water). It was incubated at varying temperatures (25, 35 and 40 °C) and agitation levels (rpm). The results show that the number of plastic fragments enhanced with increase in temperature and agitation speed. Moreover, the rate of disintegration of expanded polystyrene is high compared to other plastics. These results demonstrate that temperature, salinity, and mechanical abrasion plays a major role in degradation of plastics. Since weathered microplastics are more harmful as compared to the virgin microplastics, long-term studies involving other environmental factors are needed to have a better understanding of degradation of plastics.

Keywords: environmental contamination, fragmentation, microplastics, temperature, weathering

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Authors: Mona Khabiri, Fahimeh Farahani

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The present study was an attempt to investigate the comparative effect of teaching NLP, critical thinking, and a combination of NLP and critical thinking on EFL learners' reading comprehension. To fulfill the purpose of this study, a group of 82 female and male intermediate EFL learners at a Language School in Iran took a piloted sample PET as a proficiency test and 63 of them were selected as homogenous learners and were randomly assigned to three experimental groups. Within a treatment process of 10 sessions the teacher/researcher provided the participants of each group with handouts, explanations, practices, homework, and questionnaires on techniques of NLP, critical thinking, and a combination of both. During these 10 sessions, 10 same reading comprehension texts extracted from the multi-skill course book suggested by the language school where thought to the participants of each experimental group using skills and strategies of NLP, critical thinking, and a combination of both. On the eleventh session, the participants sat for a reading posttest. The results of one-way ANOVA showed no significant difference among the three groups in terms of reading comprehension. Justifications and implications for the findings of the study and suggestions for further research are presented.

Keywords: neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), critical thinking, reading comprehension

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Authors: Daniel E. Martin, Chenghai Yang

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Variable-rate aerial application systems are becoming more readily available; however, aerial applicators typically only use the systems for constant-rate application of materials, allowing the systems to compensate for upwind and downwind ground speed variations. Much of the resistance to variable-rate aerial application system adoption in the U.S. pertains to applicator’s trust in the systems to turn on and off automatically as desired. The objectives of this study were to evaluate a commercially available variable-rate aerial application system under field conditions to demonstrate both the response and accuracy of the system to desired application rate inputs. This study involved planting oats in a 35-acre fallow field during the winter months to establish a uniform green backdrop in early spring. A binary (on/off) prescription application map was generated and a variable-rate aerial application of glyphosate was made to the field. Airborne multispectral imagery taken before and two weeks after the application documented actual field deposition and efficacy of the glyphosate. When compared to the prescription application map, these data provided application system response and accuracy information. The results of this study will be useful for quantifying and documenting the response and accuracy of a commercially available variable-rate aerial application system so that aerial applicators can be more confident in their capabilities and the use of these systems can increase, taking advantage of all that aerial variable-rate technologies have to offer.

Keywords: variable-rate, aerial application, remote sensing, precision application

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Authors: Zou Xuan, Liu Hongchen

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The ideal dentin desensitizing agent should not only have good biological safety, simple clinical operation mode, the superior treatment effect, but also should have a durable effect to resist the oral environmental temperature change and oral mechanical abrasion, so as to achieve a persistent desensitization effect. Also, when using desensitizing agent to prevent the post-operative hypersensitivity, we should not only prevent it from affecting crowns’ retention, but must understand its effects on bond strength of dentin adhesives. There are various of desensitizers and dentin adhesives in clinical treatment. They have different chemical or physical properties. Whether the use of desensitizing agent would affect the bond strength of dentin adhesives still need further research. In this in vitro study, we built the hypersensitive dentin model and post-operative dentin model, to evaluate the sealing effects and durability on exposed tubule by three different dentin desensitizers and to evaluate the sealing effects and the bond strength of dentin adhesives after using three different dentin desensitizers on post-operative dentin. The result of this study could provide some important references for clinical use of dentin desensitizing agent. 1. As to the three desensitizers, the hypersensitive dentin model was built to evaluate their sealing effects on exposed tubule by SEM observation and dentin permeability analysis. All of them could significantly reduce the dentin permeability. 2. Test specimens of three groups treated by desensitizers were subjected to aging treatment with 5000 times thermal cycling and toothbrush abrasion, and then dentin permeability was measured to evaluate the sealing durability of these three desensitizers on exposed tubule. The sealing durability of three groups were different. 3. The post-operative dentin model was built to evaluate the sealing effects of the three desensitizers on post-operative dentin by SEM and methylene blue. All of three desensitizers could reduce the dentin permeability significantly. 4. The influences of three desensitizers on the bonding efficiency of total-etch and self-etch adhesives were evaluated with the micro-tensile bond strength study and bond interface morphology observation. The dentin bond strength for Green or group was significantly lower than the other two groups (P<0.05).

Keywords: dentin, desensitizer, dentin permeability, thermal cycling, micro-tensile bond strength

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Authors: Indika Fernando, Jiangang Fei, Roger Stanley, Hossein Enshaei

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Delicate produce such as fresh fruits are increasingly susceptible to physiological damage during the essential post-harvest operations such as transport and handling. Vibration and shock during the distribution are identified factors for produce damage within post-harvest supply chains. Mechanical damages caused during transit may significantly diminish the quality of fresh produce which may also result in a substantial wastage. Bananas are one of the staple fruit crops and the most sold supermarket produce in Australia. It is also the largest horticultural industry in the state of Queensland where 95% of the total production of bananas are cultivated. This results in significantly lengthy interstate supply chains where fruits are exposed to prolonged vibration and shocks. This paper is focused on determining the shock and vibration levels experienced by packaged bananas during transit from the farm gate to the retail market. Tri-axis acceleration data were captured by custom made accelerometer based data loggers which were set to a predetermined sampling rate of 400 Hz. The devices recorded data continuously for 96 Hours in the interstate journey of nearly 3000 Km from the growing fields in far north Queensland to the central distribution centre in Melbourne in Victoria. After the bananas were ripened at the ripening facility in Melbourne, the data loggers were used to capture the transport and handling conditions from the central distribution centre to three retail outlets within the outskirts of Melbourne. The quality of bananas were assessed before and after transport at each location along the supply chain. Time series vibration and shock data were used to determine the frequency and the severity of the transient shocks experienced by the packages. Frequency spectrogram was generated to determine the dominant frequencies within each segment of the post-harvest supply chain. Root Mean Square (RMS) acceleration levels were calculated to characterise the vibration intensity during transport. Data were further analysed by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and the Power Spectral Density (PSD) profiles were generated to determine the critical frequency ranges. It revealed the frequency range in which the escalated energy levels were transferred to the packages. It was found that the vertical vibration was the highest and the acceleration levels mostly oscillated between ± 1g during transport. Several shock responses were recorded exceeding this range which were mostly attributed to package handling. These detrimental high impact shocks may eventually lead to mechanical damages in bananas such as impact bruising, compression bruising and neck injuries which affect their freshness and visual quality. It was revealed that the frequency range between 0-5 Hz and 15-20 Hz exert an escalated level of vibration energy to the packaged bananas which may result in abrasion damages such as scuffing, fruit rub and blackened rub. Further research is indicated specially in the identified critical frequency ranges to minimise exposure of fruits to the harmful effects of vibration. Improving the handling conditions and also further study on package failure mechanisms when exposed to transient shock excitation will be crucial to improve the visual quality of bananas within the post-harvest supply chain in Australia.

Keywords: bananas, handling, post-harvest, supply chain, shocks, transport, vibration

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Authors: Saeed Qaisrani

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This article briefly reviews the rise of Critical Discourse Analysis about the Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain speech which delivered in the joint session of Parliament and teases out a detailed analysis of the various critiques that have been levelled at CDA and its practitioners over the last twenty years, both by scholars working within the “critical” paradigm and by other critics. A range of criticisms are discussed which target the underlying premises, the analytical methodology and the disputed areas of reader response and the integration of contextual factors. Controversial issues such as the predominantly negative focus of much CDA scholarship, and the status of CDA as an emergent “intellectual orthodoxy”, are also reviewed. The conclusions offer a summary of the principal criticisms that emerge from this overview, and suggest some ways in which these problems could be attenuated. It also focused on the different views about president speech and how it is presented in the Pakistani print and electronic media.

Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Analytical methodology, Corpus linguistics, Reader response theory, Critical paradigm, Contextualization.

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Authors: Xiaoqing Wang, Junfeng Wang, Xiaolan Zhu

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Android operating system has been recognized by most application developers because of its good open-source and compatibility, which enriches the categories of applications greatly. However, it has become the target of malware attackers due to the lack of strict security supervision mechanisms, which leads to the rapid growth of malware, thus bringing serious safety hazards to users. Therefore, it is critical to detect Android malware effectively. Generally, the permissions declared in the AndroidManifest.xml can reflect the function and behavior of the application to a large extent. Since current Android system has not any restrictions to the number of permissions that an application can request, developers tend to apply more than actually needed permissions in order to ensure the successful running of the application, which results in the abuse of permissions. However, some traditional detection methods only consider the requested permissions and ignore whether it is actually used, which leads to incorrect identification of some malwares. Therefore, a machine learning detection method based on the actually used permissions combination and API calls was put forward in this paper. Meanwhile, several experiments are conducted to evaluate our methodology. The result shows that it can detect unknown malware effectively with higher true positive rate and accuracy while maintaining a low false positive rate. Consequently, the AdaboostM1 (J48) classification algorithm based on information gain feature selection algorithm has the best detection result, which can achieve an accuracy of 99.8%, a true positive rate of 99.6% and a lowest false positive rate of 0.

Keywords: android, API Calls, machine learning, permissions combination

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Authors: In Su Na, Gunwon Lee, Seiyong Kim

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This study analyzed the effect of area variables and economic variables on the length of each period of the project in order to analyze the effect of agreement rate on project implementation in housing renewal projects. In conclusion, as can be seen from these results, a low agreement rate may not translate into project promotion, and a higher agreement rate may not translate into project delay. The expectation of the policy is that the lower the agreement rate, the more projects would be promoted, but that is not the actual effect. From a policy consistency viewpoint, changing the agreement rate frequently, depending on the decision of the public, is not reasonable. The policy of using agreement rate as a necessary condition for project implementation should be reconsidered.

Keywords: Area and Economic Variables, Elapsed time, Housing Renewal Project

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Authors: Suraya Mohamad Nadzir, Badrol Ahmad, Norlia Berahim

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T91 steel has been used as construction material for superheater tubes in sub-critical and super critical boiler. This steel was developed with higher creep strength property as compared to conventional low alloy steel. However, this steel is also susceptible to materials degradation due to its sensitivity to heat treatment especially Post Weld Heat Treatment (PWHT) after weld repair process. Review of PWHT process shows that the holding temperature may different from one batch to other batch of samples depending on the material composition. This issue was reviewed by many researchers and one of the potential solutions is the development of weld repair process without PWHT. This process is possible with the use of temper bead welding technique. However, study has shown the hardness value across the weld joint with exception of PWHT is much higher compare to recommended hardness value. Based on the above findings, a study to evaluate the microstructure and hardness changes of T91 weld joint after heating at 560°C at varying duration was carried out. This study was carried out to evaluate the possibility of self-tempering process during in-service period. In this study, the T91 weld joint was heat-up in air furnace at 560°C for duration of 50 and 150 hours. The heating process was controlled with heating rate of 200°C/hours, and cooling rate about 100°C/hours. Following this process, samples were prepared for the microstructure examination and hardness evaluation. Results have shown full tempered martensite structure and acceptance hardness value was achieved after 50 hours heating. This result shows that the thin component such as T91 superheater tubes is able to self-tempering during service hour.

Keywords: T91, weld-joint, tempered martensite, self-tempering

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Authors: Hong-Ming Chen

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This work considers the resolution of the Hull and White interest rate model with the jump process. A deterministic process is adopted to model the random behavior of interest rate variation as deterministic perturbations, which is depending on the time t. The Brownian motion and jumps uncertainty are denoted as the integral functions piecewise constant function w(t) and point function θ(t). It shows that the interest rate function and the yield function of the Hull and White interest rate model with jump process can be obtained by solving a nonlinear semi-infinite programming problem. A relaxed cutting plane algorithm is then proposed for solving the resulting optimization problem. The method is calibrated for the U.S. treasury securities at 3-month data and is used to analyze several effects on interest rate prices, including interest rate variability, and the negative correlation between stock returns and interest rates. The numerical results illustrate that our approach essentially generates the yield functions with minimal fitting errors and small oscillation.

Keywords: optimization, interest rate model, jump process, deterministic

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Authors: Eish Sharma

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Literature around Mathematics education suggests that democratic attitudes can be strengthened through teaching and learning Mathematics. Furthermore, connections between critical education and Mathematics education are observed in the light of critical pedagogy to locate Critical Mathematics Education (CME) as the theoretical framework. Critical pedagogy applied to Mathematics education is identified as one of the key themes subsumed under Critical Mathematics Education. Through the application of critical pedagogy in mathematics, unequal power relations and social injustice can be identified, analyzed, and challenged. The research question is: have educational policies in India viewed the role of critical pedagogy applied to mathematics education (i.e., critical mathematics education) to ensure social justice as an educational aim? The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 upholds education for democracy and the role of mathematics education in facilitating the same. More than this, NCF 2005 rests on Critical Pedagogy Framework and it recommends that critical pedagogy must be practiced in all dimensions of school education. NCF 2005 visualizes critical pedagogy for social sciences as well as sciences, stating that the science curriculum, including mathematics, must be used as an “instrument for achieving social change to reduce the divide based on economic class, gender, caste, religion, and the region”. Furthermore, the implementation of NCF 2005 led to a reform in the syllabus and textbooks in school mathematics at the national level, and critical pedagogy was applied to mathematics textbooks at the primary level. This intervention led to ethnomathematics and critical mathematics education in the school curriculum in India for the first time at the national level. In October 2022, the Ministry of Education launched the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS), developed in light of the National Education Policy, 2020, for children in the three to eight years age group. I want to find out whether critical pedagogy-based education and critical pedagogy-based mathematics education are carried forward in NCF 2022. To find this, an argument analysis of specific sections of the National Curriculum Framework 2022 document needs to be executed. Des Gasper suggests two tables: The first table contains four columns, namely, text component, comments on meanings, possible reformulation of the same text, and identified conclusions and assumptions (both stated and unstated). This table is for understanding the components and meanings of the text and is based on Scriven’s model for understanding the components and meanings of words in the text. The second table contains four columns i.e., claim identified, given data, warrant, and stated qualifier/rebuttal. This table is for describing the structure of the argument, how and how well the components fit together and is called ‘George Table diagram based on Toulmin-Bunn Model’.

Keywords: critical mathematics education, critical pedagogy, social justice, etnomathematics

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Authors: T. Martini, J. M. Martínez

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An algorithmic acceleration strategy based on quasi-Newton (or secant) methods is displayed for address the practical problem of accelerating the convergence of the Newton-Lagrange method in the case of convergence to critical multipliers. Since the Newton-Lagrange iteration converges locally at a linear rate, it is natural to conjecture that quasi-Newton methods based on the so called secant equation and some minimal variation principle, could converge superlinearly, thus restoring the convergence properties of Newton's method. This strategy can also be applied to accelerate the convergence of algorithms applied to fixed-points problems. Computational experience is reported illustrating the efficiency of this strategy to solve fixed-point problems with linear convergence rate.

Keywords: algorithmic acceleration, fixed-point problems, nonlinear programming, quasi-newton method

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Authors: Matthew J. Zagumny

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The QUEST is an assessment of scientific epistemic beliefs and was developed to measure students’ intellectual development in regards to beliefs about knowledge and knowing. The QUEST utilizes Q-sort methodology, which requires participants to rate the degree to which statements describe them personally. As a measure of personal theories of knowledge, the QUEST instrument is described with the Q-sort distribution and scoring explained. A preliminary demonstration of the QUEST assessment is described with two samples of undergraduate students (novice/lower division compared to advanced/upper division students) being assessed and their average QUEST scores compared. The usefulness of an assessment of epistemology is discussed in terms of the principle that assessment tends to drive educational practice and university mission. The critical need for university and academic programs to focus on development of students’ scientific epistemology is briefly discussed.

Keywords: scientific epistemology, critical thinking, Q-sort method, STEM undergraduates

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Authors: N. Nivedita, S. Durbha

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Critical Infrastructure (CI) consists of services and technological networks such as healthcare, transport, water supply, electricity supply, information technology etc. These systems are necessary for the well-being and to maintain effective functioning of society. Critical Infrastructures can be represented as nodes in a network where they are connected through a set of links depicting the logical relationship among them; these nodes are interdependent on each other and interact with each at other at various levels, such that the state of each infrastructure influences or is correlated to the state of another. Disruption in the service of one infrastructure nodes of the network during a disaster would lead to cascading and escalating disruptions across other infrastructures nodes in the network. The operation of Healthcare Infrastructure is one such Critical Infrastructure that depends upon a complex interdependent network of other Critical Infrastructure, and during disasters it is very vital for the Healthcare Infrastructure to be protected, accessible and prepared for a mass casualty. To reduce the consequences of a disaster on the Critical Infrastructure and to ensure a resilient Critical Health Infrastructure network, knowledge, understanding, modeling, and analyzing the inter-dependencies between the infrastructures is required. The paper would present inter-dependencies related to Healthcare Critical Infrastructure based on Hierarchical Coloured Petri Nets modeling approach, given a flood scenario as the disaster which would disrupt the infrastructure nodes. The model properties are being analyzed for the various state changes which occur when there is a disruption or damage to any of the Critical Infrastructure. The failure probabilities for the failure risk of interconnected systems are calculated by deriving a reachability graph, which is later mapped to a Markov chain. By analytically solving and analyzing the Markov chain, the overall vulnerability of the Healthcare CI HCPN model is demonstrated. The entire model would be integrated with Geographic information-based decision support system to visualize the dynamic behavior of the interdependency of the Healthcare and related CI network in a geographically based environment.

Keywords: critical infrastructure interdependency, hierarchical coloured petrinet, healthcare critical infrastructure, Petri Nets, Markov chain

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Authors: Kwong Yeung

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Theories about strategic purchasing and quality performance are underdeveloped. Understanding the evolving role of purchasing from reactive to proactive is a pressing strategic issue. Using survey responses from 176 manufacturing and electronics industry professionals, we study the relationships between strategic purchasing and supply chain partners’ quality performance to answer the following questions: Can transaction cost economics be used to elucidate the strategic purchasing-quality performance relationship? Is this strategic purchasing-quality performance relationship moderated by critical item analysis? The findings indicate that critical item analysis positively and significantly moderates the strategic purchasing-quality performance relationship.

Keywords: critical item analysis, moderation, quality performance, strategic purchasing, transaction cost economics

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Authors: Fonseca Jully, Chia Maribel, Rodríguez Ilba

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This paper is a qualitative research report. A group of students form a public university in a small town in Colombia participated in this study which aimed at describing to what extend the use of social ads, published on the internet, helped to develop their critical thinking skills. Students’ productions, field notes, video recordings and direct observation were the instruments and techniques used by the researches in order to gather the data which was analyzed under the principles of grounded theory and triangulation. The implementation of social ads into the classroom evidenced a noticeable improvement in students’ ability to interpret and argue social issues, as well as, their self-improvement in oral and written production in English, as a foreign language.

Keywords: Ads, critical argumentation, critical thinking, social issues

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Authors: Samuel Asrat

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Infusion pumps have become indispensable tools in modern healthcare, allowing for precise and controlled delivery of fluids, medications, and nutrients to patients. This paper provides an overview of the historical development, measurement, and parts of infusion pumps. The historical development of infusion pumps can be traced back to the early 1960s when the first rudimentary models were introduced. These early pumps were large, cumbersome, and often unreliable. However, advancements in technology and engineering over the years have led to the development of smaller, more accurate, and user-friendly infusion pumps. Measurement of infusion pumps involves assessing various parameters such as flow rate, volume delivered, and infusion duration. Flow rate, typically measured in milliliters per hour (mL/hr), is a critical parameter that determines the rate at which fluids or medications are delivered to the patient. Accurate measurement of flow rate is essential to ensure the proper administration of therapy and prevent adverse effects. Infusion pumps consist of several key parts, including the pump mechanism, fluid reservoir, tubing, and control interface. The pump mechanism is responsible for generating the necessary pressure to push fluids through the tubing and into the patient's bloodstream. The fluid reservoir holds the medication or solution to be infused, while the tubing serves as the conduit through which the fluid travels from the reservoir to the patient. The control interface allows healthcare providers to program and adjust the infusion parameters, such as flow rate and volume. In conclusion, infusion pumps have evolved significantly since their inception, offering healthcare providers unprecedented control and precision in delivering fluids and medications to patients. Understanding the historical development, measurement, and parts of infusion pumps is essential for ensuring their safe and effective use in clinical practice.

Keywords: dip, ip, sp, is

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Authors: Hassan Samadi, Mustapha El Jarroudi

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In this work, we consider the homogenization of a non-linear problem in periodic medium with two periodic connected media exchanging a heat flux throughout their common interface. The interfacial exchange coefficient λ is assumed to tend to zero or to infinity following a rate λ=λ(ε) when the size ε of the basic cell tends to zero. Three homogenized problems are determined according to some critical value depending of λ and ε. Our method is based on Γ-Convergence techniques.

Keywords: variational methods, epiconvergence, homogenization, convergence technique

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Authors: Behdokht Mall-Amiri, Sara Farzaminejad

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The purpose of the present study was to discover which of the two writing activities, a self-assessment questioner or a critical thinking skills handout, is more effective on Iranian EFL learners’ writing ability. To fulfill the purpose of the study, a sample of 120 undergraduate students of English SAT for a standardized sample of PET. Eighty-two students whose scores fell one standard deviation above and below the sample mean were selected and randomly divided into two equal groups. One group practiced self-assessment and the other group practiced critical thinking skills while they were learning process writing. A writing posttest was finally administered to the students in both groups and the mean rank scores were compared by t-test. The result led to the rejection of the null hypothesis, indicating that practicing critical thinking skills had a significantly higher effect on the writing ability. The implications of the study for students and teachers as well as course book designers are discussed.

Keywords: writing ability, process writing, critical thinking skills, self-assessment

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Authors: Eran Viezel

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Critical biblical scholarship emerged in the early modern period, yet scholars frequently search for precursors to it among medieval commentators who adopted critical positions—and many mention Abraham Ibn Ezra (Spain–England, 1089–1164/7) in this context. Indeed, in several places, Ibn Ezra claims that there are verses in the Torah that were added to it after the time of Moses; and some major thinkers and scholars in the early modern period (for example, Baruch Spinoza) were aware of these remarks and influenced by them. However, Ibn Ezra’s belief that the Torah includes verses added at a later time is not based on the considerations that led the founders of critical biblical scholarship to their conclusion that Moses did not write the Torah. Ibn Ezra’s positions on the question of the Torah’s authorship are an example of the fact that similarity in conclusions and even in interpretive methodology should not obscure the different interpretive and attitudinal points of departure that distinguish traditional biblical interpretation from a critical biblical scholarship. Ultimately, a chasm exists between the views of Ibn Ezra and those of critical thinkers such as Spinoza.

Keywords: hebrew bible, Abraham Ibn Ezra, exegesis, biblical scholarship

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Authors: Mohsine Jebbour

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The ultimate aim of this study was to analyze a second-year baccalaureate textbook of English to see to what extent it includes elements of critical thinking. A further purpose was to assess the extent to which the teachers’ teaching practices help students develop some degree of critical thinking. The literature on critical thinking indicated that all the writers agree that critical thinking is skilled and dispositional oriented, and most of the definitions highlight the skill and disposition to select, collect, analyze and evaluate information effectively. In this study, two instruments were used, namely content analysis and questionnaire to ensure validity and reliability. The sample of this study, on the one hand, was a second year textbook of English, namely Ticket to English. The process of collecting data was carried out through designing a checklist to analyze the textbook of English. On the other hand, high school students (second baccalaureate grade) and teachers of English constituted the second sample. Two questionnaires were administered—One was completed by 28 high school teachers (18 males and10 females), and the other was completed by 51 students (26 males and 25 females) from Fez, Morocco. The items of the questionnaire tended to elicit both qualitative and quantitative data. An attempt was made to answer two research questions. One pertained to the extent to which the textbooks of English contain critical thinking elements (Critical thinking skills and dispositions, types of questions, language learning strategies, classroom activities); the second was concerned with whether the teaching practices of teachers of English help improve students’ critical thinking. The results demonstrated that the textbooks of English include elements of critical thinking, and the teachers’ teaching practices help the students develop some degree of critical thinking. Yet, the textbooks do not include problem-solving activities and media analysis and 86% of the teacher-respondents tended to skip activities in the textbooks, mainly the units dealing with Project Work and Study Skills which are necessary for enhancing critical thinking among the students. Therefore, the textbooks need to be designed around additional activities and the teachers are required to cover the units skipped so as to make the teaching of critical thinking effective.

Keywords: critical thinking, language learning strategies, language proficiency, teaching practices

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Authors: Ifeoma Patricia Osamor, Ayotunde Qudus Saka, Godwin Omoregbee, Hikmat Oreoluwalomo Omolaja

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Persistent fall in the value of Nigeria's currency compared to other foreign currencies, constant fluctuations in the exchange rate, and an increase in the price of goods and services necessitated the examination of the effects of exchange rate fluctuations on the economic performance of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria. An ex-post facto research design was adopted. Manufacturing gross domestic product (MGDP) was proxied for performance; Naira/Dollar exchange rate (NDE), Naira/Pounds exchange rate (NPE), Foreign exchange supply (FES) were used for exchange rate fluctuations; and inflation rate (INF) was a control variable. Data were collected from CBN Statistical Bulletin (2020) also World Development Indicators of the World Bank, while data collected were analysed using descriptive analysis, unit root, bounds cointegration test, and ARDL. Findings showed that changes in Naira/Dollar exchange rate (NDE) and Naira/Pound Sterling exchange rate negatively but significantly impact the economic performance of the manufacturing sector, while foreign exchange supply leads to an insignificant positive effect on the economic performance of the manufacturing. The study concludes that exchange rate fluctuations negatively impact the performance of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria and, therefore, recommends that government should encourage export diversification through agriculture, agro-investment, and agro-allied industries that would boost export in order to improve the value of the Naira, thereby stabilizing the exchange rate.

Keywords: exchange rate, economic performance, gross domestic product, inflation rate, foreign exchange supply

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Authors: Farhia Hassan Mohamed

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This study examined the macroeconomic factors that affect the inflation Rate in Somalia using quarterly time series data from 1991q1 to 2017q4 retired from World Development Indicators and SESRIC. It employed the vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger Causality method to measure the long-run and short-run causality of the GDP, inflation exchange rate, and unemployment. The study confirmed that there is one cointegration equation between GDP, exchange rate, inflation, and unemployment in Somalia. However, the VECM model's result indicates a long-run relationship among variables. The VEC Granger causality/Block Exogeneity Wald test result confirmed that all covariates are statistically significant at 5% and are Granger's cause of inflation in the short term. Finally, the impulse response result showed that inflation responds negatively to the shocks from the exchange rate and unemployment rate and positively to GDP and itself. Drawing from the empirical findings, the study makes several policy recommendations for both the monetary and Government sides.

Keywords: CPI, OP, exchange rate, inflation ADF, Johansen, PP, VECM, impulse, ECT

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