Review on development progress of automatic manual transmissions control

In recent years, the sustainable development of automatic manual transmissions (AMTs) control in vehicles is conspicuous. The control applications have grown fast and steadily due to the tremendous progress in power electronics components and the control software that enhance the requirements for delivering higher vehicles performance. AMTs control strategies achieve a reduction in the driveline dynamic oscillations behavior during gear shifting and clutch starting up processes. AMTs future expectations are an increase of torque capacity, more speed ratios and the development of advanced and efficient electronic control systems. This paper concerns with the progressing view of AMTs in the past, today and future, gives an overview of the potential dynamic problems concerned with AMTs and some control strategies used to solve those problems.     

An Exploration of the Relationships between Mentor Recruitment,the Implementation of Mentoring,and Mentors’ Attitudes

Mentoring of new teachers is generally examined from the viewpoint of the mentees. In the present study, mentoring is explored based on reports from mentors within the context of the Israeli induction program. Recruitment variables (selection and training) were examined in relation to mentoring implementation (frequency, initiation, regularity, and content), and mentors’ perceptions and attitudes (towards matching, role conflict, and the mentoring experience). The relationships of gender and school level to implementation and attitudes were also examined. Data were collected by a questionnaire from a national sample of 118 mentors and through in-depth interviews with 14 mentors. Findings indicate that mentor selection, training, gender, and school level can have important implications for how mentors function and how they perceive mentoring.     

Self reported awareness of child maltreatment among school professionals in Saudi Arabia: impact of CRC ratification

Objectives

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was ratified by Saudi Arabia 15 years ago; yet addressing the issue of child maltreatment only began in more recent years. School professionals play a significant role in children's lives, as they spend a great deal of time with them and are hence essential to protecting and identifying those in danger or at risk. The objective of this study is to identify school professional's awareness of child maltreatment and the existing national policies and procedures to examine the extent of efforts made in Saudi Arabia and to activate the roles of schools and school professionals in protecting children from violence and implementation of Article 19 of the CRC.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study, where school professionals from randomly selected schools throughout the country were invited to participate in a self-administered questionnaire.

Results

A total of 3,777 school professionals participated in the study. Fifty-five percent of professionals had at least 10 years of work experience. A low-level of awareness of child maltreatment was found in about 1/3 of school professionals. Only 1.9% of school professionals had ever attended any sort of specific training on child maltreatment, though 69.3% of those who had not, were willing to attend future training. With regards to awareness of CRC Article 19 or policies and procedures addressing child maltreatment, only 22% reported being aware of it.

Conclusion

The majority of school professionals in Saudi Arabia have a low-intermediate level of awareness of child maltreatment, ratification of CRC, and related national policies and procedures, yet most are willing to attend training programs on this subject matter. Efforts need to be made in the country to fill this gap.     

Showing Is Knowing: The Potential and Challenges of Using Neurocognitive Measures of Implicit Learning in the Classroom

The value of neurocognitive measures to study memory, attention, cognition, and learning is well established. However, the vast majority of work using these tools is performed in tightly controlled lab experiments using simple lab stimuli. This article looks at the viability of using multimodal neurocognitive instruments to measure implicit knowledge in real‐world learning contexts. We focus on some of the most promising neurocognitive tools for this purpose, including eye‐tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional near infra‐red spectroscopy (fNIRS). The specific challenges and potential of each tool are considered for use within learning contexts. These tools may be of particular importance to student populations that typically underperform on traditional learning assessments, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, among others. This review concludes with recommendations to the field for further work required to bring objective measures of implicit knowledge to real world learning contexts.     

Confirmatory studies on the antioxidant and antidiabetic effect of quercetin in rats

Quercetin (QE), one of natural flavanoid group, was widely distributed as a secondary metabolite in plant kingdom. It has been believed that oxidative stress plays a role in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus (DM). The aim of the present study was the evaluation of possible effects of QE on blood glucose and antioxidant enzymes in experimental streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes in rats. STZ was injected intraperitoneally with single dose of 50 mg/kg for diabetes induction. QE (15 mg/kg bw day, intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection) was injected for 3 days prior to STZ administration; these injections were continued to the end of the study (for 25 days). Glucose tolerance test and random plasma glucose were done for all animals. Cellular antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were measured in pancreatic homogenates. Quercetin had no effect on plasma glucose level of normal animals but its pre- treatment was able to prevent diabetes induced by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozocintreated rats. Antioxidant enzyme activity significantly decreased in STZ induced diabetic group. QE treatment significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme activities. It could be concluded that quercetin, a flavonoid with antioxidant properties, exerting its beneficial antidiabetic effects.     

Faculty Views of Student Evaluation of College Teaching

The literature abounds with psychometric studies of course evaluation measures and articles debating the merits of student ratings of instruction, but little research has focused on faculty perceptions of this procedure. In the present study faculty perceptions are explored at a teachers' college where evaluation is carried out annually on a sample of courses. The sample includes 101 instructors who completed the research questionnaire. Faculty attitudes reflected a broad range of responses towards validity of student ratings, and their usefulness for improving instruction. Although overall attitudes were mildly positive, few instructors reported changing instruction as a result of student ratings. Moreover, few supported sending evaluation results directly to college administrators or publishing them for student consumption.     

Application of iterated Laplace transformation to tracer transients in heterogeneous porous media

The Laplace transformation technique has been widely applied to modeling of tracer transport in oil and geothermal reservoirs, and in groundwater aquifers. However, mathematical models of many flow and transport problems could only be obtained as Laplace space solutions, and hence, their computations had to involve a numerical inversion technique.In this work, we employ the iterated Laplace transformation technique to develop novel closed form solutions to the tracer transport models in heterogeneous media. Two types of configurations have been considered: tracer transport in single fracture located in low-permeability matrix and tracer transport in a double porosity medium consisting of flowing and dead-end pore systems. In addition, both linear and radial flow geometries have been considered for both configurations. Applications of iterated Laplace transform technique to these four types of models are presented as fundamental examples and their numerical results were used as benchmarking for the numerical inversion results from Stehfest and Dubner and Abate algorithms.As the technique is quite versatile, we expect that the method should gain widespread acceptance to develop solutions to a wide range of problems in flow and transport in porous media and improve the application of nonlinear regression technique to these solutions.This work has achieved four important objectives: first, two novel Laplace transform relations that are useful in tracer studies are presented. Second, the present work serves to verify/invalidate the results of numerical inversion algorithms. In addition, it provides better insight into tracer transport mechanisms. Finally, it serves as a powerful tool of design and interpretation of tracer tests. All four objectives are illustrated in this work.     

An Integrative Cultural Model to better situate marginalized science students in postsecondary science education

In this paper we reflect on the article “I am smart enough to study postsecondary science: a critical discourse analysis of latecomers’ identity construction in an online forum”, by Phoebe Jackson and Gale Seiler (Cult Stud Sci Educ.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-017-9818-0). In their article, the authors did a significant amount of qualitative analysis of a discussion on an online forum by four latecomer students with past negative experiences in science education. The students used this online forum as an out-of-class resource to develop a cultural model based on their ability to ask questions together with solidarity as a new optimistic way to position themselves in science. In this forum, we continue by discussing the identity of marginalized science students in relation to resources available in postsecondary science classes. Recent findings on a successful case of a persistent marginalized science student in spite of prior struggles and failures are introduced. Building on their model and our results, we proposed a new cultural model, emphasizing interaction between inside and outside classroom resources which can further our understanding of the identity of marginalized science students. Exploring this cultural model could better explain drop-outs or engagement of marginalized science students to their study. We, then, used this model to reflect on both current traditional and effective teaching and learning practices truncating or re-enforcing relationships of marginalized students with the learning environment. In this way, we aim to further the discussion initiated by Jackson and Seiler and offer possible frameworks for future research on the interactions between marginalized students with past low achievements and other high and mid achieving students, as well as other interactions between resources inside and outside science postsecondary classrooms.     

Employability of IT graduates from the industry’s perspective: a case study in Turkey

The qualifications that constitute the employability and identity of graduates are viewed differently by the academic community and the industry. Currently, it is observed for Information Technologies (IT) sector that the demands of the industry are not always satisfied by the perceived standards of the graduates. To provide feedback to the corresponding departments, a survey regarding employer expectations and factors affecting these expectations has been conducted among a number of senior professionals and managers working in the IT sector in Turkey regarding this inconsistency. The employer expectations are considered in two empirical categories as competencies and adequacies. The multiple regression analysis technique has been used to analyze the survey data. Based on the analysis, recommendations are provided to IT departments as well as their students to better fulfill the demands of the industry.     

How simple is reading in Arabic? A cross‐sectional investigation of reading comprehension from first to sixth grade

This study aimed to examine, from a cross‐sectional perspective, the extent to which the simple view of reading (SVR) model can be adapted to the Arabic language. This was carried out by verifying, in both beginning and more skilled readers, whether the unique orthographical and morphological characteristics of Arabic contribute to reading comprehension beyond decoding and listening comprehension abilities. Reading comprehension was evaluated in a large sample of first to sixth‐grade Arabic‐speaking children. The participants' decoding and listening comprehension abilities were investigated together with their orthographic and morphological knowledge. Path analysis indicated that reading comprehension was moderately explained by the SVR (56–38%). Orthographic and morphological knowledge explained an additional 10–22% of the variance beyond that explained by the basic SVR components. These findings demonstrate that certain linguistic aspects of Arabic impact reading processes differently when compared with other languages. The psycholinguistic implications of these findings are discussed in the light of previous findings in the literature.

What is already known about this topic?

• The ‘simple view of reading’ model explains reading comprehension as the product of decoding and listening comprehension.
• This model explains between 70% and 83% of the variance in reading comprehension in English, in which the contribution of decoding and listening comprehension varies as a function of the level of the readers.
• Orthographic transparency and other unique characteristics of the languages studied might influence reading comprehension in these languages

What does this paper add?

• Arabic is a diglossic language that is characterised by relatively unique orthographic and morphological features for which the validity of the simple view of reading (SVR) has not been tested.
• The basic components of the SVR (decoding and listening comprehension) have explained between 56% and 38% of the variance in reading comprehension in children from the first to the sixth grade.
• Decoding, as one of the basic components of the SVR, failed to contribute to reading comprehension when orthography and morphology were considered.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• This large‐scale cross‐sectional study is the first of its type to assess reading comprehension in Arabic.
• The study justifies the necessity to assess the suitability of the SVR in languages with very specific linguistic characteristics such as Arabic.
• The results emphasise the necessity of considering the complex orthography and the rich morphology of Arabic for improving teaching, assessment and intervention.