ISLAMIST POLITICS AND THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION IN BANGLADESHI NEWSPAPERS: Received: 23rd January 2024 Revised: 7th February 2024, 8th April 2024, 12th April 2024 Accepted: 28th January 2024

This study aims to examine the representation of an Islamist political party— Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) during their political campaign in the context of the 2023 Barishal City Corporation (BCC) in three Bangladeshi mainstream newspapers— the Daily Star (DS), the Daily Janakantha (DJ) and the New Age (NA). Examining the news articles, photographs and editorials, this study argues that these newspapers sidelined, ignored, and in some cases favored the Islamist party. It also argues that the party IAB uses myth— if you vote for hand-fan (electoral symbol of IAB), Allah and Rasool (prophet Muhammad) will have the votes; and makes voters sewer placing hands on the holy Quran—were unchallenged by the three newspapers. Though the IAB could not win the election, it was expected that mass media as social institutions would come forward with accurate information so that social members would not be misguided. The DS and DJ are found with the propensity to sideline and ignore the IAB and its electioneering. On the contrary, the NA provided balanced news coverage compared to the other dailies. Nonetheless, none of them have challenged the myth that the IAB’s uses of myth that misguided the voters

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR DESIGNING TEACHERS’ SELF-DIRECTED AND WELL-BEING-CENTERED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Research shows that educators often experience significant levels of stress in the workplace that impact their enthusiasm about the profession and longevity in the education field. Some personal impacts of stress on educators may include emotional numbing, feeling shut down, loss of energy, and increased illness or fatigue. Recently, some schools and districts have begun investing in programming to support educator well-being; however, these initiatives are rarely developed and co-led by educators themselves. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a research-based for designing and implementing educator-directed programming that seeks to support the well-being of K-12 educators. Implications for future research and practice are provided at the end of the paper.&nbsp

CHINA-ARAB ENERGY COOPERATION: CONSTRUCT NEW ENERGY SILK ROAD

Arab countries are one of the most important energy supply bases in the world and a key area for China's ‘Belt and Road’" initiative(BRI). China and Arab countries have long been committed to enhancing energy cooperation. While the global energy transition is the background of China-Arab energy cooperation, the international situation in the region is still in flux, but there is a good political foundation for China-Arab energy cooperation. These are the basic conditions for China-Arab energy cooperation. Against the backdrop of energy transition and continuous changes in the international situation, China and Arab countries are working together to promote energy cooperation in terms of policy design, mechanism improvement, industry chain layout, human resource support and project implementation, combining the BRI and ‘a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind’, and the ‘China-Arab Community with a Shared Future’ in order to promote the building of a China-Arab community of energy cooperation. China-Arab cooperation in the oil and gas sector continues at a high level, while new energy sources are becoming the highlight of China-Arab energy cooperation, which is the ‘new’. In addition, despite frequent changes in the international situation, China and Arab countries have insisted on promoting a community-based approach to cooperation, which is a ‘new’ way of cooperation compared to the energy strategies of Western countries

THE DECAY OF THE RUSSIA-EU ENERGY DIALOGUE MECHANISM FROM A ROLE PERSPECTIVE

The energy issue is at the core of the interaction between Russia and Europe. This paper, based on the perspective of role theory, systematically reviews the evolution of the Russia-Europe energy dialogue mechanism in the post-Cold War era. It combines role positioning and role expectations as two core variables to analyze the influencing factors of the Russia-Europe energy dialogue mechanism. Therefore, six influencing factors are summarized, including political culture, energy strategy, and energy groups related to role positioning, as well as historical traditions, international crises, and energy revolutions related to role expectations. The paper argues that the evolution of the Russia-Europe energy dialogue mechanism exhibits three characteristics: firstly, consistency with Russia-Europe relations; secondly, idealism in role expectations formed due to political cultural differences; and thirdly, the constraining nature of the asymmetrical structure on energy cooperation. Consequently, the Russia-Europe energy dialogue mechanism is in a state of stagnation, and Russia-Europe energy cooperation is showing a fragmented trend

BUSINESS STRATEGY, ACCOUNTING CONSERVATISM, TAX AGGRESSIVENESS

Different from literature studying the bi-variable relation between business strategy and accounting conservatism as well as tax aggressiveness, this research provides original ideas exploring the relation among business strategy and accounting conservatism through tax aggressiveness. Using the Taiwan data including high-technology and traditional industries, our results indicate that first, prospector companies are more tax aggressive, and are more accounting conservative than defender ones. Secondly, the positive effect of business strategy on accounting conservatism holds through increasing tax aggressiveness (reducing tax payment), implying prospector companies with more tax aggressiveness are more accounting conservatism than defender ones with less tax aggressiveness. Thirdly, the positive effect of strategy on conservatism through increasing tax aggressiveness in high-tech firms is stronger than that in traditional ones. This implies that compared to traditional firms, high-technology firms can more strengthen this positive effect through tax aggressiveness. Fourthly, this paper highlights the role of tax aggressiveness in driving association between business strategy and conservative accounting. Finally, our results are analogous to Higgins et al. (2015) and Hsieh et al. (2019)’s findings of U.S. sample companies, implying that some characteristics of Taiwan companies (e.g., access to capital market, tax deductibility of investment in R&D) appear to be similar to particularities of U.S. firms. This paper provides the evidence on a developing country (Taiwan) for investors and portfolio managers

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF GENERATIVE-AI RESPONSES ON USER EXPERIENCE AFTER AI HALLUCINATION

The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems into our daily lives has led to the phenomenon of "AI hallucination," where AI produces convincing yet incorrect information, undermining both user experience and system credibility. This study investigates the impact of AI's responses, specifically appreciation and apology, on user perception and trust following AI errors. Utilizing attribution theory, we explore whether users prefer AI systems that attribute errors internally or externally and how these attributions affect user satisfaction. A qualitative methodology, featuring interviews with individuals aged 20 to 30 who have experience with conversational AI, has been employed. Respondents preferred AI to apologize in hallucination situations and to attribute the responsibility for the error to the outside world. Results show that transparency in error communication is essential for maintaining user trust, with detailed explanations. The research contributes to the understanding of how politeness and attribution strategies can influence user engagement with AI and has significant implications for AI development, emphasizing the need for error communication strategies that balance transparency and user experience

PICTORIAL VOCABULARY MODULE FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING AMONG LOWER SECONDARY ESL STUDENTS: Received: 10th March 2024 Revised: 29th April 2024, 30th April 2024 & 23rd May 2024 Accepted: 2nd April 2024

English as a Second Language (ESL) students with limited vocabulary knowledge often face difficulties to learn and use English on a regular basis. To promote virtual learning, this study uses the module of pictorial vocabulary to help students learn vocabulary remotely. The module is tailored based on the ‘Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition’ (SAMR) Model. In this study, 150 ESL students from lower secondary schools across Malaysia use this module to help them learn the target words mentioned in the SBELC. A mixed methods research design is employed. After using the module, students have answered an evaluation form which is evaluated descriptively in terms of its mean scores and standard deviation. The qualitative data from the interview with the students are transcribed, categorized, and coded using content analysis. Based on the research findings, the students’ vocabulary knowledge has substantially increased after using the module. This study's implications indicate that the use of pictorial vocabulary learning module is both interactive and effective in learning the target words. In the area of vocabulary acquisition, this research adds value as it can be used to carry out additional research to enhance the ability of students to learn new words

A CASE STUDY ON THE NEEDS ANALYSIS OF VOCATIONAL MEDICAL LAB STUDENTS AT THE NIT: Received: 18th April 2024 Revised: 22nd May 2024 & 5th June 2024 Accepted: 30th April 2024

This study examines the educational requirements and teaching methods for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in vocational medical laboratory students at the National Institute for Technology (NIT). The study utilizes the Research and Development (R&D) approach to create and evaluate methods for instructional and non-instructional items. The Instructional Development Model created by Dick (1996) outlines the study process, emphasizing Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) tasks. Information was gathered from second-semester students in the Diploma Medical Lab Department in the academic year 2023/2024 through questionnaires and organized interviews with professors and students. The results, studied descriptively, emphasize the student's learning needs and preferences, underscoring the significance of proficient English communication abilities for their future professions. The study emphasizes the importance of integrating creative and interactive teaching approaches, such as technology, to improve students' English skills and prepare them for the workforce. The results provide useful information for educators creating English language courses customized for the particular requirements of vocational medical laboratory students

APPLYING HYPERGRAPHS TO STUDIES IN QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY: Received: 05th June 2024 Revised: 10th June 2024, 11th June 2024 Accepted: 10th June 2024

The objective of this research is to demonstrate hypergraph versatility and applicability for modeling diverse biological systems. The inherent structure of hypergraphs allows for encoding of higher-order feature interactions, providing a flexible framework for efficient models that can enhance our understanding of physical phenomena and one that can be generalized across various datasets. By adopting innovative methods including centrality measure and populations of models rather than singular instances, biases and overfitting tendencies are mitigated, again presenting promise for application across a broad spectrum of biological systems. Furthermore, emphasis is placed on the significance of probabilistic distribution analysis in elucidating threshold selection and feature relevance while maintaining high levels of accuracy. Our results demonstrate the advantages of hypergraph models on two different datasets; with the first on gene expression and the identification of outlier genes and the second on classifying starch grains. There is significant scope in the application of the hypergraph to a wider class of biological systems, with the potential to improve understanding of the biological processes

INCENTIVIZING OPENNESS: THE INFLUENCE OF MANAGERIAL COMPENSATION ON VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE

This paper analyzes the relationship between voluntary disclosure and managerial compensation in the French context. Our analysis is based on a sample of non-financial French firms listed on the SBF120. By using a score of voluntary disclosure, the results show a significant and positive relationship between managerial compensation and the score of voluntary disclosure. The findings of this study also indicate that there is a relationship between voluntary disclosure and firm’s characteristics. Our results provide a better understanding of voluntary disclosure practices and draw more attention of regulatory authorities to the importance of managerial compensation to improve transparency and voluntary disclosure