A Mixed-Methods Investigation of TEFL Graduate Students’ Perspectives of Qualitative Research: Challenges and Solutions in the Spotlight

This study explored the challenges of conducting qualitative research encountered by Iranian Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) graduate students and their solutions for them. To delve into the issue, 20 TEFL graduate students who had passed a research methodology course were selected based on their availability from among the participants of the study who were selected based on purposive sampling from various universities. The participants thus selected sat a semi-structured interview based on the results of which, a researcher-made five-point Likert-scale questionnaire was developed and validated. Next, one hundred TEFL graduate students who had passed the research methodology course were selected based on purposive sampling from different universities across the country to respond to the questionnaire developed as mentioned above. The results of descriptive statistics revealed that the most important aspect of qualitative research from the students’ viewpoint was data analysis; likewise, the most challenging part was data analysis. Moreover, the participants described how educational systems’ overemphasis on quantitative research frameworks left little space or time for learning sophisticated qualitative research approaches. Finally, the majority of the participants deemed the introduction and presentation of an independent course on qualitative research methodology in the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in TEFL highly necessary

V2O5/SiO2 as an efficient catalyst in the synthesis of 5-amino- pyrazole derivatives under solvent free condition

An efficient and facile approach for the synthesis of 5-aminopyrazoles from ketene S,N-acetal and hydrazine hydrate via catalytic reaction under solvent free condition has been described. V2O5/SiO2 as a heterogeneous catalyst was prepared and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM).               KEY WORDS: One-pot synthesis, 5-Amino-1H-pyrazole, Hydrazine hydrate, Vanadium oxide, Silica Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2019, 33(1), 135-142DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v33i1.13

PAH Degradation by Two Native Egyptian Strains Flavobacterium Sp. And Pseudomonas putida

Abstract: PAH make serious problems in Egypt and all over the world. PAHs present in soil may exhibit a toxic activity towards different plants, microorganisms and invertebrates. Microorganisms, being in intimate contact with the soil environment, are considered to be the best indicators of soil pollution. In addition, biodegradation is one of the most key processes for PAHs to disappear from the environment. So, in Egypt we try to overcome this problem by searching on microorganisms able to degrade and eliminate this hazard compounds from our environment. Solid and liquid samples were collected from Kafer El Zyat City, Gharbia Governorate, Egypt. Bacterial isolation was carried out using enriched media technique. More than 78 isolates were obtained and capability of degradation also was examined using modified real time method. Finger printing for all the isolates using REP-PCR was carried out. The REP_PCR was grouped the isolates into 10 groups, only two isolates were showed high degradation talent and specificity for the two polyaromatic hydrocarbons (naphthalene or phenol). Moreover, the two isolates were subjected to molecular identification using 16SrRNA gene. Actually, The DNA sequence identified them into Pseudomonas putida (DQ399838) and Flavobacterium sp. (DQ398100). Strain P. putida showed degradation rate for naphthalene reached to 50% after 20 hours from incubation but the same result was obtained by Flavobacterium sp after only 17 hours from inoculation time. Whenever, we need to increase the amount of the soil degradation rate by adding these mutant bacteria to the soil and amendment of these bacteria, which will help in bioremediation technology

A novel unit protective relaying concept based on current signal sequential overlapping derivative transform: Two sides fed transmission line application

AbstractThis paper presents a novel and accurate unit protective relaying concept for EHV transmission lines. The proposed protective concept implements a simple current signal sequential over lapping derivative, SOD transform to detect transmission line transient disturbances. It uses both polarity and magnitude of the first disturbance, arrived at relay location, to identify internal and external faults rapidly. The proposed unit protective relaying concept is applied to two sides fed transmission lines. The simulation results presented show that the protective concept is simple with high reliability, sensitivity and achieve an extra high speed relaying. In addition, it has immunity against the influence of the large capacitance of the line, the saturation of the current transformers and the synchronization problems

Terahertz Nonlinear Optics of Graphene: From Saturable Absorption to High-Harmonics Generation

Eid HAH, Kovalev S, Tielrooij K-J, Bonn M, Gensch M, Turchinovich D. Terahertz Nonlinear Optics of Graphene: From Saturable Absorption to High-Harmonics Generation. Advanced optical matierals. 2020;8(3): 1900771.Graphene has long been predicted to show exceptional nonlinear optical properties, especially in the technologically important terahertz (THz) frequency range. Recent experiments have shown that this atomically thin material indeed exhibits possibly the largest nonlinear coefficients of any material known to date, paving the way for practical graphene-based applications in ultrafast (opto-)electronics operating at THz rates. Here the advances in the booming field of nonlinear THz optics of graphene are reported, and the state-of-the-art understanding of the nature of the nonlinear interaction of graphene with the THz fields based on the thermodynamic model of electron transport in graphene is described. A comparison between different mechanisms of nonlinear interaction of graphene with light fields in THz, infrared, and visible frequency ranges is also provided. Finally, the perspectives for the expected technological applications of graphene based on its extraordinary THz nonlinear properties are summarized. This report covers the evolution of the field of THz nonlinear optics of graphene from the very pioneering to the state-of-the-art works. It also serves as a concise overview of the current understanding of THz nonlinear optics of graphene and as a compact reference for researchers entering the field, as well as for the technology developers

A Proposed Quality Assurance Intelligent Model for Higher Education Institutions in Saudi Arabia

Recent growth and demands for dealing with increasing complexity in management, evaluation, and accreditation of higher educational institutions have led keynote academic institutions and higher education authorities to adopt and try nonconventional solutions known to business firms to account for massive data management. The development in new practices and merging technology for analytics and information management have offered different solutions such as data warehousing, big data, and business intelligence. Such solutions are gradually being installed in a number of renown universities. Due to the difference between the two firms (higher education and business industry) in nature and aims, tailor-made solutions are needed. This paper shares authors' experience in designing and implementing an educational information system in the College of Computers and Information systems at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. The paper also highlights differences between educational intelligence and business intelligence systems. Higher education implementation aspects ensuring suitable data query service to ease the running of high educational institutions are discussed and recognized

Flexural Behavior of Unbounded Pre-stressed Beams Modified With Carbon Nanotubes under Elevated Temperature

Since fire is one of the common reasons for rehabilitation and reconstructions during the service life of a building, it is necessary to assess the elements structural and technical conditions. The objective of the present paper is to investigate the flexural behavior in bending for unbounded full pre-stressed beams with and without the incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under the exposure to elevated temperature in comparison with non-pre-stressed beams. The test Method was divided into two major stages where the principal stage’s goal was considering the flexural behavior of fully and non-prestressed concrete beams containing CNT of 0 and 0.04% as cement replacement at ambient temperature. In the second stage, a typical group of beams was prepared and the flexural behavior was explored under the exposure to temperature of 400ºC, for 120 minutes. The major findings upon monitoring the failure mechanisms, ultimate load capacity, and deflection at critical sections, was that the CNT had shown a significant impact on the behavior and extreme resistance of fully and non-prestressed normal concrete. With CNT beams also exhibited higher imperviousness to high-temperature than that of the normal beams. Finally the significant Improvement was that the ultimate load of the non-pre-stressed beam with the presence of the CNT at the lower 50mm in the tension zone showed a gain of 13%, while the ultimate load of the fully pre-stressed beam with the presence of the CNT at the lower 50mm in the tension zone showed a gain of 21% as compared to the same beam without CNT, respectively. For the non-pre-stressed beams, the load capacity of the beam with CNT after exposure had a similar load capacity as the beam without CNT before exposure to high temperature