Influence of Different Allocation Methods for Recycling and Dynamic Inventory on CO2 Savings and Payback Times of Light-Weighted Vehicles Computed under Product- and Fleet-Based Analyses: A Case of Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles

Light weighting by material substitution is a key to reducing GHG emissions during vehicle operation. The GHG benefits are a salient factor in selecting lightweight materials for vehicles. Although the literature has performed lightweight material selections using GHG benefits under product- and fleet-based life-cycle inventory (LCI) analyses, recycling effects have therein been accounted for by arbitrarily selecting allocation methods for recycling, as the consensus on their selection is absent. Furthermore, studies have mistreated the temporal variations of the LCI parameters (the dynamic inventory (DI)), though that could be an important factor affecting the overall LCI results when allocation methods for recycling are in place. Therefore, to investigate their influence on greenhouse gas (GHG) benefit evaluations, an LCI case study was conducted, centered on aluminum- and magnesium-substituted internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) at the product- and fleet- levels. “CO2 savings” and the “CO2 payback time”, as well as four allocation methods for recycling, were considered to represent the GHG benefits and address the recycling effects, respectively. The dynamic inventory was based on the world average electricity grid mix change. The results indicate that changing the conditions of the DI and the allocation methods for recycling could alter the better performing material under fleet-based analyses. Therefore, we ascertained that the choice of the allocation method for recycling and conducting fleet-scale dynamic LCI analyses in the presence of the DI is pivotal for material selections.

Development of Teachers' Self-Efficacy for Homework Management Scale

Introduction. Homework is one of the daily assessment methods used by the classroom teacher. In the literature, there are many studies dealing with homework management from the perspectives of students and parents. However, studies concerning teachers' self-efficacy for homework management are scarce. This study aimed at developing and validating a scale for measuring teachers' self-efficacy for homework management. Method. A descriptive research design was employed in this study. The participants were 127 teachers randomly selected from one educational governorate in the Sultanate of Oman. The literature was reviewed to construct 20 items reflecting various aspects of the homework design and implementation. The items and the responses were subjected to a validation process. Results. Factorial structure of the scale revealed three subscales: efficacy for planning and designing homework; efficacy for monitoring, assessing, and providing feedback on homework; and efficacy for considering individual differences in homework. The three subscales showed acceptable evidence of validity and reliability. Discussion and Conclusion. The psychometric analysis of the teachers’ responses showed that the three subscales were reliable measures of teachers’ self-efficacy for homework management. These results support the usefulness of using the scale as an assessment tool for research purposes and the professional development of teachers. These results present new knowledge about teachers’ management of homework with planning and designing being the salient factor.

Designing and 3D Printing Lab Equipment for Mechanical Vibrations Course and Laboratory: Work in Progress

Undergraduate mechanical engineering students struggle in comprehending the fundamentals presented in an introductory level mechanical vibrations course which eventually affects their performance in the posterior courses such as control theory. One salient factor to this is missing the visualization of the concept with hands-on learning since the vibrations and control laboratory course is offered in the following semester. This study presents the design, development of three portable and 3D-printed compliant vibratory mechanisms actuated by a linear motor and their implementation in vibrations course and vibrations and control laboratory. The proposed setups consist of flexible and compliant springs, sliders, and base support. Mechanisms are utilized to demonstrate free and forced vibrations, resonation, and design of a passive isolator. In addition to the 3D-printed, portable lab equipment, we created the Matlab Simscape GUI program of each setup so instructors can demonstrate the fundamentals in the classroom, assign homework, project, in-class activity or design laboratory.

“I Cannot Wait to Build that One Day”: Lesbian and Bisexual College-Age Women’s Views on Marriage and Family

After the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in 2015, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has gained visibility. One cohort that is affected by this decision is lesbian and bisexual college-age women. The present study, through six face-to-face semi-structured interviews with self-identifying lesbian and bisexual college-age women, sought to understand how these women view marriage and family. Three themes emerged are: (a) Heteronormative socialization, (b) Personal endorsement of marriage, and (c) LGBT Parenting. The results of this study suggest that college-age women still carry the effects of growing up and entering adulthood in a largely heteronormative society, endorse marriage as an institution, and find profound personal meaning in the prospect of forming a family. Even in the face of protracted legal battles that are eventually won, the humanity of individual and personal motivation remains the most salient factor in forming bonds and building families.

Global Ranking of Universities by Reputation: The Hidden Criterion

ABSTRACT The ranking of World Universities is a fairly recent phenomenon. It is one of the products of internationalization of higher education. Many of the indices used by the ranking systems are now familiar to readers and writers. The age of an institution is one salient factor often not considered in rankings. The objective of this study is to critically discuss the relevance of age in relation to the metrics used and to determine whether or not age can be shown to have a place in university rankings .The analysis of data shows the average age of the top 50 institutions by reputation to be 206 years and the median 162. A look at the rankings will not reveal this important criterion except each of these ranked universities is linked with the year it was founded. It concludes that there is value in age and should be factored into university rankings.

Ignorance or culture war? Christian nationalism and scientific illiteracy

Religiously conservative Americans consistently demonstrate lower scientific literacy than other Americans. Some argue, however, that Americans’ scientific literacy is contingent on subcultural conflict, showing differences in scientific literacy that emerge only on religiously contested scientific claims. Building on these insights, we find that the most salient factor explaining Americans’ divergence on contested (though not on uncontested) scientific claims is not religious commitment or conservatism per se, but an ideology that seeks political—and consequently epistemic—dominance: Christian nationalism. National data show that Christian nationalism is unassociated with Americans’ answers on questions about uncontested scientific knowledge. However, Christian nationalism is the strongest predictor of incorrect answers on questions about religiously contested scientific claims. Contemporary “culture war” debates over science have little to do with outright ignorance of science, nor are they strictly about religiosity or theological conservatism. Rather, disputes over science and religion reflect politically motivated denials of scientific facts that threaten Christian nationalism’s claims to epistemic and cultural authority.

Preliminary validity and reliability evidence of the Brief Antisocial Behavior Scale (B-ABS) in young adults from four countries

The present research built on the Self-Reported Delinquency interview and the Antisocial Behavior Scale to develop an updated brief instrument to measure antisocial behavior. College students (n = 3188, 67.75% women) from the USA, Argentina, the Netherlands and Spain completed an online survey. Analyses that combined approaches from the Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory were conducted to select the items for the brief version. Findings suggested that a 13-item Brief Antisocial Behavior Scale (B-ABS) fulfilled the high-quality criteria: salient factor loadings, adequate discrimination, variability in response endorsement, adequate fit based on infit/outfit values, nondifferent item functioning across the four participating countries, and Cronbach’s alpha and ordinal omega coefficients higher than .70. The B-ABS scores generally significantly correlated with personality scores, mental health and marijuana outcomes, showing criterion-related validity evidence. Our overall findings suggest that B-ABS adequately assesses antisocial behavior in young adults from different countries/cultures.

Ban the (plastic) bag? Explaining variation in the implementation of plastic bag bans in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda

The environmental damage that plastic waste is causing has catalyzed government action against plastic bags around the world. Despite anti-plastic bag policies gaining traction globally, there has been limited investigation of why the implementation of bans has varied. The variation in implementing bans is particularly stark in East Africa, a region that has been at the forefront of plastic bag legislation. Rwanda’s implementation of a ban on plastic bags in 2008 has attracted widespread praise for its environmental leadership. Kenya adopted a plastic bag ban before Rwanda but implementation was consistently delayed until a stringent ban was finally imposed in 2018. In Uganda, despite bans being announced on four separate occasions, implementation continues to be delayed. This paper explains why some governments adopt and effectively enforce plastic bag bans while others reverse course or delay implementation. Existing literature has cited the comparative strength of plastic industries as the salient factor in explaining varied adoption of plastic bag bans. This paper argues that though the comparative business power of plastic industries explains whether bans are obstructed, it does not satisfactorily explain varied implementation. Instead, countries that pursue services-based development strategies, which prioritise externally dependent sectors like tourism, are more likely to implement plastic bag bans, which can help bolster their green credentials. For the Rwandan and Kenyan governments, presenting their countries as environmental leaders contributed to their goals of becoming a regional economic hub, reliant on services like tourism. The Kenyan government’s decision to eventually implement the ban was driven by a perceived need to compete with Rwanda for regional environmental leadership while supporting Kenya’s services-based economic development strategy. In contrast, Uganda’s comparatively larger discovery of oil and limited emphasis on services-based development explained the government’s lack of commitment to implementing a plastic bag ban.

Gender aspects of children's speech behavior at different levels of the language system

The article is devoted to various (phonetic, lexical and grammatical) aspects of gender-language interplay. At all the levels analyzed, the authors focus on the problems which, in spite of all the attention previously received, remain debatable and open to different interpretations. At the level of phonetics, the authors draw attention to the phenomenon of the uptalk. This widespread linguistic phenomenon is – according to a traditional approach supported by a number of scholars – supposed to be an evidence of powerless and deficient women talk. However, there exist counter arguments proving that the situation is far from being that straightforward. At the lexical level, the authors focus on the pairs of the so-called parallel/seemingly equal terms denoting men and women. Having analyzed some of such pairs the authors reach the following conclusion: most of the words denoting women tend to undergo – with the course of time – the process of pejoration, whereas the words denoting men tend to develop in the opposite direction. A special attention is devoted to the level of grammar as the one where gender-language interplay is the least studied. Verbal transitivity – among other grammatical phenomena – is paid special attention to as it seems to be a salient factor in gender-language relations. Another grammatical point of interest in the article is the way gender may be intentionally or otherwise reflected in certain passive voice constructions.

Individual Factors, Facilitating Conditions and Career Success: Insights from Malaysian Female Entrepreneurs

The involvement of female entrepreneurs in the growth of a nation’s economy is an important subject. Despite various opportunities as well as structural and policy financing and support to launch and run businesses, women still face challenges that hamper their chances of success. Therefore, a study was conducted to examine the individual factors and facilitating conditions that have led to female entrepreneurs’ career success. A survey instrument was formulated through questionnaires to obtain feedback from female entrepreneurs in Malaysia. The findings showed that entrepreneur competence, commitment, goal, and knowledge are related to female entrepreneurs’ career success. While human capital was found to be an insignificant factor in determining female entrepreneurs’ career success, the goal was discovered to be the most salient factor that determines a female entrepreneur’s chances of career success. The findings have important practical implications for managers and leaders who wish to motivate their employees to achieve their career milestones. This paper sheds some light on female entrepreneurship in developed economies and recommends further research on female entrepreneurship.