To achieve more accurate and robust Differential Item Functioning (DIF) detection, this study introduces a novel approach called Multi-Detectors Combination (MDC). The main innovation of the MDC approach lies in effectively integrating multiple existing single DIF detection methods under observable examination conditions. Four specific MDC methods (LR, NB, TAN, and SVM) are evaluated using simulated data (360 testing conditions). The results indicate that MDC methods outperform single DIF detection in accuracy (AUC: 81.2% to 82.3%), surpassing the AUC values of other methods, which ranged only from 59.4% to 77.4%. Moreover, MDC methods demonstrate enhanced precision (RMSE: 0.528 to 0.531) in ability estimation. Analysis of actual data further validates the MDC approach’s superior stability in ability estimation, achieved by excluding flagged DIF items.

The research analyzed undisclosed five leading companies in Indonesia’s that represent financial and manufacturing industries. Where the study examines qualitatively the information contained in each representative company’s most recent business development strategy issued in 2023

Climate and cow inventory data used to generate future emission scenarios at the regional level.

Literature review. Doing business in authoritarian contexts could be tricky. One reason is the implications of the difference in political, economic, and cultural systems between countries on their political economy. The other is the limited comparative knowledge available on the international political economy as a relatively new subdiscipline within political science and global business since Joan Spero's poplar introductory textbook in late 1970s. This limitation reflects the much-needed theoretical development within the literature on the Political Economy of Authoritarianism. The paper reviews the literature on political economyand utilizes a few cultural, economic, and political frameworksto offer critical comparative examination on the topic. Drawing on currentinterdisciplinary theoriesand combining assessment of national political, economic, and cultural frameworks,a new comparative analytical modelis developed.The modelgenerates knowledge to advance our understanding of the political economy of authoritarianism and to examine political economy across nations.

This study addresses the gap in literature by exploring the application of the audit trail process in interpretive research, especially in education and linguistics studies. The paper argues that a comprehensive audit trail can enhance the credibility of qualitative research by promoting transparency and accountability in the research process. Specifically, the study examines how the audit trail process was used in content-analysis in language coursebooks, highlighting the importance of implementing the audit trail in similar qualitative research studies. Through this investigation, the paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on enhancing the rigour of qualitative research.

South Africa’s cities make for an interesting focus when studying urban inequalities and segregation. Not only is the country among the most unequal countries (based on the Gini index calculations), but the Apartheid-era of the 20th century also created a severely segregated racial hierarchy through wide-reaching legislation. Although that and its legislation was dismantled in the final decade of the last century, the impact of those years is still evident across the country, not least of which on its cities. Cape Town is known as a beautiful city, as well as a tourist hotspot, however, it has also been referred to as the most segregated city in this already unequal and segregated country. This study focuses on the demographic and labour market changes, both in terms of the occupational distribution, as well as the racial composition of the most prominent and fastest growing occupational groups. What is apparent is that Cape Town has remained an unequal and segregated city, with levels of racial segregation significantly higher that socioeconomic segregation (even when accounting for occupational class differences). Additionally, although previously disadvantaged groups (e.g. Black Africans and Coloureds) have made gains in more prominent occupations, they continue to be under-represented among high-income earners and comprise the largest proportion of the unemployed in the city.

Mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, are increasing among young individuals and have become a public health concern. In this perspective, the search for meaning and purpose is an innate impulse that contributes to an individual’s psychological well-being. As such, it plays a crucial role in mental health. Avoiding subjective evaluations, this statement emphasizes the importance of the search for meaning in life. In this study, we examined how the relationship between anxiety and depression is moderated by meaning in life. A total of 2338 participants, 1546 women and 792 men, with an average age of 24.41 were included in the study. The study examined the moderating effects of gender, mean age, and meaning in life on the relationship between anxiety and depression in participants. The data collected from the study was evaluated for the moderator effect and subjected to regression analysis. According to the results, meaning in life has a negative effect on both anxiety and depression as well as a moderator role between anxiety and depression. In addition, gender has a moderating role in the relationship between anxiety and depression. In summary, meaning in life has a protective role against psychological disorders (anxiety and depression), and high meaning in life protects individuals against other psychological disorders.

Neuro-technologies can delve deeper into the entrepreneur’s brain. We hypothesize that the Event-related potentials method can aid in our understanding of how emotions play a part in entrepreneurial decision-making. This is a method for evaluating neural responses to specific events extracted from electroencephalography, or EEG. Using the strengths of a one-armed-bandit task to analyse how intentions and emotions alter decision-making, we show the effects of both pleasant and unpleasant emotional words on decision making in terms of returns, N100, and N400 amplitudes. We discuss the additional research value that ERP components such as the N100 and N400 may bring to the field based on the evidence obtained.

While infrastructure planning guidelines frequently emphasise the need of comprehensible, easy to use or unambiguously understandable infrastructure, they lack information on how to design such intuitively usable cycling infrastructure. Furthermore, while cyclists already criticise the current traffic system not to be intuitively usable, this issue will be even more relevant as cycling usage may increase in the next years. Thus, this paper presents a systematic literature review to identify studies that already investigated the intuitiveness of cycling infrastructure. Furthermore, this study aims to identify major research gaps. Searching three databases with a predefined set of keywords resulted in more than 1300 titles. Applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, eleven titles remained in the last review step and were analysed in detail. Results show that these studies use a variety of methods and terms to describe and investigate intuitiveness of various cycling infrastructure designs. Conclusions from these studies range from very specific infrastructure design recommendations over highly general design advices to recommendations that do not refer to infrastructure design at all. Three main research gaps were identified. Firstly, there are various infrastructure types that have not been covered by the studies. Furthermore, there is a need for basic research on how to apply principles of intuitive design to cycling infrastructure design in general. Lastly, a large amount of research investigated behavioural responses to infrastructural changes but was not designed to specifically assess intuitiveness. Thus, there are large research gaps to be filled by upcoming studies to design intuitively usable cycling infrastructure.

The locative expressions in Runyankore-Rukiga consist of nouns that can refer to both places and  spatial relations, whether they are inherent or derived. Instead of focusing solely on the  morphological properties and presentation of locative words, our attention is directed towards  locative phrases. These expressions resemble prepositional phrases in terms of their configuration  since the locative particle appears before the noun as a separate word. Despite describing spaces  rather than objects, these phrases function as nominal expressions and exhibit morpho-syntactic  behaviour akin to noun phrases. To support this assertion, we examine Locative Inversion, arguments  of negative verbs, and Alternate Locative Agreement patterns in detail. By utilizing type-semantic  concepts alongside structural representations, we propose a revised version of the two-layered noun  phrase approach initially proposed by Bresnan and Mchombo (1989).

Fanon's political thought on tabula rasa is highly still in demand by the racialised subjects who continue to daily experience racial injustice. Uniquely, his political thought on how the racialised black subjects should be free, is still relevant to contemporary politics in a sense that it resonates with the current political and racial problems. Fanon remains distinctive in his dialectics, as his dialectics have the potential to create the conditions for existential lives for the racialised black subjects. Using qualitative as an approach, this article justifies such a distinctiveness based on the fact that Hegel's and Marx's dialectics are limited to an end, while Fanon's dialectics are renewal and continual---linked to an enduring struggle. This is the recommended struggle---a highway for racialised black subjects to durable racial justice for all. Based on the fact that tabula rasa is explained as a potential tool for the creation of a new beginning and new humanism, this article elucidates that genuine and durable racial justice for all cannot happen without the intervention of tabula rasa. Why? Because, for Fanon, tabula rasa disposes the minimum of what the oppressed and racialised subjects have willed, called for, or demanded.

This study is a blend of two case studies and informal action research (AR). It analyzes student perceptions of ESP online teaching-learning during COVID-19 pandemic and blended teaching-learning in the post-pandemic times at a university in Nepal. Side by side, it also presents outcomes of AR in embedded ways and covers major pedagogical transitions. The coded thematic data have been uploaded herewith this preprint.

Secularism is a complex notion that has been contested and redefined throughout the history of numerous countries. Secularism is enshrined in India's Constitution as a basic element of government and a cornerstone of the country's democratic philosophy. This research paper explores the concept of Indian Secularism, which is enshrined in the Indian Constitution as a fundamental principle of governance. The paper critically examines the historical and political origins of Indian Secularism and how it has evolved since its independence in 1947. The research paper analyzes the challenges faced by Indian Secularism in recent times, including communal violence, religious fundamentalism, and the rise of Hindu nationalism. The research paper also examines the state's and civil society's role in maintaining Secularism in India. The research concludes that Indian Secularism continues to face significant challenges but remains a cornerstone of the country's democratic ethos and an essential component of its national identity.

Burnout is a psychological syndrome that develops in response to chronic work-related stressors resulting from negative perception of the stressor. The study aimed to find the psychosocial predictors of burnout among elite athletes (M = 27.35years). Descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted for the study. Maslach Burnout Inventory and a researcher developed questionnaire was used to collect data. Percentages, mean and standard deviation was used to analyze demographic data, while correlation matrix was used to test hypotheses. Duration of sports participation was not significant (.093) in predicting burnout among elite athletes. Conflict is value had a positive correlation (.282). Athletes in North-Central Zone experience high levels of burnout, their duration in sports was not responsible for the high levels of burnout and conflict is value had a positive correlation with burnout and may have accounted for the high level of burnout.

The impact of easing labour regulations on the rate of entry of new small and medium industrial enterprises is examined for Indian manufacturing, taking additionally into account the effect of improved infrastructure, particularly augmented power availability, on the entry rate. Econometric analyses are undertaken using state-level panel data for 2006-2018. Inter-regional variations in the entry rate of small and medium enterprises are utilized to establish the causal effect. The results indicate that easing labour regulations in a region (state) significantly enhances the pace of setting up new small and medium industrial enterprises in the region, and the beneficial impact of labour reforms is greater in regions where power availability is relatively abundant. Another finding is that an increased rate of entry of new small and medium industrial enterprises leads to increased growth rate in employment in manufacturing.

The specific problem of this research was it was unknown if/to what extent safety-specific leadership style predicted employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry. The purpose of this research was to examine if/to what extent the safety-specific transformational leadership style of managers predicted employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast Saskatchewan, Canada. This research’s methodology was quantitative, and the research design was simple linear regression.  The researcher employed a convenience sampling method and invited 41 business organizations that  provided products and services to the oil and gas industry and the business organizations which actively  explored, extracted, produced, refined, and transported the oil and gas energy in southeast  Saskatchewan, Canada. This research used 89 valid anonymous responses from 32 business  organizations in the data analysis. The statistical test of the simple linear regression showed that  managersâ\euro™ safety-specific transformational leadership styles in the oil and gas industry in southeast  Saskatchewan, Canada, could significantly predict employees’ safety performance. This research has  broad implications since 32 business organizations offered multiple products and services to the local oil and gas industry, including construction, transportation, welding, equipment maintenance, and services. Also, this research has broad generalizability, significant Cronbach’s alpha values for measuring  instruments, a medium to large effect size, and higher confidence in the findings. This research encourages the oilfield industry to promote and grow more safety-specific transformational leaders for  higher employee safety performance excellence.

Notable critics, including Sunday Anozie and Robert Morsberger, have branded Christopher Okigbo’s Labyrinths as allusions to the Nigerian crisis of 1965, and the civil war that followed in1966, as well as Ibo traditional religion, the historical and personal idiosyncrasies, and as a literary work from Theocritus and Vergil to Howl. This article veers from such imputations into a hitherto untrodden ground. It subjects behaviours of the persona in  Labyrinths  –from “Heavensgate” to “Limits” and “Silences”, and from “Distances” to “Path of Thunder” to clinical and qualitative inquiries and concludes: the poetics are not only symptomatic of mania, the obscurities are couched in methods

The Covid-19 pandemic brought to the fore tensions between the rights of healthcare workers (HCWs) and the patients they care for. Nowhere are these tensions more evident than in debates over the right to autonomy and whether these rights allow HCWs to refuse vaccination. In the following, I argue that while both parties have a right to autonomy, the patients right to autonomy generally overrides that of the HCW. Still, the patient’s rights do not necessarily entail that HCWs possess a duty to be vaccinated. Instead, it entails that HCWs take reasonable actions to respect the autonomy of the patients.