مطالب

Problem-based language learning approaches can prove advantageous in fostering meaningful language learning and enhancing language proficiency. The present sequential explanatory mixed-methods study aimed to explore the perspectives of Iranian EFL teachers regarding problem-based learning (PBL), and the challenges they confronted in its application. To this end, forty male and female Iranian EFL teachers from high schools and language institutes in Alborz province were selected using convenience sampling. In the course of the study first, a questionnaire was employed to gauge teachers' perceptions of problem-based language learning. To collect the required data, the Teachers' Perceptions of Problem-Based Learning (TPPBL)questionnaire was developed and validated. Afterwards, an interview was conducted to triangulate the data and provide nuanced insights into the challenges faced in implementing PBL. The gathered data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings unveiled that the participants held positive perceptions regarding PBL implementation in language classes. However, they addressed various challenges including role adjustment, inadequate training and experience, lack of suitable instructional materials, and time constraints while implementing PBL techniques. The implications of these findings extend to EFL teacher educators, teachers, learners, and researchers, offering valuable insights for enhancing language teaching practices and addressing challenges associated with PBL implementation.

Performance testing including the use of rating scales has become highly widespread in the evaluation of second/foreign oral assessment. However, few studies have used a pre-, post-training design investigating the impact of a training program on the reduction of raters’ biases to the rating scale categories resulting in increase in their consistency measures. Besides, no study has used MFRM including the facets of test takers’ ability, raters’ severity, task difficulty, group expertise, scale category, and test version all in a single study. 20 EFL teachers rated the oral performances produced by 200 test takers before and after a training program using an analytic rating scale including fluency, grammar, vocabulary, intelligibility, cohesion and comprehension categories. The outcome of the study indicated that MFRM can be used to investigate raters’ scoring behavior and can result in enhancement in rater training and validating the functionality of the rating scale descriptors. Training can also result in higher levels of interrater consistency and reduced levels of severity/leniency; however, it cannot turn raters into duplicates of one another, but can make them more self-consistent. Training helped raters use the descriptors of the rating scale more efficiently of its various band descriptors resulting in reduced halo effect. Finally, the raters improved consistency and reduced rater-scale category biases after the training program. The remaining differences regarding bias measures could probably be attributed to the result of different ways of interpreting the scoring rubrics which is due to raters’ confusion in the accurate application of the scale.

This study aims to explore the strategies employed by counselors to support the emotional well-being of gifted adolescents. Recognizing the unique emotional and social challenges faced by this population, the research seeks to identify effective counseling practices that can be implemented to foster a supportive environment and address their specific needs. A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 21 counselors who have extensive experience working with gifted adolescents. The participants were purposefully selected to ensure diverse perspectives. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcribed interview data, with NVivo software assisting in the organization and coding of themes and subthemes. The analysis revealed three primary themes in the counseling strategies for supporting the emotional well-being of gifted adolescents: Building Trusting Relationships, Developing Emotional Regulation Skills, and Promoting Social Connections. Key strategies within these themes included establishing rapport, maintaining confidentiality, personalizing approaches, teaching coping strategies, stress management techniques, encouraging self-expression, facilitating peer interaction, and involving families. These strategies align with existing literature, highlighting the importance of empathetic, individualized, and holistic approaches in counseling gifted adolescents. The study underscores the critical role of counselors in addressing the emotional and social challenges faced by gifted adolescents. Effective strategies involve building strong, trusting relationships, developing emotional regulation skills, and promoting social connections. These findings suggest that a comprehensive approach, which includes personalized support and proactive engagement, is essential for fostering the emotional well-being of gifted adolescents. Future research should further explore the perspectives of gifted adolescents and the long-term impacts of these counseling strategies.

Frankfurt School’s critical theory, derived from the ideology of Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas et al. was put forward by Robert Cox,  Andrew Linklater , and Marc Hoffmann into the realm of international relationships. It will be discussed in the framework of the third debate of international relationships. The concepts represented in this theory are highly similar to those in the Islamic theory within international policy and foreign policy. Thus, the question here is the degree to which these concepts can be employed in order to extend the Islamic theory of international relationships. The present paper is going to determine the degree to which such concepts as freedom, knowledge, mutual understanding, hegemony structure, international clampdown, and the like, which are frequently used in the Islamic international policy literature as the foundation of critical theory related to international peace, are comparable. The first hypothesis of this research is that above-mentioned concepts have only verbal similarities and not interchangeable in the level of ontology and epistemology. In order to explain the main concepts of critical theory, this research, sued analytical, descriptive method based on major resources employment. In fact, it answers the question utilizing the major resources being used in the Islamic international relationships literature.

Digital twin-enabled neural networks will develop innovative processes in feature selection and simulation. In addition, this methodology will have development in autonomous driving, natural language processing, healthcare, and many other fields. Recently sensors have been widely used for environment monitoring, and massive data has to be processed efficiently and effectively, which requires managed neural architectures for sustainable computing. The sustainable digital twin-empowered architectures create new biological evolution simulation algorithms and intelligent system architectures for supervised and unsupervised learning. Some of today's fundamental artificial intelligence issues, including adaptive machine learning and neuromorphic cognitive models, can be overcome by this methodology. The goals of this special issue on digital twin-enabled neural network architecture management for sustainable computing aim to pay attention to the researchers and industries towards recent advances in decision-making algorithms, neural network models and architectures for faster processing.

Service supply chain management is a tool for predicting, planning, implementing, and controlling supply chain processes with the aim of meeting customer needs and gaining their satisfaction, which includes coordination, integration and product control, information, and cash flow within the organization and between partners. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the structural model of the performance of the sustainable supply chain of the service sector (experimental witness: Social Security Organization of the country). The research method was mixed (qualitative-quantitative) and descriptive survey. In the qualitative part, a semi-structured interview was used to collect information, and 15 experts in this field were interviewed. And in a small part, the opinions of 384 experts, managers, and employees of sample social security branches of the country have been used. The results obtained from the qualitative technique with the method of thematic analysis to the inductive approach (based on data) and the model of Brown and Clark (2006) indicate the extraction of 3 dimensions, 10 components and 47 indicators in relation to the dimensions, components and indicators affecting the evaluation of sustainable supply chain performance. He has served in the social security organization of the country. The findings obtained from the quantitative technique using structural equations show favorable reliability and validity coefficients, while the T statistic for all three dimensions is greater than 1.96, which indicates that the mentioned indicators correctly represent this structure. have been measured, and also factor loadings have a value greater than 0.7, which has shown that there is an acceptable correlation between indicators (observable variables) and components (hidden variables) with the main structure (economic dimension). In order to prioritize the dimensions of the supply chain performance evaluation in the social security organization, the best-worst BWM technique was used using LINGO software, and the results showed that the social, economic, and environmental dimensions were ranked first to third, respectively. In the end, practical suggestions for creating an evaluation and encouraging mechanism for sustainable actions in the organization, creating a system for measuring and monitoring the performance of the supply chain, etc. were presented.

One of the most important discussions in the Quranic sciences is the topic of Mohkam (the verses which have clear meaning) and Motashabeh (the verses which have not clear meaning or have several similar meanings) in Quran, the way of glossing of Quran and one who deserves the conditions of this important. There are different proposed reasons for the existence of these kinds of verses in Quran. There are also different methods provided by Quran interpreters to understand the meanings of these verses. Mullasadra as a transcendent sage, who knew the Quran as the infrastructure of his philosophy doctrine, not only tried to categorize interpreters' approaches about these teams of verses and criticized their attitude, but also introduced a special method to encounter these verses which is not much different from mystics' methods. He believed that everything we know in material world has an exemplar in the kingdom of heaven (malakoot). Motashabeh verses are about affairs that have roots in kingdom world and their glosses are tied to understanding of the relationships of these two worlds. In his viewpoint transfusion toward inner concept of Quran, needs related background knowledge and spiritual abilities that could be reached by special meditation and scientific efforts.

This paper, reflecting on the village and archaeological site of Jamalo located on the top of the Zayanderud dam, aims to explore the circumstances human settlements would have encounter with the construction of the dam and when its reservoirs were flooded. About 30 years ago, as the images from Google Map showed, the water strip emerging from the Zayanderud dam, wherein the left riverbank hosted the village and archaeological site of Jamalo. This site had been occupied for much of the sixth and fifth millennium BC until the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. In the Middle Bronze Age, it had been dominated by the Proto-literate, historic, and Islamic periods. Archaeological evidence from surface surveys also indicated that pottery shreds were similar to those of Sialk III and Bakun A. Now, Jamalo is exposed to the waters of the dam reservoir. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of what would have happened to archaeological sites with the construction of the dam, its reservoirs were flooded, and when landscapes were radically altered. Another question was: “What would have happened to archeological sites as floods made it inaccessible?” Based on the excavation at Jamalo and the comparison of images taken from the region before and after the construction of the dam, it was observed that the reservoir had destroyed the village, and the slopes of the site, especially on the eastern and northeastern parts, had been covered with a layer of deposits.