مطالب

Usually, in real-world engineering problems, there are different types of uncertainties about the studied variables, which can be due to the specific variables under investigation or interaction between them. Fuzzy cognitive maps, which addresses the cause-effect relation between variables, is one of the most common models for better understanding of the problems, especially when the quantitative data are not available or the nature of the problem is qualitative. One of the significant issues of automatic construction of fuzzy cognitive maps is that it does not consider the experts' uncertainties because of their cognitive attitudes such as age, experience, etc., which affects the quality and validity of modeling of the complex problems. Therefore, in this paper, a Z-Cognitive maps approach is proposed based on the distance-based automatic construction approach and Z-numbers to capture uncertainty and ambiguity of experts' opinions on the variables and causality relationships. The suggested approach can act as decision support for cognitive maps problems considering the experts' cognitive information, which is tested by a numerical example.

The purpose of this study is to present a model of human resource architecture in Iranian Customs. This research is in the category of exploratory mixed research. In the qualitative phase, the statistical population was academic experts in HR, managers and assistants in the field of Customs of Southern Iran. Purposeful sampling was continued until theoretical saturation. The sample size was 19 individuals. Semi-structured individual and in-person interviews were conducted. Based on the opinions following the implementation of the texts related to HR architectures, themes and coding, describing the basic elements, characteristics, system, achievements, advanced performance activities, and maintenance activities of HR were extracted. In the quantitative phase, the statistical population of this study consisted of all staff Customs of Southern Iran Who Were used based on theoretical foundations of structural equations minimum sample size of 210 stratified by random sampling based on Morgan Table. To collect the data, a researcher-made questionnaire of HR architecture (2019) was used. The content validity of the questionnaire was assessed by experts according to a predefined format and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha 0.971. The following results were obtained to analyze the research findings using structural equations by LISREL software.All the relationships between HR architecture and Dimensions are very strong, because all standard coefficients are completely obtained by No. 1 Finally, it can be said that the strongest relationship between theDimensions and variables of HR architecture is the relationship between the achievement Dimension and HR architecture .

This study aims to explore the attitudes and practices of Iraqi EFL teachers regarding formative assessment (FA). A total of 102 teachers from primary school to university filled in the Arabic version of Teachers' Conceptions and Practices of Formative Assessment Questionnaire. The questionnaire was translated from English into Arabic first and was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (Hazim Jawad, 2020). Findings showed that a 7-factor model had acceptable fit indices (GFI=0.90, CFI=0.91, RMSEA=0.05). Descriptive statistics were used to explain Iraqi EFL teachers’ attitudes and intentions regarding FA. Findings showed that the majority of Iraqi teachers believe that formative assessment is a useful procedure for measuring students’ learning and is helpful in their education. They also indicated that they have a positive attitude towards FA and are willing to use it. Correlational analysis showed that Affective Attitude, Instrumental Attitude, Subjective Norm, Controllability, and Self-Efficacy were strong predictors of intentions to use formative assessment. However, only Instrumental Attitude had a small significant correlation with the Behavior Scale. In other words, those teachers who believe that FA is useful in improving students learning tend to actually employ FA in their teaching. Findings also showed that female teachers have more positive attitudes towards FA and tend to use it more in their teaching. Implications of the findings for improving English language teaching are discussed.