مطالب

The Unconventional Gas Production Revolution in the US has ushered in new opportunities for American petrochemical companies, granting abundant access to gas resources and fostering business growth. Consequently, prominent global petrochemical firms have made substantial investments in the United States' petrochemical and chemical industries. Simultaneously, the surge in gas production from unconventional reserves in the US has led to considerable growth in the country's petrochemical output. To address this crucial topic, we conducted a comprehensive time series analysis, investigating the long and short-term relationships between oil and polyethylene prices in the US during the shale gas development phase. Employing an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for the period spanning from January 2013 to December 2017, our research findings reveal that, in the long run, there exists a positive and significant influence of the oil price variable on polyethylene prices. However, in the short term, no discernible impact on the polyethylene price variable was observed. Interestingly, the analysis also indicates a unidirectional causal relationship, with oil prices influencing polyethylene prices. This finding suggests that despite the divergence between oil and gas prices, oil remains a crucial determinant of petrochemical product pricing. The results underscore the significance of shale gas development and its impact on the petrochemical industry. As the US continues to experience increased gas production, comprehending the intricate relationships between oil, gas, and petrochemical prices becomes imperative for companies' strategic decision-making and policymakers alike.

As an integral dimension of instruction, assessment determines whether or not the educational goals are being fulfilled. The present study was an attempt to investigate Iranian ESP instructors’ common classroom assessment practices. To this end, based on convenience sampling, eight different ESP teachers teaching BA students from a variety of departments at Rasht Islamic Azad University, Iran were selected. An observation checklist containing 31 items was used as the only data-gathering instrument of this study. The results of the descriptive statistics revealed that some assessment practices including using portfolio to assess student progress, assessing group class participation, conducting item analysis for teacher-made tests, and writing matching questions were applied less frequently in the ESP classes. However, some assessment practices such as incorporating attendance in the calculation of grades and recognizing unethical, illegal, or inappropriate uses of assessment information were more likely to be used in the observed ESP classes. The instructors were also more likely to incorporate classroom behavior in the calculation of grades, incorporate extra credit activities in the calculation of grades, recognize unethical, illegal, or inappropriate assessment methods, and inform students how grades are to be assigned. It is concluded that ESP teachers utilize both traditional testing and alternative assessment for achieving a complementary process of assessment, and they call for an integration of them due to their importance in assessing both the process and product of learning. The results of this study may hopefully be beneficial for curriculum developers, materials developers, course and syllabus designers, teachers and teacher trainers, and the other stakeholders in the fields of language teaching and learning as well.

Introduction: Identifying the moral damages of the cyberspace used by students can effectively play a role in the correct use of this space, with the understanding of this importance, the present study was conducted with the aim of identifying the moral damages caused by the lifestyle of students affected by the cyberspace. Material and Methods: The method of the current research is practical in terms of its purpose and it is mixed (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of data collection. The qualitative research method was content analysis with an inductive approach. The participants of the qualitative part of the research, the students of Islamic Azad University of Mazandaran province, who were aware and knowledgeable about the moral damages of cyberspace, the purposeful theoretical sampling method was used with 12 people. The estimation of the desired sample size was done based on the theoretical saturation of the data. The data collection tool in the qualitative part was a semi-structured interview. Triangulation method and Christiansen angle technique were used to check the validity in the qualitative part. The research method was descriptive-survey quantitative. The statistical population included all the students of Islamic Azad University of Mazandaran province (N=43), 399 were examined using stratified random sampling method through Cochran's formula. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. Data analysis was done using confirmatory factor analysis in SPSS22 and Amos statistical software. Results: The results of the survey showed that the moral damages caused by the way of life of students affected by cyber space include emerging and classic social damages, educational-cultural damages, political damages, security damages, psychological damages, and physiological damages. Conclusion: As a result, to reduce moral damages, it is possible to pay attention to the identified damages.