Archives-December 

This study attempted to bring Critical Language Testing principles into practice by means of distributing the power, traditionally hold by teachers as the only source of knowledge, in a more unprejudiced way. The study took advantages of three features of fifteen CLT principles proposed by Shohamy (2001).Based on the first feature, which is encouraging an active, critical response from test-takers; learners could develop an assessment scale including five components which was used in the subsequent steps in their peer assessment. In line with the second principle, which is admitting to the limited knowledge of any tester and the need for multiple sources of knowledge, learners moved toward the leading edge taking the control of assessment process to some extent. Peer assessment as one criterion of democratic assessment was applied. The third principle exploited in the study was considering ‘interpretive’ approaches to assessment that allow for different meanings and interpretations rather than a single absolute truth. Students’ scores were reported by both quantitative and interpretive modes with some suggestive sentences. In this way learners’ voices are validated. After that and in line with “consequential validity” as one component of alternative assessment, it went through completing the process by bringing testees’ problematic areas into the teaching syllabus in a systematic way. With a qualitative study learners’ (the most critical figures of all assessment procedures) attitudes toward rejecting or retaining CLT principles were inquired. They, offering one caveat, which was the significance of teacher assessment to them, pronounced the method as a striking system.

The past half-decade has witnessed exponential use of the social media in Kenya. This has been made possible through enhanced internet connectivity especially through the use of mobile phones. Cybercrime has therefore emerged as a serious threat. Surprisingly, cybercriminals appear undeterred by the prospect of arrest and prosecution as they operate with impunity on the internet posing a risk to the financial health of corporations, privacy of the citizens who use the internet and also posing a threat to the security of the nation. The media has reported numerous occasions when cybercriminals have managed to interfere with the operations of the state. The alleged interference of Russian hackers in the 2016 US presidential election demonstrated how cybercriminals posed a threat to democratic institutions and democratic processes. Similar allegations were made in relation to the2013 and 2017 presidential elections in Kenya. It has also been reported that the terrorist group, ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) has unit of hackers known as the Cyber Caliphate whose primary function is to propagate the ISIS agenda online. Most recently, the members of parliament in Kenya called upon the Inspector General of the Police and mobile service providers to launch investigations into cons who are registering numbers in their names and sending obscene images. This paper will examine the laws governing cybercrime in Kenya and make suggestions on law review to deal with the cybercrime menace.

Multilevel inverters are used extensively in many applications due to their increased power rating, improving harmonic performance and reduced electromagnetic interference. However, the usage of more switches in the conventional configuration poses a limitation to its wide range application. This may leads to vast size and price of the inverter is very high. So in order to overcome this problem the new multilevel inverter is proposed with reduced number of switches. The configuration of the PV system is based on the multi-string technology and the maximum power point is obtained using PSO Algorithm. The output of the MPPT tracker controls the duty cycle of the boost converter. To control this power converter, SVPWM based modulation technique is implemented. The results are validated through the harmonic spectrum of the FFT window by using Matlab/simulink.

This research paper concerned with the detail procedure for development of ecological inventories of a child with mild intellectual and developmental disabilities. The main purpose of this study is to develop the instrument which helps in need assessment of functional skills and development of functional curriculum for children intellectual disabilities. First stage three main environments were selected such as home, school, and community then each environment was divided into different sub-environments. The information about environment and sub environment were collected from different sources such siblings, parents, teachers and observation of the child through different instruments. Collected information were organized into catalog. The developed ecological inventories were finalized in the light of feedback received from experts. The experts reported as the best tool for assessment of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Albizzia lebbeck and Syzygium cumini are two natural plants with secondary metabolites and antioxidant properties, which was shown to have a diabeto-protective effect in animal experiments. There were major reductions in the levels of endogenous antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase, catalase and reduced glutathione after 30 days of experimental period with STZ suggesting the generation of free radicals in animals. The co-administration of aqueous, methanolic and methanolic fraction of aqueous extract of Albizzia lebbeck and Syzygium cumini significantly increased these antioxidant enzymes and reduced the elevated serum levels of malondialdehyde in the experimental animals. The established diabetoprotective actions of various extracts of Albizzia lebbeck and Syzygium cumini in experimental hepatic injury in rats widens the scope for further investigations in the field of research on other models either alone or in combination with other herbal molecules with proven diabeto-hepato-protective action in clinical practice.

Context: Despite the seriousness of domestic violence and its consequences, it is largely underestimated, and many female victims cannot receive appropriate assistance. Despite the psychological consequences of domestic violence, women who are victims of such violence are not primarily intended for the psychiatrist. Objective: To study the profile of women who have been victims of domestic violence and to assess their psychopathological impact. Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out for 76 women victims of domestic violence recruited in the ANNAJDA help center in Rabat during a period from March 2017 to May 2017. The instruments used were: a data collection sheet for socio- demographic, clinical and violence characteristics, the PCL-S scale was used to assess Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale was used to assess anxiety and depression and the DSM 5 criteria were used to assess addiction. Results: 76 female victims of domestic violence were included in the study. The average age of the mothers was 34.62 years. 47.3% have a low socio-economic level. 63.2% of the victims were unemployed. All our victims have been subjected to psychological violence. 68.4% of our sample has a post-traumatic stress condition. 82.9% of victims show definite anxiety. 61.8% of women have a definite depressive disorder. 14.5% a dependence on a substance. There was a significant association between sexual violence and anxiety and drug use, between financial violence and drug use, between physical violence and depression. Keywords: domestic violence; women; consequences; psychopathological impact.

We are very happy to announce that from 28th June 2019, Dr. Elena Stavrova has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He/She will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on Economics. The appointment of Dr. Elena Stavrova as member Editorial Advisory Board strengthens the links and will make it easier for prospective authors to establish contact with the journal.

For efficient heating with lesser fuel consumption and a quick way of heating, oxyfuel has been clearly shown to produce very low emissions of CO2 and NOX as compared to air-fuel for 15 years. Among oxyfuels, flameless oxyfuels can be even more economical and technically superior for higher production rates, excellent uniform heating and very low NOX emissions. In the present study, our casting centres have accommodated a number of reheating furnaces along with preheating stands working on flameless oxyfuel to 1 tonne capacity of smallest size ladles. Flameless oxyfuel has improved to a greater uniformity in heat distribution and decreased fuel consumption approximately by 30-65% compared to air-fuel mixture. It also falls to low NOX emission during high levels of ingress air, which is essential for economical use. In this work it lowered scaling losses, refractory wear during reheating and ladle preheating respectively by improving the steel quality to be produced during casting. It is also seen that for low calorific value (below 7-7.5 MJ/Nm3) gases such as top gas released from the furnace, use of oxyfuel combustion is an absolute requirement. With the advances in today’s technology, combining air-fuel and flameless oxyfuel can create semi-flameless combustion without replacing the air-fuel burners. The paper highlights the working of flameless oxyfuel and its application and also presents the results that have been achieved in controlling pollution and consumption.

Three languages dominate the linguistic atmosphere of the present day Iran, namely, Persian, English, and Arabic. While Persian is the singly official language of the country and English is a case of English in an expanding circle in Kachru's terms, the status and functions of Arabic are less straightforward to delineate. The educational policy of the country is for the teaching of Persian and Arabic to begin in kindergartens and primary schools and postpone English till secondary schools. Arabic is taught under various guises like including teaching Quran, religion, prayers, etc. Despite all the resources, both financial and humanistic, that goes into Arabic teaching, little is known about how the language is taught in terms of syllabus, aims, and language teaching methodology. This study was an attempt to approach Arabic language teaching in an ELT orientation to throw some light on how Arabic is currently taught in Iranian secondary schools. Moreover, we investigated the nature of final examinations and their effects on language teaching. Findings indicate that the productive skills of speaking and writing are given little, if any, attention and final tests and language teaching parallel one another, making it difficult to decide the teaching methodology is under the influence of final tests or it is the tail that wags the dog, i.e., tests driving the syllabus. We also attempted validating an instrument for future studies dealing with Arabic pedagogy. The factors that appeared were not however interpretable sufficiently, mainly due to the inadequacy of the sample of the study.

The aqueous extract of Pomegranate Peel and Roselle (AE Pom P and Ros) has been studied as a possible source of green inhibitor for the corrosion of mild steel in 1 M HCl at temperature range 25-55o C utilizing the conventional weight loss, open circuit potential (OCP) , linear and Tafel polarization techniques. The assessment of (AE Pom P and Ros) against different microorganisms has additionally been providing by using selected biocide. Moreover the structure of (AE Pom P and Ros) is analyzed by GC-MS spectra.The optimum dose of biocide which showed good stability for the corrosion inhibitor for more than one year , diminishes the inhibition efficiency for about 20% due to its slightly acidic in nature (pH=4).The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increasing concentration of the inhibitor and with decreasing temperature. The adsorption of (AE Pom P and Ros) on the mild steel surface obeys the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Polarization studies indicate that the (AE Pom P and Ros) is mixed type inhibitor. The thermodynamic functions of adsorption processes were calculated from weight loss at different temperatures data and were used to analyses the inhibitor mechanism. The surface morphology of the mild steel specimens was evaluated using SEM and EDAX analysis.