Critical Weakness Research Articles

Investigation of Chinese College Students’ Perceptions, Needs, and Self-Assessment of Spoken English Competency

Spoken English Competency (SEC) remains a critical weakness in English Proficiency (EP) of Chinese college students, particularly when compared with their English competency in writing and reading. Despite years of English learning since elementary school, Chinese college students often struggle to master SEC. Although previous studies have explored Chinese students’ SEC from various perspectives, there is still a significant knowledge gap, especially from students’ perspectives. This study aims to analyze students’ Perceptions and Needs of Spoken English (PNSE) and their Self-Assessment of Spoken English Competency (SA-SEC) with the language output evaluation indicators (including three dimensions: complexity, accuracy, and fluency [CAF]). The study analyzed 2,677 (male = 1,340, female = 1,337) online questionnaires from college students across four English proficiency distinct groups. There are four identified aspects of PNSE (i.e., oral importance, difficulty, purpose, and improvement willingness). Similarly, SA-SEC was analyzed with three dimensions of CAF, namely complexity, accuracy, fluency, and nominal variables like pause type. The findings revealed that gender and EP significantly influenced PNSE and SA-SEC, and correlations were observed between paired variables of PNSE and dimensions of CAF in the SA-SEC section. Notably, complexity was identified as the weakest dimension of CAF for most students. Future studies are imperative to further explore the intricate relationship between PNSE and SA-SEC, and how factors such as pause type influence students’ spoken English performance.

Capital structure and business failure: The collapse of Canada’s Dome Petroleum

In popular lore, the failure of Canada’s once-biggest company, Dome Petroleum, was caused by the interventionist policies of the federal government or its misadventures drilling for oil in the Arctic. But these factors acted in varied ways on the company. Rather, corporate finance theories offer more insight into the dynamics that led to Dome’s takeover by the American oil major Amoco in 1988. Dome was unique in its unwillingness to issue new share capital during its growth phase and instead relied on easy debt financing. This in turn was a result of both insider preferences as well as capital market imperfections. The transformation of capital structure from a background into a critical weakness, this paper argues, making use of newly available data and company archives, provides a more convincing explanation of Dome’s failure than other factors. The relevance of capital structure highlights the enduring analytic utility of the Modigliani-Miller theorem of capital structure irrelevance.

Identification The Role of Muslim Women " Fisherman's Village " In Improving Sea Products Business Performance on The West Coast of Indonesia Using SWOT and QSPM Analytic Matrics

This study aims to identify key strategic factors strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) in the role of women among "City Fishermen" to improve the performance of marine product MSMEs in Labuan, Banten, Indonesia. The research employs a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), and observations, with a quantitative approach using the Qualitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). The findings identify eight items each for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The study reveals that the most significant strengths are the abundant natural resources and the resilience of women in business. On the other hand, the most critical weakness is the reliance on traditional marketing methods. The primary opportunity identified is the potential for digitizing the business system, while the most significant threats are human error and extreme climate changes in the region. The research is limited by its focus on general business factors rather than specific areas like marketing, human resources, or finance, and by its scope in identifying SWOT factors without developing alternative strategies for the businesses studied. The originality of this study lies in its focus on seafood businesses located near metropolitan areas with complex challenges and the emphasis on the role of women in enhancing the family economy, an area rarely explored by other researchers.

Mitigating domain shift in online process monitoring for material extrusion additive manufacturing via transfer learning

The additive manufacturing (AM) method has experienced rapid growth in recent decades. However, its application in end-use products is constrained by printing defects. Therefore, online process evaluation and optimization are crucial for producing parts that meet quality standards. Data-driven methods have been extensively employed for in-situ process evaluation and control in various AM processes to establish correlations among process parameters, process information, and part quality. However, a critical weakness of these methods is their poor generalization, primarily due to two factors: the diverse nature of printing itself and the significant influence of environmental factors. This study proposes a framework for in-situ process evaluation and control of AM using transfer learning to address the domain shift problems. It highlights a significant domain shift issue in AM monitoring, especially when using deep learning models. A comprehensive monitoring system for material extrusion additive manufacturing is constructed to collect data from different domains, emphasizing the notable differences in data characteristics across these domains. Lastly, transfer learning methods are tested to tackle the domain shift issue in AM, enhancing the robustness and reliability of the monitoring system.

A Reliable and Accessible Caregiving Language Model (CaLM) to Support Tools for Caregivers: Development and Evaluation Study.

In the United States, 1 in 5 adults currently serves as a family caregiver for an individual with a serious illness or disability. Unlike professional caregivers, family caregivers often assume this role without formal preparation or training. Thus, there is an urgent need to enhance the capacity of family caregivers to provide quality care. Leveraging technology as an educational tool or an adjunct to care is a promising approach that has the potential to enhance the learning and caregiving capabilities of family caregivers. Large language models (LLMs) can potentially be used as a foundation technology for supporting caregivers. An LLM can be categorized as a foundation model (FM), which is a large-scale model trained on a broad data set that can be adapted to a range of different domain tasks. Despite their potential, FMs have the critical weakness of "hallucination," where the models generate information that can be misleading or inaccurate. Information reliability is essential when language models are deployed as front-line help tools for caregivers. This study aimed to (1) develop a reliable caregiving language model (CaLM) by using FMs and a caregiving knowledge base, (2) develop an accessible CaLM using a small FM that requires fewer computing resources, and (3) evaluate the model's performance compared with a large FM. We developed a CaLM using the retrieval augmented generation (RAG) framework combined with FM fine-tuning for improving the quality of FM answers by grounding the model on a caregiving knowledge base. The key components of the CaLM are the caregiving knowledge base, a fine-tuned FM, and a retriever module. We used 2 small FMs as candidates for the foundation of the CaLM (LLaMA [large language model Meta AI] 2 and Falcon with 7 billion parameters) and adopted a large FM (GPT-3.5 with an estimated 175 billion parameters) as a benchmark. We developed the caregiving knowledge base by gathering various types of documents from the internet. We focused on caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer disease and related dementias. We evaluated the models' performances using the benchmark metrics commonly used in evaluating language models and their reliability for providing accurate references with their answers. The RAG framework improved the performance of all FMs used in this study across all measures. As expected, the large FM performed better than the small FMs across all metrics. Interestingly, the small fine-tuned FMs with RAG performed significantly better than GPT 3.5 across all metrics. The fine-tuned LLaMA 2 with a small FM performed better than GPT 3.5 (even with RAG) in returning references with the answers. The study shows that a reliable and accessible CaLM can be developed using small FMs with a knowledge base specific to the caregiving domain.

SWOT analysis of green building systems in real estate development

Sustainable and green facts are important for leaving a healthy environment for future generations. These facts are like sustainable development, sustainable city, green building, green economy, and so on. Green building is an innovative solution to sustainable urban planning problems. In this study, green building, sustainability, development processes are examined, and the opportunities and threats of green buildings with their strengths and weaknesses are determined by SWOT analysis. Besides, the construction cost and energy savings of a green building are compared to the traditional building. As a result of SWOT analysis, besides its significant strengths such as sustainability of green buildings, low energy consumption, and independence of energy consumption, high initial investment cost was determined as the most critical weakness. The increase in building values and the emergence of new business ventures are considered opportunities for green buildings, and the perception of green buildings as luxury is considered a threat. Ultimately, this study reveals the critical significance of transitioning towards sustainable construction practices, supported by compelling numerical evidence. Despite the initial higher investment costs, green buildings exhibit substantial long-term benefits, with the construction costs of the LEED gold-certified building calculated at 31,798,854.3 ₺ and the platinum-certified building at 32,390,841.0 ₺ in January 2024. Notably, energy savings of 47.7% and 61.6% were projected for the gold and platinum-certified buildings, respectively.

A Cultural Materialist Approach to Gender through Look Back in Anger

As John Osborne's Look Back in Anger illustrates, the Angry Young Men Movement centred mostly on male disaffection, reflecting the societal upheavals that occurred in Britain after World War II. Nevertheless, it mainly disregarded the particular challenges and cultural constraints that women encountered during that time. In addition to experiencing comparable psychological traumas from the war, women were compelled to return to constrictive domestic duties, which overshadowed their efforts and aspirations during the war. The movement's narratives ignored the complex difficulties women faced, such as the struggle for autonomy and the conflict with pre-war feminine norms, in favor of focusing on men's experiences, such as Jimmy Porter's existential problems. This omission draws attention to a critical weakness in the movement's analysis of post-World War II society and emphasizes the need for a gender-inclusive investigation of the psychological and cultural dynamics of this period. This paper attempts to examine Osborne’s Look Back in Anger in line with cultural materialist theory of Raymond Williams to analyze gendered power dynamics in the theater with a particular focus on the chosen play. The strategic portrayal of victimization within a gendered power system in the play is examined in this research. Using cultural artifacts and social conventions, it especially examines how the play's narrative and character interactions reflect and question the maintenance of gender hierarchies. The paper focuses on the interactions between male and female characters in order to dissect the intricate power struggles that are portrayed in the play.

Scalability Performance Analysis of Blockchain Using Hierarchical Model in Healthcare.

Blockchain technology has become crucial in improving the privacy and security of enterprise applications in the cyber world. However, scalability has become a significant concern for researchers in large organizations, especially those with complex hierarchies and access privileges. As a result, the existing models and consensus algorithms suffer from various issues. Medical centers and healthcare providers are particularly affected by this problem due to the vast amount of data, making it a critical weakness of traditional database management systems. To address this issue, the authors propose a hierarchical model within the Hyperledger Fabric enterprise application, focusing on the healthcare sector as a use case. This model includes multiple organizations at different levels of the hierarchy, such as hospitals, hospital governance, and insurance companies. The initial implementation of this model includes two levels of hierarchy, demonstrating networks of hospitals joining an insurance company. The primary objective of the experiment is to test and improve the network's performance using this model. The model's performance is evaluated by manipulating and scaling environmental factors such as the number of organizations, transaction numbers, channels, block intervals, and block sizes. The benchmarking tool used for this assessment is Hyperledger Caliper, which measures indicators such as success and failure rates, throughput, and latency. Currently, the research focuses only on testing the model's scalability using patient data.

TALENT MANAGEMENT IN FACING THE DEMAND OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES: A STUDY IN GALUH UNIVERSITY

Environmental and technological changes are unavoidable for organizations, thereby making survival dependent on the ability to adapt to the demands of these changes. This signifies a critical weakness for Galuh University, as the current lack of optimal talent management leads to a deficit in skills. Talent management has not been integrated with operational personnel activities in the procurement, placement, development, and retention of human resources (HR) resulting in inadequate skills among lecturers and education staff. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate talent management performed by Galuh University in response to environmental changes. A qualitative method was used in analyzing the actual condition of the university. Participants constituted top management of Galuh University who provided information about talent attraction, development, and retention. The results signified that talent management at Galuh University lacked proper planning, and no talent pool was available. Failure to keep pace with these changes threatens the university’s survival. HR should be optimized to anticipate environmental changes. Highly skilled personnel serve as an essential potential for organization capable of coping with environmental changes. Consequently, Galuh University is expected to execute talent management optimally.

Clinical laboratory equipment manufacturers' lack of guidance for high consequence pathogen response is a critical weakness.

Clinical laboratory equipment manufacturers' lack of guidance for high consequence pathogen response is a critical weakness.

A Tale of Two Dependencies: European Strategic Autonomy in the Field of Energy

The concept of European strategic autonomy (ESA) in the energy field gained particular traction after the Russian invasion of Ukraine showed the extent and risks of fossil energy dependency on autocratic regimes. Fossil dependency on undemocratic and unstable petrostates is a critical weakness that increase the European Union’s (EUs) vulnerability and limit its capacity to act. This liability stretches beyond the dependency on Russia since the EU imports from many other countries that are undemocratic and heavily reliant on oil and gas revenues. Increasing new sources of renewable energy helps to address this issue, but also brings new dependencies, namely on critical raw materials (CRMs) whose value chains are largely in Chinese hands. This paper argues that the EU should nevertheless continue to reduce its fossil dependencies on petrostates and consider more pro-actively how to manage the energy relationship with them. Simultaneously, in the area of CRMs it needs to expand its partnerships, recycling capacities and research and development (R&D) into diversification into alternative materials for green energy technologies. European strategic autonomy, energy, energy security, economic security, EU, fossil fuels, petrostates critical raw materials

Latency Reduction and Packet Synchronization in Low-Resource Devices Connected by DDS Networks in Autonomous UAVs.

Real-time flight controllers are becoming dependent on general-purpose operating systems, as the modularity and complexity of guidance, navigation, and control systems and algorithms increases. The non-deterministic nature of operating systems creates a critical weakness in the development of motion control systems for robotic platforms due to the random delays introduced by operating systems and communication networks. The high-speed operation and sensitive dynamics of UAVs demand fast and near-deterministic communication between the sensors, companion computer, and flight control unit (FCU) in order to achieve the required performance. In this paper, we present a method to assess communications latency between a companion computer and an RTOS open-source flight controller, which is based on an XRCE-DDS bridge between clients hosted in the low-resource environment and the DDS network used by ROS2. A comparison based on the measured statistics of latency illustrates the advantages of XRCE-DDS compared to the standard communication method based on MAVROS-MAVLink. More importantly, an algorithm to estimate latency offset and clock skew based on an exponential moving average filter is presented, providing a tool for latency estimation and correction that can be used by developers to improve synchronization of processes that rely on timely communication between the FCU and companion computer, such as synchronization of lower-level sensor data at the higher-level layer. This addresses the challenges introduced in GNC applications by the non-deterministic nature of general-purpose operating systems and the inherent limitations of standard flight controller hardware.

An Efficient Data Structure for Dynamic Graph on GPUs

There is a growing interest to offload dynamic graph computation to GPU and resort to its high parallel processing ability and larger memory bandwidths compared with CPUs. The existing GPU graph systems usually use compressed sparse row (CSR) as the de-facto structure. However, CSR has a critical weakness for dynamic change due to the large overhead of re-balance process after update. GPMA+ is a state-of-art dynamic PMA-based structure that uses PMA structure and segment-oriented parallel update procedure to address the dynamic weakness of CSR, but it still has a bottleneck on the array expansion. In this paper, we propose an leveled structure (called LPMA) instead of continue array to retain low time complexity and high parallel update and lift the expansion bottleneck of GPMA+. More specifically, we propose a series of optimization techniques, including bottom-up update, top-down update and on-demand hybrid update strategies as well as consistence-guaranteed parallel processing for update-query mixed workloads. We theoretically analyze the benefits of LPMA compared in terms of re-balance cost during updates. Extensive experiments on four large real-life graphs prove the superiority of LPMA compared with the-state-of-arts.

Total Psoas Area and Psoas Density Assessment in COVID-19 Patients Using CT Imaging – Could Muscle Mass Alteration During Intensive Care Hospitalization be Determined?

Abstract Background Since its debut, as reported by the first published studies, COVID-19 has been linked to life-threatening conditions that needed vital assistance and admission to the intensive care unit. Skeletal muscle is a core element in an organism’s health due to its ability to keep energy balance and homeostasis. Many patients with prolonged hospitalization are characterized by a greater probability prone to critical illness myopathy or intensive care unit-acquired weakness. Objective The main aim of this study was to assess the skeletal muscle in a COVID-19 cohort of critically ill patients by measuring the psoas area and density. Material and methods This is a retrospective study that included critically ill adult patients, COVID-19 positive, mechanically ventilated, with an ICU stay of over 24 hours, and who had 2 CT scans eligible for psoas muscle evaluation. In these patients, correlations between different severity scores and psoas CT scans were sought, along with correlations with the outcome of the patients. Results Twenty-two patients met the inclusion criteria. No statistically significant differences were noticed regarding the psoas analysis by two blinded radiologists. Significant correlations were found between LOS in the hospital and in ICU with psoas area and Hounsfield Units for the first CT scan performed. With reference to AUC-ROC and outcome, it is underlined that AUC-ROC is close to 0.5 values, for both the psoas area and HU, indicating that the model had no class separation capacity. Conclusion The study suggested that over a short period, the psoas muscle area, and the psoas HU decline, for both the left and the right sight, in adult COVID-19 patients in ICU conditions, yet not statistically significant. Although more than two-thirds of the patients had a negative outcome, it was not possible to demonstrate an association between the SARS-COV2 infection and psoas muscle impairment. These findings highlight the need for further larger investigations.

Phoenix: A Live Upgradable Blockchain Client

Blockchain is an important supporting technology for various sustainable systems. It relies on a number of distributed nodes running blockchain client software, which is responsible for some critical tasks, such as communicating with other nodes and generating new blocks. However, the quick evolution of blockchain technology brings crucial challenges to blockchain client design. After carefully examining existing blockchain client software, we have identified a critical weakness: Blockchain clients are weak in supporting live upgrades, resulting in a blockchain fork that incurs security concerns and risks. In this paper, we propose Phoenix, a novel blockchain client design that is live upgradable. Phoenix uses blockchain service encapsulation to decouple blockchain services. Based on service encapsulation, we propose a live upgrade scheme that packs upgrade codes into blockchain transactions and uses a Just-In-Time engine to avoid service interruption. A parallel execution engine is developed to increase service efficiency. We evaluated Phoenix on a 51-node blockchain, and experimental results show that Phoenix outperforms existing solutions in overhead and upgrade latency.

Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews for Questions of Therapy and Prevention Published in the Urological Literature (2016–2021) Fails to Improve

ObjectivesPrior studies have suggested that few systematic reviews (SRs) published in the urological literature provide reliable evidence. We performed this study to provide a longitudinal analysis of the methodological quality of SRs published in 5 major urology journals over a 6-year period (2016–2021).MethodsAs an extension of a prior study with a written a priori protocol, we systematically searched and analyzed all SRs related to questions of therapy or prevention published in the 5 major urology journals. Three independent reviewers working in pairs selected eligible studies and abstracted the data in duplicate. We used the updated Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR-2) instrument to assess SR quality. We performed pre-planned statistical hypothesis testing by time period and journal of publication in SPSS Version 27.0.ResultsOur updated search (2019–2021) identified 563 references of which 114 ultimately met inclusion criteria, which we added to the database of the prior 144 studies (2016–2018). Overall, among 258 SRs, only 6 (2.3%) and 9 SRs (3.5%), achieved a “high” (no critical weakness; up to one non-critical weakness) or “moderate” (no critical weakness; more than one non-critical weakness) confidence rating, respectively. Most SRs published had very low confidence rating (195; 75.6%). The proportion of studies with a high or moderate rating (6.1% versus 4.9%; P = 0.481) did not increase over time.ConclusionsMost SRs published in the urological literature continue to have serious methodological limitations and should not be relied upon. There is a critical need for greater awareness for established methodological standards.

Category A waste processing and disposal is a critical weakness in the United States response plans for outbreaks of high consequence infectious diseases

Category A waste processing and disposal is a critical weakness in the United States response plans for outbreaks of high consequence infectious diseases

Analysis of Nursing Staff Management for a Semi-intensive Pulmonology Unit During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using the Nursing Activities Score.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage of intensive care unit beds was encountered across Europe. Opening a semi-intensive pulmonary ward freed up intensive care unit beds. This study aimed to determine the appropriate nurse staffing level for a semi-intensive pulmonology unit (SIPU) for patients with COVID-19 and to identify factors associated with an increase in nursing workload in this type of unit. This was a retrospective study of the SIPU of the Erasme university clinics in Belgium. Nursing staff was determined with the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) during the second wave of COVID-19 in Belgium. During the study period, 59 patients were admitted to the SIPU, and a total of 416 NAS scores were encoded. The mean (±SD) NAS was 70.3% (±16.6%). Total NAS varied significantly depending on the reason for admission: respiratory distress (mean [SD] NAS, 71.6% [±13.9%]) or critical illness-related weakness (65.1% ± 10.9%). The items encoded were significantly different depending on the reason for admission. In multivariate analysis, body mass index > 30 (odds ratio [OR], 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-3.30) and higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II score (OR, 1.05; 95 CI, 1.02-1.11) were associated with higher NAS. Patients admitted via the emergency department (OR, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.15-5.22) had higher NAS. Patients on noninvasive ventilation (OR, 13.65; 95% CI, 3.76-49.5) and oxygen therapy (OR, 4.29; 95% CI, 1.27-14.48) had higher NAS. High peripheral venous oxygen saturation (OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.78-0.94) was a predictor of lower workload. A ratio of 2 nurses to 3 patients is necessary for SIPU care of patients with COVID-19. Factors associated with higher workload were high Simplified Acute Physiology Score II score, body mass index > 30, admission via emergency room, patients on oxygen, and noninvasive ventilation.

A novel MICMAC approach for cross impact analysis with application to urban water/wastewater management

Water as the core of Sustainable Development (SD) alongside a significant increase in the global demand for water causes the subject of Urban Water and Wastewater (U2W) management to be essential in exploring the future. As a means of future studies, MICMAC reveals the influence and dependence of a variable concerning all others by examining all interactions in the system. These interactions should be analyzed in two dimensions: “Impact” and “Time”. Usually, two types of impacts are used, including direct and indirect. Also, most methods have a critical weakness in that it does not include the impact of “time” in the analysis.This paper suggests a novel approach to MICMAC (named MICMAC-T), which promotes understanding indirect cross impacts by considering the influence of “time” in analysis. This helps in particular with U2W, which faces major future challenges toward SD. The practical approach developed in this paper can be quickly and flexibly initiated because of its toolbox-based design, integrating text mining, PESTEL, MICMAC, Floyd-Warshall, and interviews in a single model. Therefore, the proposed method could also be considered a new contribution to the CIA.To demonstrate the contribution of MICMAC-T, the case of the Iranian U2W pathway toward SD is investigated to find the driving forces. The results of applying this approach in finding the driving forces for Iranian U2W include new interesting findings. The results of MICMAC-T suggest that “Legal comprehensiveness,” “Urban economic development policies,” “High-level policy documents,” “Public social awareness in society,” “Geographical location (climate),” “Law enforcement guarantee,” “U2W governance”, and “Urban water resources scarcity” are driving forces for the Iranian U2W. Among these variables, “Urban economic development policies” and “Public social awareness in society” were neglected in traditional MICMAC and categorized as driving forces only using MICMAC-T, which indicates the crucial influence of time on Iranian U2W.

Improving water resistance property of starch straw by synergistic effects of chemical crosslinking, physical barrier, and surface modifications

AbstractStarch straws are developed by focusing on improving the critical weakness of all starch‐based materials: moisture sensitivity. Various technologies including blending (with hydrogel carrageen), chemical crosslinking (using citric and boric acids, and furfural), physical barrier (using talc), and surface modifications (by adding stearic acid, or hot oxalic acids) are evaluated, and then synergized in this study. The materials and products are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, contact angle, mechanical properties, water solubility and water absorption. All the trends of individual modification are similar to previous work but it was found that the influence of some modifications on the extruded straws was significantly different from that of the casting films reported previously since extrusion with high shear stress can destroy chemical and physical crosslinking or network formed. It was found that there was a maximum acid content to improve the water sensitivity since the excessive amount of acid could degrade starch and have more damage to the crosslinking during extrusion, resulting in decreasing mechanical properties and increasing solubility. On the other hand, some synergic functions, like crosslinked by additional citric acid and surface treatment by hot oxalic acid, were observed. The promising starch straws are developed based on synergic methodologies, in which typical samples were prepared by crosslinking using citric (1 w%), boric (2 w%), talc (3 w%), and stearic acids (1 w%) and treated with hot oxalic acids for 2 s. The optimized straw can be smoothly processed, reduced water absorption significantly (55.3%), and mechanical properties (modulus) increased about 54% compared with neat starch one after being immersed in water at room temperature (25°C) for 20 min. This synergic strategy provides a useful guideline for developing starch‐based materials with low moisture sensitivity.