Long-term Targets Research Articles

The climate change vulnerability of China: spatial evolution and driving factors.

To cope with climate change, it is of great importance to describe the temporal and spatial evolution of climate change vulnerability and its driving factors. Therefore, this paper establishes a comprehensive index of vulnerability to climate change based on the vulnerability scoring diagram (VSD) framework. Moran's I index is used to study the spatial evolution characteristics of vulnerability, and spatial regression analysis is used to explore the factors influencing the spatial distribution of vulnerability. The results show that (1) the climate change vulnerability of China has decreased over time, and the sensitivity state is relatively stable; however, the annual change in exposure and adaptive capacity is significant. (2) The western region of China is more vulnerable than the eastern region, and the most vulnerable provinces are Guizhou and Gansu. (3) The regional vulnerability is generally in a significant spatial agglomeration state. (4) Finally, the driving factors of the spatial distribution of climate change vulnerability include forest coverage, the urban-rural income gap and information technology. These recommendations provide detailed discussions and scientific information for mitigating global warming and formulating long-term emission reduction targets, thereby optimizing resource allocation and providing spatial governance directions for the formulation of adaptation policies.

Stock trading rule discovery with double deep Q-network

Stock market serves as an important indicator of today’s economy. Predicting the price fluctuation of stocks and acquiring the maximum gains has been the main concern of investors. In recent years, deep learning models are widely applied to stock market prediction and have achieved good performances. However, the majority of these deep learning based models belong to supervised learning methods and are not capable of dealing with long-term targets. Therefore, in this paper we proposed a deep reinforcement learning based stock market trading model, which is suitable for predicting stock price fluctuation and stock transactions. We carefully devise the reward function and deep learning based policy network, which enables the model to capture the hidden dependencies and latent dynamics in the stock data. In order to evaluate the superiority of the proposed model, stock price trend forecasting and transaction is conducted on randomly selected stocks and stock market indices. Experiment results demonstrate that our model outperforms baseline methods on several indicators.

Geothermal Energy Use and Its Related Technology Development in Japan

Abstract Japan has national targets to intensify the geothermal power generation. The government gives several fiscal incentives for geothermal development and R&D through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Beside short-termed target by 2030, Japan has a long-term target by 2050. Therefore, the R&D also has a short-term target to develop the conventional hydrothermal systems effectively with improved technologies and a long-term target to develop supercritical geothermal resources at a depth of volcanic region. The latter covers from basic scientific investigation to highly technological innovation. In contrast, ground source heat pump (GSHP) has been promoted by the private sectors supported mainly by the Ministry of Environment (MOE). A topical research work on the ground source heat pump in Japan is suitability mapping for both closed-loop and open-loop systems based on studies of groundwater flows. The detailed situation and research activities for both geothermal power generation and ground source heat pump will be discussed in this paper.

Is the Large-Scale Development of Wind-PV with Hydro-Pumped Storage Economically Feasible in Greece?

The achievement of the long-term national energy targets in Greece for large-scale integration of wind and solar energy may be facilitated by the development of hydro-pumped storage projects. In light of the above, technical aspects related with the operation of the Greek power system and its ability to absorb renewable energy are analyzed in connection with the role of hydro-pumped storage and relative economic aspects. The aim of this work is to assess the potential contribution of hydro-pumped storage projects and estimate the capacity magnitude order to support large-scale wind and photovoltaic (PV) integration in Greece. For this purpose, scenarios for the Greek power system with focus on Wind and PV development, in conjunction with hydro-pumped storage capacity, are developed, and results for current situation and reference years 2030 and 2050 are presented. For the simulation, among others, high resolution mesoscale wind data for a typical year in the whole Greek territory are used for the steady state simulation of the Greek power system, in order to better estimate the power that could be generated from installed wind turbines, taking into consideration technical characteristics of a typical commercial wind turbine. Results indicate the need of gradual development of hydro-pumped storage in parallel with the large-scale integration of wind and PV capacity into the Greek power system. In addition, the feasibility of the examined scenarios is supported from the low cost of wind and PV generation. In the case of Greece, thanks to the complex morphology and hydraulic conditions of the country, hydro-pumped storage composes an efficient and low-cost storage solution.

The Influences of Multiple Factors in the Success of Strategic Planning in Project Management

Strategic planning is a process that involves informed dialog among the committee members over a period of time such that a consensus emerges as a natural outcome. In this paper, the multiple factors influencing success of strategic planning has been studied. Key success factors in strategic planning of project management contain such activities that must be performed if the organization intends to achieve its long-term targets. A large majority of enterprises only have a handful of key success factors. Nonetheless, even if one of these success factors is not executed accurately and precisely, the enterprises’ competitive strategy might be threatened. The key success factors in achieving project management excellence also apply to other types of organizations, including those which have not thoroughly implemented their project management systems. Though most organizations are sincere in their efforts to thoroughly implement their systems, stumbling stones are inevitable and have to be overcome. The statistical population of this research is composed of managers, consultants, and experts involved in the strategic planning in project management. According to the research results, the involvement of top management, involvement of team personnel, knowledge of the top management of strategic planning, and organizational culture are the most effective factors of strategic planning.

PM2.5 reductions in Chinese cities from 2013 to 2019 remain significant despite the inflating effects of meteorological conditions

<h2>Summary</h2> Air pollution is a major environmental issue in China and imposes severe health burdens on Chinese citizens. Consequently, China has deployed a series of control measures to mitigate fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). However, the extent to which these measures have been effective is obscured by the existence of confounding meteorological effects. Here, we use a newly developed reduced-form model that can address emission-driven PM_2.5 trends and control for meteorological effects to examine the level of PM_2.5 reduction across 367 cities since the introduction of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (the Plan) in 2013. Our findings show that, on average, the national annual mean level of PM_2.5 decreased by 34% from 2013 to 2019 after the removal of meteorological effects, about 10% less than the reduction level officially observed. Despite this difference, assuming that current control efforts continue through 2035, the long-term air-quality target of 35 μg/m³ as determined by the recently updated Plan will be met.

STRIDE-II: An Update on the Selecting Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (STRIDE) Initiative of the International Organization for the Study of IBD (IOIBD): Determining Therapeutic Goals for Treat-to-Target strategies in IBD

The Selecting Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (STRIDE) initiative of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IOIBD) has proposed treatment targets in 2015 for adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to update the original STRIDE statements for incorporating treatment targets in both adult and pediatric IBD. Based on a systematic review of the literature and iterative surveys of 89 IOIBD members, recommendations were drafted and modified in 2 surveys and 2 voting rounds. Consensus was reached if ≥75% of participants scored the recommendation as 7 to 10 on a 10-point rating scale. In the systematic review, 11,278 manuscripts were screened, of which 435 were included. The first IOIBD survey identified the following targets as most important: clinical response and remission, endoscopic healing, and normalization of C-reactive protein/erythrocyte sedimentation rate and calprotectin. Fifteen recommendations were identified, of which 13 were endorsed. STRIDE-II confirmed STRIDE-I long-term targets of clinical remission and endoscopic healing and added absence of disability, restoration of quality of life, and normal growth in children. Symptomatic relief and normalization of serum and fecal markers have been determined as short-term targets. Transmural healing in Crohn's disease and histological healing in ulcerative colitis are not formal targets but should be assessed as measures of the remission depth. STRIDE-II encompasses evidence- and consensus-based recommendations for treat-to-target strategies in adults and children with IBD. This frameworkshould be adapted to individual patients and local resources to improve outcomes.

EMF 35 JMIP study for Japan\u2019s long-term climate and energy policy: scenario designs and key findings

In June, 2019, Japan submitted its mid-century strategy to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and pledged 80% emissions cuts by 2050. The strategy has not gone through a systematic analysis, however. The present study, Stanford Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) 35 Japan Model Intercomparison project (JMIP), employs five energy-economic and integrated assessment models to evaluate the nationally determined contribution and mid-century strategy of Japan. EMF 35 JMIP conducts a suite of sensitivity analyses on dimensions including emissions constraints, technology availability, and demand projections. The results confirm that Japan needs to deploy all of its mitigation strategies at a substantial scale, including energy efficiency, electricity decarbonization, and end-use electrification. Moreover, they suggest that with the absence of structural changes in the economy, heavy industries will be one of the hardest to decarbonize. Partitioning of the sum of squares based on a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) reconfirms that mitigation strategies, such as energy efficiency and electrification, are fairly robust across models and scenarios, but that the cost metrics are uncertain. There is a wide gap of policy strength and breadth between the current policy instruments and those suggested by the models. Japan should strengthen its climate action in all aspects of society and economy to achieve its long-term target.

The role of renewables in the Japanese power sector: implications from the EMF35 JMIP

The Japanese power system has unique characteristics with regard to variable renewable energies (VREs), such as higher costs, lower potentials, and less flexibility with the grid connection compared to other major greenhouse-gas-emitting countries. We analyzed the role of renewable energies (REs) in the future Japanese power sector using the results from the model intercomparison project Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) 35 Japan Model Intercomparison Project (JMIP) using varying emission reduction targets and key technological conditions across scenarios. We considered the uncertainties for future capital costs of solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and batteries in addition to the availability of nuclear and carbon dioxide capture and storage. The results show that REs supply more than 40% of electricity in most of the technology sensitivity scenarios (median 51.0%) when assuming an 80% emission reduction in 2050. The results (excluding scenarios that assume the continuous growth of nuclear power and/or the abundant availability of domestic biomass and carbon-free hydrogen) show that the median VRE shares reach 52.2% in 2050 in the 80% emission reduction scenario. On the contrary, the availability of newly constructed nuclear power, affordable biomass, and carbon-free hydrogen can reduce dependence on VREs to less than 20%. The policy costs were much more sensitive to the capital costs and resource potential of VREs than the battery cost uncertainties. Specifically, while the doubled capital costs of VRE resulted in a 13.0% (inter-model median) increase in the policy cost, the halved capital costs of VREs reduced 8.7% (inter-model median) of the total policy cost. These results imply that lowering the capital costs of VREs would be effective in achieving a long-term emission reduction target considering the current high Japanese VRE costs.

Making green power purchase agreements more predictable and reliable for companies

To comply with sustainability goals, many companies buy green energy to serve their energy demand. This is typically done by engaging in bilateral power purchase agreements (PPA) with renewable energy producers (REP). A PPA can be flexibly structured, but the core principle is that a buyer (company) agrees to buy future energy production of a seller (REP) at an agreed-upon fixed price. PPAs are financially attractive for sellers, providing price certainty, unlike trading in electricity markets. However, PPAs can bring quantity uncertainty for buyers due to the uncertainty of future green energy delivery. This uncertainty in the long-term endangers sustainability targets, and in the short-term complicates reliable and cost-efficient demand matching. Thus, multiple strategies have been used in PPAs to encourage sellers to provide accurate and good-faith predictions of their short-term and longer-term future production. Yet, it has been shown that REPs can have incentives to misreport predicted values. This has discouraged some companies from engaging in PPAs. In this paper, we first investigate how PPA structure and pricing can incentivize REPs to provide more reliable predictions. This shifts the risk of production uncertainty to REPs, increasing the chance that REPs adopt batteries. We further study how having batteries for REPs affects their own revenue as well as the reliability of their energy predictions for buyers. We use analytical and simulation approaches to propose a decision tree for a win-win PPA structure, which improves reliability for buyers while maintaining profitability for REPs.

The Layout Optimization of Non-Fossil Power Long-Term Goals and Impact on China’s Power Sector-Based on Multi-Objective Preference

With more and more investment in renewable energy and the earlier retirement of coal-fired energy infrastructure, the low-carbon transition will lead to higher costs for reshaping the power system. In order to obtain the impact of low-carbon transition in China’s power sector under different preferences, this article analyzes the optimal path of the power sector under four scenario preferences based on China’s long-term non-fossil energy target. The results show that in 2040, UHV DC transmission technology of 800KV and 1000KV will dominate the cross-regional transmission system with an ultra-high proportion of over 90%. The newly built transmission capacity in the northwest will exceed 200GW in each scenario. Relying on UHV lines, the country’s installed capacity for clean energy will increase to 66%. The total installed capacity of wind and solar is concentrated in the Three Norths, accounting for 77%, and nuclear power is mainly concentrated in East China, accounting for 43.9%.

Long-Term Tacrolimus Blood Trough Level and Patient Survival in Adult Liver Transplantation.

Tacrolimus is the most widely used immunosuppressant in liver transplant (LT) patients. However, the ideal long-term target level for these patients is unknown. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the impact of tacrolimus blood concentration five years after LT on long-term patient survival outcomes in adult LT recipients. Patients who underwent LT between January 2004 and July 2014 at a tertiary medical center were included in this study (n = 189). The mean tacrolimus blood concentrations of each patient during the fifth year after LT were recorded and the overall survival rate was determined. A multivariate analysis of factors associated with long-term survival was conducted using a Cox’s model. The median follow-up period was 9.63 years, and 144 patients (76.2%) underwent live donor LT. Sixteen patients died within 5 years of LT. In the Cox’s model, patients with a mean tacrolimus blood trough level of 4.6–10.2 ng/mL had significantly better long-term survival than those with a mean tacrolimus blood trough level outside this range (estimated hazard ratio = 4.76; 95% confidence interval: 1.34–16.9, p = 0.016). Therefore, a tacrolimus level no lower than 4.6 ng/mL would be recommended in adult LT patients.

Assessment of Surgical Care Provided in National Health Services Hospitals in Mozambique: The Importance of Subnational Metrics in Global Surgery.

Surgery plays a critical role in sustainable healthcare systems. Validated metrics exist to guide implementation of surgical services, but low-income countries (LIC) struggle to report recommended metrics and this poses a critical barrier to addressing unmet need. We present a comprehensive national sample of surgical encounters from a LIC by assessing the National Health Services of Mozambique. A prospective cohort of all surgical encounters from Mozambique's National Health Service was gathered for all provinces between July and December 2015. Primary outcomes were timely access, provider densities for surgery, anesthesiology, and obstetrics (SAO) per 100,000 population, annualized surgical procedure volume per 100,000, and postoperative mortality (POMR). Secondary outcomes include operating room density and efficiency. Fifty-four hospitals had surgical capacity in 11 provinces with 47,189 surgeries. 44.9% of Mozambique's population lives in Districts without access to surgical services. National SAO density was 1.2/100,000, ranging from 0.4/100,000 in Manica Province to 9.8/100,000 in Maputo City. Annualized national surgical case volume was 367 procedures/100,000 population, ranging from 180/100,000 in Zambezia Province to 1,897/100,000 in Maputo City. National POMR was 0.74% and ranged from 0.23% in Maputo Province to 1.78% in Niassa Province. Surgical delivery in Mozambique falls short of international targets. Subnational deficiencies and variations between provinces pose targets for quality improvement in advancing national surgical plans. This serves as a template for LICs to follow in gathering surgical metrics for the WHO and the World Bank and offers short- and long-term targets for surgery as a component of health systems strengthening.

Nonlinearity and threshold effects of landscape pattern on water quality in a rapidly urbanized headwater watershed in China

Investigating the relationship between landscape pattern and water quality is essential for making sustainable landscape development policies. A clear understanding of such relationship remains elusive partly due to ubiquitous nonlinearity, behind which the landscape threshold can potentially act as quantifiable target of landscape conservation. In the upper Huai River Basin in China, six landscape metrics were quantified for forested, agricultural, and residential land use categories at broad sub-basin and finer riparian buffer scales. Five water quality indicators were collected from 24 monitoring stations during the period of 2006–2012. On the basis of nonlinear regression models, including power, exponential, quadratic, and segmented regressions, one-to-one relations between landscape metrics and water quality variables were fitted with R2 generally varying between 0.32 and 0.74. Meanwhile, three types of defined landscape thresholds were also identified on the basis of the fitted nonlinear relations. From the perspective of spatial scale dependence, the percentage of landscape area and largest patch index could well explain water quality variables at a broad sub-basin scale; the opposite could be said for patch density. The type-1 and type-2 landscape thresholds can act as the long-term targets where landscape pattern management strategy should be timely adjusted. By contrast, the type-3 landscape threshold can be set as a short-term target of landscape conservation to ensure water quality up to a certain management requirement. This study suggests that considering nonlinearity and threshold effect could provide insights into the complicated landscape pattern–water quality relations and thus provide a scientific basis for balancing the coupled socioecological system of landscape development and water quality protection.

Climate Change Policy: Can New Actors Affect Japan’s Policy-Making in the Paris Agreement Era?

AbstractThis article examines changes in Japan’s policies related to climate change, focusing on three notable events that could have significantly altered Japan’s decisions on climate change: (a) the hosting of the Third Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997, (b) the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in March 2011, and (c) the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015 and its early enforcement in November 2016. The study shows that the Japanese government’s position remained fundamentally the same throughout these events. It called for emission reduction targets that would not harm the Japanese economy, considered nuclear power to be the least costly way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and avoided any mention of a 2°C mean global temperature rise as the long-term target. Meanwhile, after the Paris Agreement came into effect in 2016, an increasing number of Japanese private companies and local governments started taking voluntary actions to reduce their respective emissions, independent of national policy. These changes by sub/non-state actors have begun to alter decision-making at the national government level and could be a sign of transformational changes in Japan, wherein these new actors’ voices have a greater influence on Japan’s climate change policy than those of the traditional state-based actors.

Changes of Brain Structure in Patients With Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer After Long-Term Target Therapy With EGFR-TKI.

PurposeEpidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) therapy is the routine treatment for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring positive EGFR mutations. Patients who undergo such treatment have reported cognitive decline during follow-up. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate brain structural changes in patients receiving EGFR-TKI to increase understanding of this potential symptom.MethodThe medical records of 75 patients with metastatic NSCLC (without brain metastasis or other co-morbidities) who received EGFR-TKI therapy from 2010 to 2017 were reviewed. The modified Scheltens Visual Scale and voxel-based morphometry were used to evaluate changes in white matter lesions (WML) and gray matter volume (GMV), respectively.ResultsThe WML scores were higher at the 12-month [8.65 ± 3.86; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.60–2.35; p < 0.001] and 24-month follow-ups (10.11 ± 3.85; 95% CI, 2.98–3.87; p < 0.001) compared to baseline (6.68 ± 3.64). At the 24-month follow-up, the visual scores were also significantly higher in younger patients (3.89 ± 2.04) than in older patients (3.00 ± 1.78; p = 0.047) and higher in female patients (3.80 ± 2.04) than in male patients (2.73 ± 1.56; p = 0.023). Additionally, significant GMV loss was observed in sub-regions of the right occipital lobe (76.71 voxels; 95% CI, 40.740–112.69 voxels), left occipital lobe (93.48 voxels; 95% CI, 37.48–149.47 voxels), and left basal ganglia (37.57 voxels; 95% CI, 21.58–53.57 voxels) (all p < 0.005; cluster-level false discovery rate < 0.05).ConclusionsAn increase in WMLs and loss of GMV were observed in patients with metastatic NSCLC undergoing long-term EGFR-TKI treatment. This might reflect an unknown side-effect of EGFR-TKI treatment. Further prospective studies are necessary to confirm our findings.

Long-term target tracking combined with re-detection

Long-term visual tracking undergoes more challenges and is closer to realistic applications than short-term tracking. However, the performances of most existing methods have been limited in the long-term tracking tasks. In this work, we present a reliable yet simple long-term tracking method, which extends the state-of-the-art learning adaptive discriminative correlation filters (LADCF) tracking algorithm with a re-detection component based on the support vector machine (SVM) model. The LADCF tracking algorithm localizes the target in each frame, and the re-detector is able to efficiently re-detect the target in the whole image when the tracking fails. We further introduce a robust confidence degree evaluation criterion that combines the maximum response criterion and the average peak-to-correlation energy (APCE) to judge the confidence level of the predicted target. When the confidence degree is generally high, the SVM is updated accordingly. If the confidence drops sharply, the SVM re-detects the target. We perform extensive experiments on the OTB-2015 and UAV123 datasets. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm in long-term tracking.

Strategic priorities of regional investment policy for advanced technological development (the case of Sverdlovsk region in Russia)

Relevance. The study investigates the structural and technological imbalances impeding Russian regions' transition to sustainable development. Research objective. The study aims to describe and test an original methodological approach by using the case of a large industrial region in Russia – Sverdlovsk region. The proposed approach can provide a framework for the analysis of federal and regional strategies of long-term innovation and investment development, especially their industrial and spatial priorities. Methods and data. The study relies on official statistical data covering a five-year period. A special focus was made on the strategies' key indicators, which were then compared with the long-term goals and targets of industrial and spatial development. The comparison of the key strategic indicators is supplemented by spatial analysis of regional investment activity by territory and type of investment. Results. The study shows the need to align regional investment strategies with the strategies and policies of industrial, innovation and spatial development. For Sverdlovsk region, the study has revealed a pattern of spatial distribution of investment, which tends to concentrate in old industrial areas, that is, large cities and their agglomerations where the main production facilities are located. Conclusion. The study identifies the drawbacks of regional strategies and shows why the strategies fail to fulfill their function in the general system of strategic planning.

Formation of institutional model of project financing in Ukraine

Purpose. Substantiation of the formation of the mechanism of project financing for solving issues of financial maintenance of infrastructural projects of innovative development in Ukraine. Methodology. The information base of the research is legislative and normative documents and results of scientific achievements of leading foreign and domestic scientists. The following methods, such as analysis and synthesis; comparison and systematization; observation; graphic, tabular; logical generalization are used. Findings. According to the results of the research, it is proved that to ensure sustainable economic growth and diversification of Ukraines economy, the importance of institutions for development and use of such a multi-instrumental form of reproduction of real investments as project financing, becomes actual. Based on the system approach, the features, elemental composition and subsystems of the project financing mechanism are determined. It is established that the current legislative basis for the formation of the project financing mechanism in Ukraine is fragmentary and needs further development. It is proved that the implementation of measures of state stimulation of the processes of financing the innovative development of Ukraines economy will be facilitated by the adoption of the Laws of Ukraine On The Bank of Development, On Syndicated Loan and the proposals for the formation of project financing developed in the research. Originality. For the first time, a comprehensive theoretical approach to the formation of the project financing mechanism in Ukraine has been implemented. The need is substantiated for highlighting such subsystems of the mechanism as providing subsystem (institutional environment of which is legislative support and regulatory bodies), transforming subsystem (financial instruments and participants of which are the Bank of Development, international financial organizations, banks, institutional investors, development institutions, project sponsors) and performance subsystem (financial resources in the required amounts, currencies and terms). The effective operation of the proposed mechanism helps to overcome the shortage of long-term financial resources needed for lending support of innovative enterprises that implement large-scale and capital-intensive investment projects and programs of national importance. Practical value. Introduction of the mechanism of implementation of the program for supporting the project financing development will allow accumulating considerable amounts of financial resources from various sources on a long-term target basis; increasing the level of investment and the number of innovative projects; reducing the total cost of funding and risks through their redistribution among participants of the project.

Perception of Non-Muslim Students of Muhammadiyah Metro University on Islamic Education Programs, Al-Islam, and Muhammadiyah Studies (AIK) Ala Mondok

Muhammadiyah Metro University is a public university because non-Muslim students are allowed to study at Muhammadiyah Metro University. However, Muhammadiyah Metro University has specific policies in administering Al-Islam and Muhammadiyah Studies (AIK) lectures, one of Muhammadiyah Higher Education's characteristics, which is mandatory for all students, both Muslim and non-Muslim. The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of non-Muslim students towards al-Islam and Muhammadiyah lectures and to find out the perceptions of non-Muslim students towards Islamic teachings after attending the Al Islam and Muhammadiyah Studies (AIK) courses. The target output is scientific publications in ISSN scientific journals. After this research, the long-term target is to formulate AIK learning designs and methods that can attract Muslim students in general and non-Muslims in particular to increase learning motivation. This research is a qualitative research category with a descriptive research type. Qualitative research is a research procedure that produces descriptive data in the form of written or spoken words from people and observable behavior. In this study, researchers selected informants using a purposive sampling method. Purposive sampling is the selection of samples by aligning the objectives of the study and the samples taken. The samples are several non-Muslim students who have taken the Al Islam and Muhammadiyah Studies (AIK) 1 course. The results showed that most non-Muslim students' perception towards the AIK lecture program ala Mondok, most of them agreed. A small proportion disagreed, the perception of non-Muslim students towards Islamic teachings after implementing Al-Islam and Muhammadiyah Studies (AIK) ala Mondok. Their knowledge of Islam expanded and understood that everything in In Islam, there are guidance and lectures in AIK style is Muhammadiyah Metro University's uniqueness.