Hydrogen is one of the potential clean energy sources that might help to address two critical global issues: energy scarcity and environmental concerns. Using fossil fuels for hydrogen generation has drawbacks, such as increased greenhouse gas emissions throughout the process. As a result, finding clean, sustainable, and dependable hydrogen generation technology cheaply and with zero emissions has become critical. The purpose of this study is to analyze hydrogen generation from solar energy. Mainly focus on PEM electrolyzer as a source of hydrogen and solar energy as a source of power fed to electrolyzer, so it is necessary to ensure that PV operate at maximum power or close to it, so we used P&O MPPT technique with several controllers like fuzzy logic (FL), proportional integer (PI) and fraction order proportional integer (FOPI) controllers. To achieve optimal tuning for the final two controller parameters, differentiated creative search optimization algorithm (DCSO) is applied and compared to other algorithms such as PSO and GWO. When comparing the outcomes, it was revealed that PI-DCSO is the best, with 6987 W produced power, followed by FOPI-DCSO with 6767 W, and the FLC with 6296 W output power, as detailed in the result chapter, which also contains a comparison of PV production under varying conditions, and a comparison of PEM electrolyzer under different conditions.

ABSTRACT Background and Purpose The development of critical thinking skills (CTS) is a key objective in science education, particularly in addressing complex and uncertain issues such as climate change. Despite this, there remains a lack of validated assessment tools that measure CTS specifically in the context of climate change. This study aims to develop and validate the Critical Thinking on Climate Change (CTCC) test, focusing on both conceptual understanding and evidence-based reasoning within socioscientific issues (SSI). Methods The CTCC test was constructed using a testlet format, informed by established critical thinking theories and contextualized for climate change content. Initial items were validated through expert Focus Group Discussions (N = 9) and Think-Aloud Protocols (TAP) with students (N = 5). After revisions, the test was administered to 212 students with prior climate change learning experience. Psychometric properties were examined using the Rasch model analysis to evaluate item fit, person reliability, and the validity of the test structure. Results Rasch analysis indicated that the items fit the model well (mean-square outfit and infit values within an acceptable range), with a person reliability of 0.81 and an item reliability of 0.94. Content validity was confirmed through expert judgment (Aiken’s V > 0.75), and construct validity was supported by adequate item separation indices and logical item difficulty ordering. These findings affirm the robustness of the CTCC test in capturing a continuum of CTS among learners. Conclusion The CTCC test is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing critical thinking in the context of climate change. Through the application of Rasch model analysis, the instrument demonstrates strong psychometric properties and can effectively differentiate levels of students’ CTS. This research also contributes to a novel framework for assessing higher-order thinking in socioscientific contexts, supporting the advancement of evidence-based climate education.

In the pure Calculus of Constructions (CC) one can define data types and function over these, and there is a powerful higher order logic to reason over these functions and data types. This is due to the combination of impredicativity and dependent types, and most of these features can already be observed in polymorphic (second order) dependent type theory $\lambda$P2. The impredicative encoding of data types (in $\lambda$P2 or CC) is powerful but not fully satisfactory: for example, the induction principle is not provable. As a matter of fact, it can be shown that induction is not provable for whatever possible representation of data types. In a recent paper, Awodey, Frey and Speight show that in an extension of $\lambda$P2 with Sigma-types, identity types with uniqueness of identity proofs and function extensionality, it is possible to define data types for which the induction principle is provable. More recently it has been shown that in this extension of $\lambda$P2, also quotient types can be defined with the proper induction principle, and, using quotient types, coinductive types can be defined with the proper coinduction principle. This leaves various questions open: Are quotient types with induction principle not definable in the original $\lambda$P2? And how about coinductive types, is it impossible to get a strong coinduction principle in $\lambda$P2? Looking at it from the other side: which of the extensions used are really needed to make induction and coinduction work? In this paper, we contribute partial answers to these questions: parametric quotient types are not definable in $\lambda$P2 and the well-known definable stream type does not have a coinduction principle. For the latter question we show that, if we just extend $\lambda$P2 with Sigma-types and identity types with uniqueness of identity proofs, we still cannot prove an induction principle for the natural numbers. So function extensionality is crucial in making induction provable. We show these results by studying models of $\lambda$P2 where the types representing these principles are empty, so these models act as counter models to the derivability of the principles.

Poplar black spot disease, caused by Marssonina brunnea (Ellis & Everh.) Magnus, is a major foliar disease that endangers the global poplar industry, seriously threatening timber yield and quality. The assessment of the disease severity has long relied on subjective visual inspection. To provide automated analysis tools and quantitative grading standards, this study proposes the DPLS-IRQ automated pipeline, establishes a scientific five-level quantitative grading standard, and constructs a high-quality benchmark dataset, Poplar-BSR5. On this basis, we propose a severity grading model for poplar black spot disease named PoplarFormer, which is constructed based on the advanced vision foundation model EVA-02. PoplarFormer integrates a parallel Multi-Scale Convolutional Enhancement Module (MSCEM) to capture local, fine-grained lesion features and a Synergistic Feature Interaction Module (SFIM) for bidirectional feature fusion. The model employs the CORAL loss function, ensuring its predictions adhere to the inherent logical order of this ordinal task. Evaluation results on the Poplar-BSR5 dataset show that PoplarFormer achieves an accuracy of 83.80% and significantly reduced Mean Absolute Error (MAE) compared with baseline models. This work provides a quantitative assessment system and a benchmark dataset for poplar black spot disease research. Furthermore, the proposed PoplarFormer model offers an effective solution for grading disease severity, providing critical technical support for precision management and quality control in the global poplar industry.

We study the problem of enumerating the answers to a query formulated in monadic second order logic (MSO) over an unranked forest F that is compressed by a straight-line program (SLP) D. Our main result states that this can be done after O(|D|) preprocessing and with output-linear delay (in data complexity). This is a substantial improvement over the previously known algorithms for MSO-evaluation over trees, since the compressed size |D| might be much smaller than (or even logarithmic in) the actual data size |F|, and there are linear time SLP-compressors that yield very good compressions on practical inputs. In particular, this also constitutes a meta-theorem in the field of algorithmics on SLP-compressed inputs: all enumeration problems on trees or strings that can be formulated in MSO-logic can be solved with linear preprocessing and output-linear delay, even if the inputs are compressed by SLPs. We also show that our approach can support vertex relabelling updates in time that is logarithmic in the uncompressed data. Our result extends previous work on the enumeration of MSO-queries over uncompressed trees and on the enumeration of document spanners over compressed text documents. 64 pages. This is the TheoretiCS journal version

First order logic and twin-width in tournaments and dense oriented graphs

Wordless picture books rely entirely on carefully sequenced illustrations to convey a story, requiring readers to actively construct meaning from visual cues. This study aimed to examine whether the narratives created by 30 Grade 7 students using a wordless picture book demonstrated the presence of literary elements such as character, setting, and plot. Data analysis revealed that while all participants could identify the characters, only a few provided detailed descriptions of the main character’s traits and actions. In describing the setting, only one student used vivid language to create a mental image, and although all students included some sequence of events, only a few organized the plot in a logical and coherent order. These findings indicate that interpreting wordless picture books is an active process in which readers supply the language to accompany illustrations, drawing upon prior knowledge and personal experiences. The study further suggests that incorporating wordless picture books regularly in classroom practice can enhance vocabulary, critical thinking, narrative comprehension, and oral language fluency. Exposure to a variety of genres may also foster creativity, storytelling skills, and deeper engagement with literary concepts. Therefore, wordless picture books represent a promising instructional strategy to support holistic literacy development and the understanding of literary elements among the Junior High School school learners.

ABSTRACT Purity is the principle that fundamental facts only have fundamental constituents. In recent years, it has played a significant (if sometimes implicit) role in metaphysical theorizing. A philosopher will argue that a fact contains a derivative entity and cite Purity as a reason to deny that is fundamental. I argue that recent developments in higher order logic reveal a subtle ambiguity regarding the interpretation of Purity; there are stronger and weaker versions of that principle. Justifications for Purity support only the weaker interpretation, but arguments that rely upon it only succeed if the stronger interpretation holds. Consequently, nearly every metaphysician who has invoked Purity has made a mistake, in that their inferences are not justified by their arguments.

Objective: This study aimed to conduct a usability evaluation of a rehabilitation service application for older adults and, based on the results, propose practical guidelines to improve application design. Specifically, the study sought to verify whether design improvements in content, graphics, layout, and interaction could enhance efficiency and user satisfaction.<br/>Background: With the rapid growth of the aging population, rising healthcare costs, and reduced accessibility to medical services, interest in mobile health (mHealth) has significantly increased. Although various guidelines for designing applications for older adults have been proposed, few studies have empirically validated their effectiveness through experimental usability evaluations.<br/>Method: A total of 36 older adults (mean age = 64.91, SD = 2.74) participated in experiments at the Senior Industry Innovation Center Living Lab. Participants were randomly assigned to use either the existing application (EA) or the improved application (IA), which incorporated seven guideline-based design improvements such as unified terminology, enlarged control buttons, optimized layout spacing, logical menu ordering, and audio/visual assistance. Three main tasks—rehabilitation exercise, gait assessment, and knee range of motion measurement—were evaluated. Usability was assessed through performance metrics (absolute/relative performance time, click count, error count) and the System Usability Scale (SUS).<br/>Results: The IA demonstrated marked improvements compared to the EA. Relative performance times decreased by 59% (Task 1), 37% (Task 2), and 4% (Task 3). Relative click counts decreased by 88%, 92%, and 36% across the three tasks, while error counts dropped by 88%, 89%, and 50%, respectively. SUS scores also improved by 9% (Task 1), 13% (Task 2), and 10% (Task 3). Although absolute performance times and click counts increased in some cases due to additional preparation and help processes, these changes ultimately contributed to error reduction and improved user comprehension.<br/>Conclusion & Application: The findings confirm that usability guidelines tailored for older adults can significantly improve the efficiency and satisfaction of mHealth applications. Particularly, unifying terminology, enlarging interface elements, and integrating supportive explanations were shown to reduce errors and enhance user confidence. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the application of design guidelines in developing mHealth services for older adults and offers practical insights for creating safer, more accessible, and user-friendly digital healthcare solutions.

This study examines how internal governance mechanisms shape corporate debt structure in a capital intensive and crisis exposed industry. It analyses 61 basic materials firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange over 2019–2023 (305 firm year observations), a period covering pre pandemic conditions, the COVID 19 shock, post crisis recovery, and global monetary tightening. Debt structure is proxied by the debt to equity ratio (DER), which exhibits extreme volatility with values ranging from −23,124.66 to 4,950.11, indicating widespread negative equity and severe financial distress in part of the sample. The empirical model is a fixed effects panel regression with cluster robust standard errors. Board size, institutional ownership, and firm age show positive and statistically significant effects on leverage, while the proportion of independent commissioners has a strong negative effect; audit committee size and return on assets (ROA) are not significant. Firm value, measured by price to book value (PBV), has a large negative impact on DER and significantly moderates the effects of board size and independent commissioners on leverage. A PBV threshold at approximately 0.945 separates regimes where independent commissioners reduce leverage (distressed/undervalued firms) and where they facilitate higher leverage (fairly valued or overvalued firms). The findings validate a conditional multi theory framework that combines agency theory, resource dependence theory, and pecking order logic instead of relying on any single theory. They highlight that governance mechanisms are neither uniformly “good” nor “bad” for leverage but context dependent, with firm valuation and crisis conditions critically shaping their effects. The results provide implications for boards, regulators, creditors, and investors in emerging markets when designing governance structures and monitoring extreme leverage in capital intensive sectors.

Abstract Since 2018, the presidents of the five central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have gathered annually to participate in the Consultative Meetings of Heads of States of the region. This institutional development has been hailed as a new step towards integration and cooperation in central Asia. Yet several scholars and commentators describe this format as mostly a ‘talking shop’ that pays lip service to the idea of regional integration. To challenge this view, this article offers an emic and idiographic analysis of the Consultative Meetings from the analytical perspective of the English School, positing a twofold argument. First, it considers such meetings as an institution, i.e., a durable practice imbued with normativity and a sense of legitimacy and appropriateness that serves specific functions. Second, it maintains that the Consultative Meetings embody a regional cultural code in which consensus and informality are structuring elements of order, as opposed to representing weaknesses or failure thereof; and by which specific indigenous and political norms such as personal connections between presidents, seniority, respect and prestige affect the operations of fundamental regional primary institutions such as sovereignty, international law and diplomacy. The analysis relies on official materials and news items available online, unpublished documents provided to the author by central Asian diplomats, and interviews with foreign ministry staff members and officials from the region familiar with the workings of the meetings. The arguments offered in this article have implications for understanding processes of central Asian regionalism and non-western logics of order and legitimacy.

Metaphors operate as symbolic infrastructures that shape how the social world is conceptualized and rendered intelligible. This article develops a cultural sociology of metaphor, arguing that metaphors encode epistemic, normative and aesthetic logics within the architecture of theoretical reasoning. Moving beyond cognitive and illustrative models, it introduces the concept of metaphorical infrastructure to describe how dominant metaphors condition what becomes visible, sayable and legitimate in sociological discourse. These infrastructures are not passive frameworks but performative forms that organize symbolic authority and guide theoretical interpretation within sociological fields. Drawing on cultural sociology, the sociology of knowledge and conceptual metaphor theory, the article proposes a typology of four metaphorical regimes – mechanistic, spatial, sacral and musical – each enacting a distinct vision of the social and its analytical and moral stakes. This framework is illustrated through two paradigmatic cases: Crenshaw’s intersection, which functions as a spatial infrastructure of critical reflexivity, and Berger’s sacred canopy, which encodes a sacral logic of moral order. Together, these metaphors demonstrate how performative infrastructures shape the scope, authority and symbolic form through which sociology envisions the social world. By theorizing metaphors as infrastructures rather than illustrations, the article advances a reflexive framework for uncovering the symbolic foundations of sociological theory. It invites further inquiry into how metaphors sustain theoretical authority, mediate disciplinary change and anchor the cultural power of sociological knowledge.

The reason for the creation of this branch of Quranic sciences was the desire of Muslim theologians to answer consistent questions that arose either in the minds of researchers, or in the minds of atheists or representatives of some teachings that deviated from Islamic orthodoxy. The answers to these questions have become the subject of this branch of Quranic studies. The purpose of this modest research is to present these answers arranged in a logical order, at the same time agreeing with the need and motive for raising these questions in the mind of those who ask them. We see that the answers to them represent what can be called the term "theories of Quranic studies", which include: the Theory of Divine Revelation, the Theory of Ways of Reciting and Transmitting the Quranic Text, etc. Of these theories, we have listed below six general theories that researchers can benefit from by studying them carefully. This may encourage researchers to supplement these theories or exclude some of them by adding something to others. Perhaps, considering the issues of Quranic studies through these theories will allow us to understand this topic more deeply, identify the basis of disagreements and their causes, and also help in choosing and preferring one opinion over another. It may also indicate the importance of addressing issues whose usefulness cannot be fully known without studying them through these theories. Finally, it will highlight the benefits of some of the topics around which ancient disputes have arisen that have not yet been fully and definitively resolved.

Several works have recently investigated the parameterized complexity of data completion problems, motivated by their applications in machine learning, and clustering in particular. Interestingly, these problems can be equivalently formulated as classical graph problems on induced subgraphs of powers of partially-defined hypercubes. In this paper, we follow up on this recent direction by investigating the Independent Set problem on this graph class, which has been studied in the data science setting under the name Diversity. We obtain a comprehensive picture of the problem’s parameterized complexity and establish its fixed-parameter tractability w.r.t. the solution size plus the power of the hypercube. Given that several such First Order Logic (FO) definable problems have been shown to be fixed-parameter tractable on the considered graph class, one may ask whether fixed-parameter tractability could be extended to capture all FO-definable problems. We answer this question in the negative by showing that FO model checking on induced subgraphs of hypercubes is as difficult as FO model checking on general graphs.

This study presents a novel hybrid seismic control system for high-rise buildings, combining a higher-order fractional order proportional-integral-derivative (HFOPID) controller with an interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller (IT2FLC) and a magnetorheological-tuned mass damper (MR+TMD). The proposed system addresses nonlinearities and uncertainties associated with seismic excitations by optimizing control parameters, fuzzy rules, and tuned mass damper (TMD) characteristics through the observer-teacher-learner-based optimization (OTLBO) algorithm. Evaluated on a 15-story shear building under 21 earthquake scenarios—including near-fault, far-field, and mixed ground motions—the system demonstrated outstanding performance. Key results include an average reduction of 32.5% in top-story displacement and 27.62% in interstory drift compared to uncontrolled structures. Energy dissipation analysis further highlights the system’s effectiveness, achieving reductions of 28.3% in input energy, 25.6% in kinetic energy, 30.4% in damping energy, and 29.8% in strain energy. Compared to conventional controllers such as the proportional-integral-derivative (PID), fractional order proportional-integral-derivative (FOPID), and fractional order proportional-integral-derivative plus fuzzy logic controller (FOPID+FLC), the HFOPID+IT2FLC system outperformed them by a significant margin, showing an improvement in robustness for handling nonlinearities and uncertainties. Moreover, the optimized control voltages generated by the system reduced energy consumption, further enhancing its efficiency. The system maintained consistent performance across all seismic scenarios, highlighting its adaptability and scalability for practical applications. These results highlight the HFOPID+IT2FLC system as a highly effective, energy-efficient solution for mitigating seismic responses in high-rise structures, offering substantial potential for earthquake-resistant design and retrofitting.

Common abductive explanations in first order logic

Abstract We investigate the problem of providing relevance properties for first order logics by expanding on recent work concerning relevance as a topical property in propositional relevant logics. We propose a theory of topic for first order languages, relying on the use of focus markers in an extension of the usual first order language, and suggest how such an enrichment of the language and conceptual apparatus of the logic can provide avenues into the first order relevance problem.

Veterinary medical education (VME) requires the creation of an effective learning and teaching environment within the veterinary medicine degree program to ensure the acquisition of Day One Competences (DOCs) and to support the development of lifelong learning skills, preparing job-ready veterinarians. The authors aim to understand how to provide this, particularly in veterinary pathology. In veterinary pathology, a well-established DOC is to perform a necropsy. To achieve this competence effectively, the authors believed in using a deep learning strategy that incorporates elements and principles of effective learning and teaching. The authors developed a proposal for an educational model that aims to enable learners to acquire skills not only in performing necropsies and recalling the most important steps during and after the procedure, but also in developing macroscopic-clinical correlation reasoning and effective communication. The conceptual model consists of seven learning steps in a logical workflow order and is called PENSIVE. Students are considered self-directed adult learners, with the instructor acting as facilitator and guide. By implementing this model, the authors believe that learners will develop the deep learning skills necessary for accurate and thorough post-mortem examination, thereby improving their competence in veterinary pathology and enhancing their professional skills.

The problem of legal normativity is one of the central issues in contemporary philosophy of law. It concerns the justification of the binding force of legal norms and the source of their significance. This problem is particularly acute for legal positivism. From the standpoint of modern conceptions of human nature ‒ as rational, free, and creative ‒ the mere fact of state coercion or the state’s origin of a norm is insufficient to justify the binding force of positive law. Moreover, for legal positivism, this issue is not only of theoretical importance; it serves as a test of the approach’s ability to explain the normative nature of law without appealing to metaphysical or moral foundations. In Ukrainian legal theory, the substantive content of the category of normativity remains unresolved. This necessitates a careful study of the original works of prominent representatives of the legal positivist school. The article explores four legal positivist concepts that offer distinct answers to the problem of normativity: John Austin, Hans Kelsen, Herbert Hart, and Joseph Raz.According to John Austin, the sources of legal normativity lie in the habit of obedience to the sovereign and the threat of sanction. This approach equates the binding force of law with an actual or potential threat of harm (coercion). Hans Kelsen, by contrast, grounds normativity in the logic of a normative order: a norm is the semantic meaning of a statement about what ought to be, and its binding force is ensured through a hierarchical system of norms, the source of which is a basic norm (Grundnorm) understood as a transcendental assumption. Herbert Hart explains legal normativity as a social fact, manifested in institutional practice through the rule of recognition, which defines certain norms as law. Finally, Joseph Raz associates normativity with the authoritative nature of law, whereby legal rules provide individuals with protected and exclusionary reasons for action ‒ reasons that override personal considerations or other social norms. The article shows that within legal positivism, normativity is not reducible to a single source and can be justified through various approaches. This allows for a renewed understanding of legal normativity as a distinct legal phenomenon and opens prospects for its further exploration in legal scholarship.

Abstract Quine famously proposed to represent the intuitive ‘vast difference’ between the notional and the relational reading of the indefinite noun phrase occurring in a belief report of the form “S believes that a P is Q” in terms of the different scope of the existential quantifier, thereby assimilating the intuitive distinction to the theoretical distinction between de dicto and de re interpretation of belief reports. After having highlighted the substantial identity between the notional/relational distinction and the distinction between epistemically nonspecific and specific reading of indefinites in a belief report, the paper addresses two problems. The first is whether the Quinean representation is materially adequate; a negative answer is motivated through the analysis of a famous argument apparently entailing the collapse between de dicto and de re interpretation of belief reports. The second problem is how to represent the ‘vast difference’; the answer that is proposed is based on the adoption of an intuitionistic semantics for first order logic.