Consideration sets provide a standard tool for the exploration of consumer choice. It is appropriate to analyze it as a fuzzy set because not all the brands of a certain category of products or services that belong to it are considered of the same importance. In this work we propose an alternative operationalization of the aggregate fuzzy consideration set. It is based on a new approach for lin...

Examining the effect of high-stakes tests on learners’ perceptions has been one of the strands of washback-related research. The present study purported to investigate the washback effect of the English section of the Iranian National University Entrance Exam (henceforth INUEE) on the pre-university students’ perceptions about the high-stakes test. The participants of the study were 218 female ...

The study examined the relationships between work experience and (a) safety perceptions, (b) job satisfaction, (c) compliance with safety management policies and (d) accident frequency. Participants were Ghanaian industrial workers (N = 320). They were divided into 2 cohorts: experienced and inexperienced workers. Workplace safety perceptions were assessed with Hayes et al.'s 50-item work safet...

As a mixed-method study, this study investigated EFL test-takers’ perceptions of paired speaking tests and the role of interlocutor variables (i.e., peer interlocutor’s acquaintanceship, gender, and proficiency level) in pairing in a Cambridge English Language Assessment Open Center. The participants (N = 148), having experienced sitting either live paired speaking tests of Cambridge E...

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to evaluate nursing students' perceptions of their educational environment in a private college. Perceptions were compared between genders and 2 bachelor's programs. METHODS A total of 219 students participated in this study, drawn from the Generic Bachelor of Science in Nursing (GBSN) and the Post-Registered Nurse Bachelor of Science in Nursing (PRBSN)...

Eddy-Current Techniques for non–destructive testing and evaluation of conducting material are one of the most known application oriented field in electromagnetics research. According to the Italian PRIN Project (proj. 2009TCLKNF_002), the Authors, in this work, propose a novel approach based on soft computing domain to characterize defects in metallic plates in terms of depth and shape starting...

Need for incorporating expert knowledge into automated systems. In order to better understand Zadeh’s vision of going from fuzzy to computing with words, let us recall the reason why we need to use words in computations and whey fuzzy techniques were invented in the first place. These techniques come from the need for expert knowledge. In many application areas, we rely on experts: medical doct...

ba ck g r oun d & aim: spiritual care is an integral part of a holistic nursing care. providing spiritual care has a positive impact on patients’ health outcomes. although nurses understand the importance of incorporating  patient’s  spiritual  beliefs  into the care practice,  understanding  their  spirituality before addressing the spirituality of patients is also important. therefore, the ai...