The Role of Metacognition in the Development of EFL Learners’ Listening Skill

This study investigated the impact of metacognitive instruction on the listening skill, and metacognitive knowledge of a group of male students (N = 30) who were learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Iran. The study participants spoke Persian as a first language and were high-intermediate EFL learners. The participants received a guided lesson plan in metacognition (planning, monitoring, and evaluation) through a pedagogical cycle approach over a semester (eight weeks). International English Language Testing System listening tests (practice) were used to track the participants’ listening performance. Participants also completed a Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire, which examined their use of metacognitive awareness when engaged in listening tasks. Results indicated that the students improved their listening skill after being taught about metacognition; however, no significant use of metacognitive awareness was reported. This study concludes with a discussion of some potential implications, and provides scope for future research.     

A simplified algebraic method for system of linear inequalities with LP applications

In this pedagogical note we present an improved method to solve and analyze linear programming (LP) problems. The method depends on solving a system of equations and is free of any slack, surplus or artificial variables. The proposed method eliminates the need to manipulate linear inequalities to introduce additional variables and works only within the original decision variables space. We present applications of the method to handle linear optimization with varying objective function. The proposed method is easy to implement and enhances understanding of the simplex method and LP solvers transparent. We believe it is a useful alternative approach to present LP in the class room during the first few hours of introducing the subject.     

Optimal stabilization policies for housing activity

The usual approach in econometric modeling is to assume that the behavior of government agencies is exogenous. In this paper we have suggested that the policies of government agencies are not truly exogenous and should be studied in relation to the specific objectives pursued by these agencies.Within this framework, we investigated the implications of optimizing the behavior of two U.S. government agencies, Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) and Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), involved in the housing market. The technique we have utilized is dynamic programming.Based on the assumption that there agencies attempt to stabilize the housing market we have calculated the values for the optimal strategies in the past years and compared them with the historical patterns they have actually followed. Our interpretation of the behavior of these agencies is as follows: FHLB has a significant potential for housing stabilization. However, it has historically put more emphasis on keeping a uniform policy than stabilizing the housing activity. In this way, the role it has played in the housing market may be more destabilizing than stabilizing. On the other hand, FNMA's activity has had a rather uncertain effect on the housing stabilization. The conservative policies that FNMA has followed in the past are consistent with the uncertainties implicit in decision making but, at the same time, can be blamed for failing to create sufficient information regarding their effectiveness on the housing stabilization.     

Characterisation of forests with trivial game domination numbers

In the domination game, two players, the Dominator and Staller, take turns adding vertices of a fixed graph to a set, at each turn increasing the number of vertices dominated by the set, until the final set \(A_*\) dominates the whole graph. The Dominator plays to minimise the size of the set \(A_*\) while the Staller plays to maximise it. A graph is \(D\)-trivial if when the Dominator plays first and both players play optimally, the set \(A_*\) is a minimum dominating set of the graph. A graph is \(S\)-trivial if the same is true when the Staller plays first. We consider the problem of characterising \(D\)-trivial and \(S\)-trivial graphs. We give complete characterisations of \(D\)-trivial forests and of \(S\)-trivial forests. We also show that \(2\)-connected \(D\)-trivial graphs cannot have large girth, and conjecture that the same holds without the connectivity condition.     

Uncertainty Reduction Approaches,Uncertainty Coping Approaches,and Process Performance in Financial Services

Developing a better understanding of the impact of uncertainty on process performance has been recognized as an important research opportunity in service design ( Hill, et al., 2002 ). Within this general research stream, our study focuses on the question of what managers can do to most effectively address operational uncertainty and mitigate its negative effects. To begin to address this question, we report on an exploratory study using a sample of professionals in the financial‐services industry who acted as informants on 108 financial‐services processes. These professionals were sampled from a population of graduates of a university in the northeastern region of the United States who were employed in the financial‐services industry. Based on these processes, we empirically examine the relationship between responses to operational uncertainty and process performance after controlling for customer mix, other uncertainty sources, and process type characteristics. Our findings suggest that process improvement—an uncertainty reduction approach related to the internal functioning of the process—as well as several uncertainty coping approaches are associated with better performing processes. However, uncertainty reduction approaches related to customer involvement with, and demands on, the process are not associated with better performing processes. We discuss the implications of our findings for determining what actions managers can take to reduce the negative performance effects of operational uncertainty and how managers can decide which of these actions to take. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations of our study.     

Multivariate singular spectrum analysis for forecasting revisions to real-time data

Real-time data on national accounts statistics typically undergo an extensive revision process, leading to multiple vintages on the same generic variable. The time between the publication of the initial and final data is a lengthy one and raises the question of how to model and forecast the final vintage of data – an issue that dates from seminal articles by Mankiw et al. [51 Mankiw, N. G., Runkle, M. and Shapiro, M. D. 1984. Are preliminary announcements of the money stock rational forecasts?. J. Monetary Econ., 14: 15–27. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]], Mankiw and Shapiro [52 Mankiw, N. G. and Shapiro, M. D. 1986. News or noise? An analysis of GNP revisions. Surv. Curr. Bus. May, : 20–25.  [Google Scholar]] and Nordhaus [57 Nordhaus, W. D. 1987. Forecasting efficiency: Concepts and applications. Rev. Econ. Stat., 4: 667–674.  [Google Scholar]]. To solve this problem, we develop the non-parametric method of multivariate singular spectrum analysis (MSSA) for multi-vintage data. MSSA is much more flexible than the standard methods of modelling that involve at least one of the restrictive assumptions of linearity, normality and stationarity. The benefits are illustrated with data on the UK index of industrial production: neither the preliminary vintages nor the competing models are as accurate as the forecasts using MSSA.     

Urban Growth and Housing Quality in Iran

Rapid urban population growth and the lack of effective policies in order to desired population settlement, has encountered Iran’s major cities with multiple social, economic and environment problems. Physical expansion of cities in order to settlement the increasing population, causes the formation of new textures surrounding old urban textures. In the new textures, urban housing is formed with the modern approach and least logical connection with common practice in the old textures. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to evaluate the housing quality and identify strengths and weaknesses in old and new urban textures to improve the quality of urban housing in Iran. Household survey were conducted to collect the needed data in the old and new textures in Khorramabad city. Results showed that the satisfaction level of housing quality in new texture is far more than old ones. The highest satisfaction level in both textures are related to housing basic facilities domain. However, satisfaction level of this domain in new texture is much greater compared to the old texture. The lowest level of satisfaction is related to the quality of neighborhood domain in old texture and to the access to public services domain in the new one. Results from the factor analysis to identify the dimensions of housing quality in old and new textures illustrated that housing quality is a multidimensional concept, studying of which requires considering all dimensions and aspects.     

Quality of Life in College Students with and without Social Phobia

Prior studies demonstrating quality of life impairment in phobia and anxiety disorders have relied upon epidemiological samples or clinical data. Using the same quality of life scale, the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36), in Iranian college students allowed us to study the impact of social phobia (SP) on quality of life among the college students. This report summarizes findings from a cross sectional study on Iranian students with social phobia studying at Shahed University. Quality of life was measured using the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36) which is a widely used and valid questionnaire to measure quality of life in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Three standard instruments were used to measure social phobia severity, namely Social Phobia Inventory, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, and Brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. The sample consisted of 202 college students, 72 with SP and 130 without SP. The main finding of this study was that students with social phobia reported significantly lower quality of life, particularly in general health (P = 0.02), vitality (P < 0.0001), social functioning (P < 0.0001), role functioning—emotional (P < 0.0001), and Mental health (P = 0.001) dimensions. Standardized summed scores for mental health components of the SF-36 showed that 36.2% of all the s with SP were severely impaired while 16.0% of the students in control croup were severely impaired. Findings demonstrated that Iranian socially anxious college students reported extensive functional disability, and lower well-being compared to those without SP. These findings should encourage education officers to implement systematic efforts to prevent and treat social anxiety among students.