Search results for: native and foreign language.

Authors: Samir Abdelhamid, Noureddine Bouguechal

Abstract:

We report in this paper the model adopted by our system of continuous speech recognition in Arab language SySRA and the results obtained until now. This system uses the database Arabdic-10 which is a corpus of word for the Arab language and which was manually segmented. Phonetic decoding is represented by an expert system where the knowledge base is translated in the form of production rules. This expert system transforms a vocal signal into a phonetic lattice. The higher level of the system takes care of the recognition of the lattice thus obtained by deferring it in the form of written sentences (orthographical Form). This level contains initially the lexical analyzer which is not other than the module of recognition. We subjected this analyzer to a set of spectrograms obtained by dictating a score of sentences in Arab language. The rate of recognition of these sentences is about 70% which is, to our knowledge, the best result for the recognition of the Arab language. The test set consists of twenty sentences from four speakers not having taken part in the training.

Keywords: Continuous speech recognition, lexical analyzer, phonetic decoding, phonetic lattice, vocal signal.

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Authors: T. Ito, K. Kawaguchi, R. Ohta

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The purpose of this study is to provide a guideline to assist globally-minded companies in developing task-based English- language programs for their employees. After conducting an online self-assessment questionnaire comprised of 45 job-related tasks, we analyzed responses received from 3,000 Japanese company employees and developed a checklist that considered three areas; i) the percentage of those who need to accomplish English-language tasks in their workplace (need for English), ii) a five-point self-assessment score (task performance level), and iii) the impact of previous task experience on perceived performance (experience factor). The 45 tasks were graded according to five proficiency levels. Our results helped us to create a core guideline that may assist companies in two ways: first, in helping determine which tasks employees with a certain English proficiency should be able to satisfactorily carry out, and secondly, to quickly prioritize which business-related English skills they would need in future English language programs.

Keywords: Business settings, Can-do statements, English language training programs, Self-assessment, Task experience.

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Authors: Akiyoshi Wakatani

Abstract:

This paper describes the Message Passing Interface (MPI) implementation of ADETRAN language, and its evaluation on SX-ACE supercomputers. ADETRAN language includes pdo statement that specifies the data distribution and parallel computations and pass statement that specifies the redistribution of arrays. Two methods for implementation of pass statement are discussed and the performance evaluation using Splitting-Up CG method is presented. The effectiveness of the parallelization is evaluated and the advantage of one dimensional distribution is empirically confirmed by using the results of experiments.

Keywords: Iterative methods, array redistribution, translator, distributed memory.

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Authors: Rosziati Ibrahim, Noraini Ibrahim

Abstract:

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standard language for modeling of a system. UML is used to visually specify the structure and behavior of a system. The system requirements are captured and then converted into UML specification. UML specification uses a set of rules and notations, and diagrams to specify the system requirements. In this paper, we present a tool for developing the UML specification. The tool will ease the use of the notations and diagrams for UML specification as well as increase the understanding and familiarity of the UML specification. The tool will also be able to check the conformance of the diagrams against each other for basic compliance of UML specification.

Keywords: Software Engineering, Unified Modeling Language (UML), UML Specification.

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Authors: Chamindi Dilkushi Senaratne

Abstract:

Communicating via a text or an SMS (Short Message Service) has become an integral part of our daily lives. With the increase in the use of mobile phones, text messaging has become a genre by itself worth researching and studying. It is undoubtedly a major phenomenon revealing language change. This paper attempts to describe the morphological processes of text language of urban bilinguals in Sri Lanka. It will be a typological study based on 500 English text messages collected from urban bilinguals residing in Colombo. The messages are selected by categorizing the deviant forms of language use apparent in text messages. These stylistic deviations are a deliberate skilled performance by the users of the language possessing an in-depth knowledge of linguistic systems to create new words and thereby convey their linguistic identity and individual and group solidarity via the message. The findings of the study solidifies arguments that the manipulation of language in text messages is both creative and appropriate. In addition, code mixing theories will be used to identify how existing morphological processes are adapted by bilingual users in Sri Lanka when texting. The study will reveal processes such as omission, initialism, insertion and alternation in addition to other identified linguistic features in text language. The corpus reveals the most common morphological processes used by Sri Lankan urban bilinguals when sending texts.

Keywords: Bilingual, deviations, morphology, texts.

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Authors: B. Lorestani, M. Cheraghi, N. Yousefi

Abstract:

A research project dealing with the phytoremediation of a soil polluted by some heavy metals is currently running. The case study is represented by a mining area in Hamedan province in the central west part of Iran. The potential of phytoextraction and phytostabilization of plants was evaluated considering the concentration of heavy metals in the plant tissues and also the bioconcentration factor (BCF) and the translocation factor (TF). Also the several established criteria were applied to define hyperaccumulator plants in the studied area. Results showed that none of the collected plant species were suitable for phytoextraction of Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn, but among the plants, Euphorbia macroclada was the most efficient in phytostabilization of Cu and Fe, while, Ziziphora clinopodioides, Cousinia sp. and Chenopodium botrys were the most suitable for phytostabilization of Zn and Chondrila juncea and Stipa barbata had the potential for phytostabilization of Mn. Using the most common criterion, Euphorbia macroclada and Verbascum speciosum were Fe hyperaccumulator plants. Present study showed that native plant species growing on contaminated sites may have the potential for phytoremediation.

Keywords: Bioconcentration factor, Heavy metals, Hyperaccumulator, Phytoremediation, Translocation factor

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Authors: Bojan Korizma, Zeljko Panian

Abstract:

Online auctions are not very popular in Croatia. The main reason for this is a very limited number of services which can be used by Croatian users. Until recent times, even selling through the most popular online auction site eBay wasn't possible because PayPal services could not make payment to bank or debit card accounts in Croatia. Furthermore, many foreign sellers do not offer delivery of their products to Croatia which means that large quantities of goods initially offered on such sites are not available. With that in mind, it is necessary to analyze the buying and selling habits of Croatian users and existing online auction sites, both Croatian and foreign, and create a model for new domestic site. This site will have to exploit every positive aspect of existing models and neutralize every negative perception indicated by users in the survey so that, hopefully, it would attract new users.

Keywords: online auction, eBay, safe payment, product delivery

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Authors: E. Podhovnik

Abstract:

Cultures play a role in business communication and in research. At the example of language in international business, this paper addresses the issue of how the research cultures of management research and linguistics as well as cultures as such can be linked. After looking at existing research on language in international business, this paper approaches communication in international business from a linguistic angle and attempts to explain communication issues in businesses based on linguistic research. Thus the paper makes a step into cross-disciplinary research combining management research with linguistics.

Keywords: Language in international business, sociolinguistics, ethnopragmatics, cultural scripts.

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Authors: Ameneh Zare, Shahin Nematzadeh, Shahla Raghibdoust, Iran Kalbassi

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Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by abnormalities in social communication, language abilities and repetitive behaviors. The present study focused on some grammatical deficits in autistic children. We evaluated the impairment of correct use of different Persian verb tenses in autistic children-s speech. Two standardized Language Test were administered then gathered data were analyzed. The main result of this study was significant difference between the mean scores of correct responses to present tense in comparison with past tense in Persian language. This study demonstrated that tense is severely impaired in autistic children-s speech. Our findings indicated those autistic children-s production of simple present/ past tense opposition to be better than production of future and past periphrastic forms (past perfect, present perfect, past progressive).

Keywords: Autism, Past, Persian Language, Present, Tense

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Authors: Mehmet Ozcan

Abstract:

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between language and children’s construction of the concept of objects, actions, and states. Participants of this study are 120 children whose ages range from 3 to 14 years. Ten children participated from each age group and 10 adults participated as normative group. Data were collected using 28 words which were identified and grouped according to the purpose of this study. Participants were asked the question “What is x?’ for each word in a reserved room. The audio recorded data were transcribed and coded. The data were analyzed primarily qualitatively but quantitatively as well to support qualitative findings. The findings reveal that younger children rely more on their perceptual experience and linguistic input while 7-year-olds and older ones rely more on instructional language in the construction of the concepts related to objects, actions and states. Adults differ from all age groups with their usage of metaphors to refer to objects. It has been noted that linguistic, perceptual and instructional experiences work in an interwoven way but each one seems to be dominant at certain ages.

Keywords: Cognition, concept construction, first language acquisition, language, thought.

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Authors: S. Pesina, T. Solonchak

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In the process of information transmission (concept verbalization) we deal mostly with the substance (contents), and then pay attention to the form. Recalling events from the remote past, often we cannot exactly reproduce specific heard or pronounced words, as well as the syntactic structures. We remember events, feelings, images; we recall the general contents of the discourse. The thought gets a specific language form only during the concept verbalization phase. With minimum time for pondering, depending on the language competence level, the grammar and syntactic shaping often occurs automatically with the use of famous models and stereotypes. This means that the language form adapts itself to the consciousness, and not vice versa.

Keywords: Lexical eidos, phenomenology, noema, polysemantic word, semantic core.

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Authors: V. Charaia

Abstract:

From the strategic point of view, not all Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are always positively benefiting the host economy, i.e. not all Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are promoting local/host economies. FDI could have different impact on different sectors of the economy, based not only on annual investment amount, but MNE motivations and peculiarities of the host economy in particular. FDI analysis based only on its amount can lead to incorrect decisions, it is much more important to understand the essence of investment. Consequently, our research is oriented on MNE’s motivations, answering which sectors are most popular among international investors and why, what motivated them to invest into one or another business. Georgian economy for the last period of time is attracting more and more efficiency seeking investments, which could be translated as - concentrating production in a limited number of locations to supply various markets, while benefiting local economy with: new technologies, employment, exports diversification, increased income for the local economy and so on. Foreign investors and MNEs in particular are no longer and not so much interested in the resource seeking investments, which was the case for Georgia in the last decade of XX century. Despite the fact of huge progress for the Georgian economy, still there is a room for foreign investors to make a local market oriented investments. The local market is still rich in imported products, which should be replaced by local ones. And the last but not the least important issue is that approximately 30% of all FDIs in Georgia according to this research are “efficiency seeking” investments, which is an enormous progress and a hope for future Georgian success.

Keywords: Investments, MNE, FDI motivations, Georgian economy.

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Authors: L. Ludovic, R. Daniel, S-E Tbahriti

Abstract:

Database management systems that integrate user preferences promise better solution for personalization, greater flexibility and higher quality of query responses. This paper presents a tentative work that studies and investigates approaches to express user preferences in queries. We sketch an extend capabilities of SQLf language that uses the fuzzy set theory in order to define the user preferences. For that, two essential points are considered: the first concerns the expression of user preferences in SQLf by so-called fuzzy commensurable predicates set. The second concerns the bipolar way in which these user preferences are expressed on mandatory and/or optional preferences.

Keywords: Flexible query language, relational database, userpreference.

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Authors: Phong Tran

Abstract:

A research effort to find the reality of the business of Japan-s software globalization of enterprise-level business software systems has found that while the number of Japan-made enterpriselevel software systems is comparable with those of the other G7 countries, the business is limited to the East and Southeast Asian markets. This indicates that this business has a problem in the European and USA markets. Based on the knowledge that the research has established, the research concludes that the communication problems arise from the lack of individualists' communication styles and foreign language skills in Japan's software globalization is compensated by similarities in certain Japanese cultural factors and Japan's cultural power in the East and Southeast Asian markets and that this business does not have this compensation factor in the European and American markets due to dissimilarities and no cultural power.

Keywords: Cultural factors, global business, Japan, software globalization.

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Authors: Agnès Garletti

Abstract:

Our research aims at helping the tutor on line to evaluate the student-s cognitive processes. The student is a learner in French as a Second Language who studies an on-line socio-cognitive scenario in written communication. In our method, these cognitive processes are defined. For that, the language abilities and learning tasks are associated to cognitive operation. Moreover, the found cognitive processes are named with specific terms. The result was to create an instrumental pattern to question the learner about the cognitive processes used to build an item of written comprehension. Our research follows the principles of the third historical generation of studies on the cognitive activity of the text comprehension. The strength of our instrumental pattern stands in the precision and the logical articulation of the questions to the learner. However, the learner-s answers can still be subjective but the precision of the instrument restricts it.

Keywords: Cognitive processes, Evaluation pattern, French as asecond language, Socio-cognitive scenario, Written comprehension.

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Authors: Nina Suszczanska, Przemyslaw Szmal, Slawomir Kulikow

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In the paper a method of modeling text for Polish is discussed. The method is aimed at transforming continuous input text into a text consisting of sentences in so called canonical form, whose characteristic is, among others, a complete structure as well as no anaphora or ellipses. The transformation is lossless as to the content of text being transformed. The modeling method has been worked out for the needs of the Thetos system, which translates Polish written texts into the Polish sign language. We believe that the method can be also used in various applications that deal with the natural language, e.g. in a text summary generator for Polish.

Keywords: anaphora, machine translation, NLP, sign language, text syntax.

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Authors: Tanyatorn Panyasopon

Abstract:

Many Thai movies have been very popular domestically and internationally. Some movies were box office hits and receiving awards. However, there has not yet been research about how Thai movies can sell in international markets The objectives of the research were 1) To analyze the characteristics of Thai movies that can sell to world audiences; 2) To investigate the factors making Thai movies into foreign markets. Thai film professionals were interviewed. Their ideas were analyzed to find out what factors contributing to Thai movies widely seen in worldwide markets. Nine foreign audiences were also interviewed to reveal what characteristics of Thai movies would be well accepted by the markets. The results showed that major characteristics of Thai movies proving successful worldwide were cultural and exotic Thai movies, outstanding genres, well-known actors, music and songs. Factors contributing to global market were marketing, qualities of Thai movies, and financial support from the government.

Keywords: Characteristics, factors, international markets, Thai movies.

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Authors: Bahloul Amel

Abstract:

The present study debates students’ perceptions of the use of technology in learning English as a Foreign Language. Its aim is to explore and understand students’ preparation and presentation of Posters, PowerPoint and Animated Videos by drawing attention to visual and oral elements. The data is collected through observations and semi-structured interviews and analyzed through phenomenological data analysis steps. The themes emerged from the data, visual learning satisfaction in using information and communication technology, providing structure to oral presentation, learning from peers’ presentations, draw attention to using Posters, PowerPoint and Animated Videos as each supports visual learning and organization of thoughts in oral presentations.

Keywords: Animated Videos, EFL, Posters, PowerPoint presentations, Visual Learning.

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Authors: R. Walha, F. Drira, H. El-Abed, A. M. Alimi

Abstract:

The Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) applied to Arabic language is a challenging task. This is mainly related to the language specificities which make the researchers facing multiple difficulties such as the insufficient linguistic resources and the very limited number of available transcribed Arabic speech corpora. In this paper, we are interested in the development of a HMM-based ASR system for Standard Arabic (SA) language. Our fundamental research goal is to select the most appropriate acoustic parameters describing each audio frame, acoustic models and speech recognition unit. To achieve this purpose, we analyze the effect of varying frame windowing (size and period), acoustic parameter number resulting from features extraction methods traditionally used in ASR, speech recognition unit, Gaussian number per HMM state and number of embedded re-estimations of the Baum-Welch Algorithm. To evaluate the proposed ASR system, a multi-speaker SA connected-digits corpus is collected, transcribed and used throughout all experiments. A further evaluation is conducted on a speaker-independent continue SA speech corpus. The phonemes recognition rate is 94.02% which is relatively high when comparing it with another ASR system evaluated on the same corpus.

Keywords: ASR, HMM, acoustical analysis, acoustic modeling, Standard Arabic language

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Authors: Ana C. Sousa, Beatriz C. Santos, Fátima N. Serralha

Abstract:

The Tagus estuary is heavily affected by industrial and urban activities, making bioremediation studies crucial for environmental preservation. Fuel contamination in the area can arise from various anthropogenic sources, such as oil spills from shipping, fuel storage and transfer operations, and industrial discharges. These pollutants can cause severe harm to the ecosystem and the organisms, including humans, that inhabit it. Nonetheless, there are always natural organisms with the ability to resist these pollutants and transform them into non-toxic or harmless substances, which defines the process of bioremediation. Exploring the microbial communities existing in soil and their capacity to break down hydrocarbons has the potential to enhance the development of more efficient bioremediation approaches. The aim of this investigation was to explore the existence of hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms in six locations within the Tagus estuary, three on the north bank: Trancão River, Praia Fluvial do Cais das Colinas and Praia de Algés, and three on the south bank: Praia Fluvial de Alcochete, Praia Fluvial de Alburrica, and Praia da Trafaria. In all studied locations, native microorganisms of the genus Pseudomonas were identified. The bioremediation rate of common hydrocarbons like gasoline, hexane, and toluene was assessed using the redox indicator 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP). Effective hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial strains were identified in all analyzed areas, despite adverse environmental conditions. The highest bioremediation rates were achieved for gasoline (68%) in Alburrica, hexane (65%) in Algés, and toluene (79%) in Algés. Generally, the bacteria demonstrated efficient degradation of hydrocarbons added to the culture medium, with higher rates of aerobic biodegradation of hydrocarbons observed. These findings underscore the necessity for further in situ studies to better comprehend the relationship between native microbial communities and the potential for pollutant degradation in soil.

Keywords: Biodegradability rate, hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms, soil bioremediation, Tagus estuary.

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Authors: Marie Alaghband, Niloofar Yousefi, Ivan Garibay

Abstract:

Facial expressions are important parts of both gesture and sign language recognition systems. Despite the recent advances in both fields, annotated facial expression datasets in the context of sign language are still scarce resources. In this manuscript, we introduce an annotated sequenced facial expression dataset in the context of sign language, comprising over 3000 facial images extracted from the daily news and weather forecast of the public tv-station PHOENIX. Unlike the majority of currently existing facial expression datasets, FePh provides sequenced semi-blurry facial images with different head poses, orientations, and movements. In addition, in the majority of images, identities are mouthing the words, which makes the data more challenging. To annotate this dataset we consider primary, secondary, and tertiary dyads of seven basic emotions of "sad", "surprise", "fear", "angry", "neutral", "disgust", and "happy". We also considered the "None" class if the image’s facial expression could not be described by any of the aforementioned emotions. Although we provide FePh as a facial expression dataset of signers in sign language, it has a wider application in gesture recognition and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) systems.

Keywords: Annotated Facial Expression Dataset, Sign Language Recognition, Gesture Recognition, Sequenced Facial Expression Dataset.

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Authors: Mohd Pouzi Hamzah, Tengku Mohd Tengku Sembok

Abstract:

Phrases has a long history in information retrieval, particularly in commercial systems. Implicit semantic relationship between words in a form of BaseNP have shown significant improvement in term of precision in many IR studies. Our research focuses on linguistic phrases which is language dependent. Our results show that using BaseNP can improve performance although above 62% of words formation in Malay Language based on derivational affixes and suffixes.

Keywords: Information Retrieval, Malay Language, Semantic Relationship, Retrieval Effectiveness, Conceptual Indexing.

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Authors: Tinatin Kurdghelashvili

Abstract:

The paper deals with the usage of speech acts and politeness strategies in an EFL classroom in Georgia (Rep of). It explores the students’ and the teachers’ practice of the politeness strategies and the speech acts of apology, thanking, request, compliment / encouragement, command, agreeing / disagreeing, addressing and code switching. The research method includes observation as well as a questionnaire. The target group involves the students from Georgian public schools and two certified, experienced local English teachers. The analysis is based on Searle’s Speech Act Theory and Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies. The findings show that the students have certain knowledge regarding politeness yet they fail to apply them in English communication. In addition, most of the speech acts from the classroom interaction are used by the teachers and not the students. Thereby, it is suggested that teachers should cultivate the students’ communicative competence and attempt to give them opportunities to practise more English speech acts than they do today.

Keywords: English as a foreign language, Georgia, politeness principles, speech acts.

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Authors: Abd Rasid Abd Rahman

Abstract:

For the past thirty years the Malaysian economy has been said to contribute well to the progress of the nations. However, the intensification of global economy activity and the extensive use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in recent years are challenging government-s effort to further develop Malaysian society. The competition posed by the low wage economies such as China and Vietnam have made the government realise the importance of engaging in high-skill and high technology industries. It is hoped this will be the basis of attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) in order to help the country to compete in globalised world. Using Vision 2020 as it targeted vision, the government has decided to engage in the use of ICTs and introduce many policies pertaining to it. Mainly based on the secondary analysis approach, the findings show that policy pertaining to ICTs in Malaysia contributes to economic growth, but the consequences of this have resulted in greater division within society. Although some of the divisions such as gender and ethnicity are narrowing down, the gap in important areas such as regions and class differences is becoming wider. The widespread use of ICTs might contribute to the further establishment of democracy in Malaysia, but the increasing number of foreign entities such as FDI and foreign workers, cultural hybridisation and to some extent cultural domination are contributing to neocolonialism in Malaysia. This has obvious consequences for the government-s effort to create a Malaysian national identity. An important finding of this work is that there are contradictions within ICT policy between the effort to develop the economy and society.

Keywords: Globalisation, ICTs, ICT Policy, Malaysia, National Identity, Vision 2020

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Authors: G. Erkomaishvili, M. Kobalava, T. Lazariashvili, N. Damenia

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Current state of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia is analyzed and evaluated in the paper, the existing legislative background for regulating investments and stimulating policies to attract investments are shown. It is noted that in developing countries encouragement of investment activity, support and implementation are of the most important tasks, implying a consistent investment policy, investor-friendly tax regime and the legal system, reducing administrative barriers and restrictions, fare competitive conditions and business development infrastructure. The work deals with the determining factor of FDIs and the main directions of stimulation, as well as prospective industries where new investments are needed. Contributing and hindering factors and stimulating measures are analyzed. As a result of the research, the direct and indirect factors attracting FDI have been identified. Facilitating factors to FDI inflow are as follows: simplicity of starting business, geopolitical location, low taxes, access to credit, ease of ownership registration, natural resources, low burden of regulations, low level of corruption and low crime rates. Hindering factors to FDI inflow are as follows: small market, lack of policy for attracting investments, low qualification of the workforce (despite the large number of unemployed people it is difficult to find workers with necessary special skills and qualifications), high interest rates, instability of national currency exchange rate, presence of conflict zones within the country and so forth.

Keywords: Foreign direct investment, investment attracting policies, investor, reinvestment.

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Authors: M. A. Torkamani, S. Mahmoodzadeh, S. Pourroostaei, C. Lucas

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Daily production of information and importance of the sequence of produced data in forecasting future performance of market causes analysis of data behavior to become a problem of analyzing time series. But time series that are very complicated, usually are random and as a result their changes considered being unpredictable. While these series might be products of a deterministic dynamical and nonlinear process (chaotic) and as a result be predictable. Point of Chaotic theory view, complicated systems have only chaotically face and as a result they seem to be unregulated and random, but it is possible that they abide by a specified math formula. In this article, with regard to test of strange attractor and biggest Lyapunov exponent probability of chaos on several foreign exchange rates vs. IRR (Iranian Rial) has been investigated. Results show that data in this market have complex chaotic behavior with big degree of freedom.

Keywords: Chaos, Exchange Rate, Nonlinear Models.

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Authors: Haksoon Kim

Abstract:

The paper investigates the relationship between the foreign direct investment (FDI) and the corporate governance or transparency by investigating the country-level FDI flows, FDI inward performance, corporate governance and transparency variables. From the regression analysis with Newey-West estimator of 28 country panel data from 1990- 2002, we find strong positive relationships between corporate governance or transparency level of hosting countries and FDI inward performance within hosting countries. A strong positive relationship is found between anti-director rights level or number of analysts of hosting countries and FDI inward performance within hosting countries. Also, we find a positive relationship between the number of analysts of hosting countries and FDI inflows. The empirical results are consistent with stock market liberalizations and corporate governance explanations of reasons for FDI.

Keywords: corporate governance, corporate transparency, FDIflows, FDI inward performance

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Authors: S. Turkan

Abstract:

In this paper, the Turkey’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises data in 2014 were analyzed by data envelopment analysis. Data envelopment analysis is used to detect efficient decision-making units such as universities, hospitals, schools etc. by using inputs and outputs. The decision-making units in this study are enterprises. To detect efficient enterprises, some financial ratios are determined as inputs and outputs. For this reason, financial indicators related to productivity of enterprises are considered. The efficient foreign weighted owned capital enterprises are detected via super efficiency model. According to the results, it is said that Mercedes-Benz is the most efficient foreign weighted owned capital enterprise in Turkey.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, super efficiency, financial ratios, BCC model.

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Authors: Khaled Hamdan, Abid Amorri, Fatima Hamdan

Abstract:

Involving students in English language learning process and achieving an adequate English language proficiency in the target language can be a great challenge for both teachers and students. This can prove even a far greater challenge to engage students with special needs (Dyslexia) if they have physical impairment and inadequate mastery of basic communicative language competence/proficiency in the target language. From this perspective, technology like robots can probably be used to enhance learning process for the special needs students who have extensive communication needs, who face continuous struggle to interact with their peers and teachers and meet academic requirements. Robots, precisely NAO, can probably provide them with the perfect opportunity to practice social and communication skills, and meet their English academic requirements. This research paper aims to identify to what extent robots can be used to improve students’ social interaction and communication skills and to understand the potential for robotics-based education in motivating and engaging UAEU dyslexic students to meet university requirements. To reach this end, the paper will explore several factors that come into play – Motion Level-involving cognitive activities, Interaction Level-involving language processing, Behavior Level -establishing a close relationship with the robot and Appraisal Level- focusing on dyslexia students’ achievement in the target language.

Keywords: Dyslexia, robot technology, motion, interaction, behavior and appraisal levels, social and communication skills.

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Authors: M. Athar Hussain, N.B. Jumani, Munazza Sultana., M. Zafar Iqbal

Abstract:

Language Reforms and potential use of ICTs has been a focal area of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Efforts are being accelerated to incorporate fast expanding ICTs to bring qualitative improvement in language instruction in higher education. This paper explores how university teachers are benefitting from ICTs to make their English class effective and what type of problems they face in practicing ICTs during their lectures. An in-depth qualitative study was employed to understand why language teachers tend to use ICTs in their instruction and how they are practicing it. A sample of twenty teachers from five universities located in Islamabad, three from public sector and two from private sector, was selected on non-random (Snowball) sampling basis. An interview with 15 semi-structured items was used as research instruments to collect data. The findings reveal that business English teaching is facilitated and improved through the use of ICTs. The language teachers need special training regarding the practices and implementation of ICTs. It is recommended that initiatives might be taken to equip university language teachers with modern methodology incorporating ICTs as focal area and efforts might be made to remove barriers regarding the training of language teachers and proper usage of ICTs.

Keywords: Information and communication technologies, internet assisted learning, teaching business English, online instructional content.

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