there are two major theories of measurement in psychometrics: classical test theory (ctt) and item-response theory (irt). despite its widespread and long use, ctt has a number of shortcomings, which make it problematic to be used for practical and theoretical purposes. irt tries to solve these shortcomings, and provide better and more dependable answers. one of the applications of irt is the as...

recent studies in scientific education as well as foreign and second language instruction suggest that thinking has rarely been an integral part of education and training in classroom. some scholars decried the lack of emphasis on thinking in the institutes and schools. they noted that memorization and drills were rewarded,while inquiry, reflection, and consideration of alternatives were frowne...

the present paper offers a postcolonial reading of two of the best novels by v. s. naipaul – half a life and the mimic men – in five chapters. the focus of this research is on different notions of postcolonial criticism and their application on the two novels as discussed from homi bhabha’s and frantz fanons points of view. having introduced the life and literary career of v. s. naipaul in th...

abstract pragmatics is the study of communicative action in its sociocultural context. communicative action includes not only using speech acts (such as apologizing, complaining, complimenting, and requesting), but also engaging in different types of discourse and participating in speech events of varying length and complexity. the present study aimed to investigate the assessment of pragm...

this study investigated (a) the learners’ existing reading strategy repertoire, (b) the effect of instruction in reading strategies on learners’ strategic performance, and (c) the effect of explicit instruction in top-down reading strategies on reading comprehension ability of intermediate learners. the study was conducted with 40 intermediate efl learners in two groups of experimental and cont...

abstract biometric access control is an automatic system that intelligently provides the access of special actions to predefined individuals. it may use one or more unique features of humans, like fingerprint, iris, gesture, 2d and 3d face images. 2d face image is one of the important features with useful and reliable information for recognition of individuals and systems based on this ...

the primary goal of the current project was to examine the effect of three different treatments, namely, models with explicit instruction, models with implicit instruction, and models alone on differences between the three groups of subjects in the use of the elements of argument structures in terms of toulmins (2003) model (i.e., claim, data, counterargument claim, counterargument data, rebutt...

in this study, the effects of oleothermal modification on physical and mechanical peroperties of fir wood (abeis sp.) blocks were examined. at first, some blocks of fir wood with 5 × 20 × 120 cm dimensions were prepared. the blocks were treated in soybean oil. the effects of 3 factors such as treatments temperature (180and 200 °c), holding time (12 and 15 h) and initial moisture content of wood...

armenias geopolitics and its historical experience have had a determining impact on the character of its foreign policy .present-day armenia is a small, landlocked country with _11,620 square miles area armenias landlocked nature makes it dependent on the benevolence of its neighbors for access to the outside world a fact that gives it a sense of isolation and vulnerability. as it was indic...

in this thesis, ‎‎using‎‎ ‎concept‎s‎ ‎of‎ ‎wavelet‎s‎ ‎theory ‎‎‎som‎e‎ ‎methods‎‎ ‎of‎ ‎th‎e ‎solving‎‎ ‎optimal‎‎ ‎‎con‎tr‎ol‎ problems ‎(ocps)‎‎. ‎g‎overned by time-delay systems is investigated. ‎th‎is‎ thesis contains ‎tw‎o parts. ‎‎first, the method of obtaining ‎o‎f ‎the‎ ‎‎ocps‎ in time delay systems by linear legendre multiwavelets is ‎ ‎presented‎.‎‎‎‎ the main advantage of the meth...