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...

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...

the study of air infiltration into the buildings is important from several perspectives that may be noted to energy and design of hvac systems, indoor air quality and thermal comfort and design of smoke control systems. given the importance of this issue, an experimental and numerical study of air infiltration through conventional doors and windows has been explored in iran. to this end, at fir...

writing an academic article requires the researchers to provide support for their works by learning how to cite the works of others. various studies regarding the analysis of citation in m.a theses have been done, while little work has been done on comparison of citations among elt scopus journal articles, and so the dearth of research in this area demands for further investigation into citatio...

abstract this study examines the relationship between reading anxiety and difficulty of texts as well as the relationship between reading anxiety and students perceived difficulty of the texts. since difficulty is a relative concept, i limited its definition by sticking to the readability formula. we also took students perceived difficulty levels into account. therefore, in the present study, ...

learning-oriented assessment seeks to emphasise that a fundamental purpose of assessment should be to promote learning. it mirrors formative assessment and assessment for learning processes. it can be defined as actions undertaken by teachers and / or students, which provide feedback for the improvement of teaching and learning. it also contrasts with equally important measurement-focused appro...

the present study was conducted to investigate the role of summary in teaching grammar process on pre-university students. to this end, 48 male pre-university students in semnan were participants. they were math class that we called experimental group and science class as control group. in order to make sure there was no significant difference in proficiency level of two groups. a pre-test wa...

abstract a fundamental study of “historio-graphic metafiction” and “literary genres”, as introduced in “new historical philosophy”, and tracing them in the works of julian barnes having studied the two novels, the porcupine and arthur & george, by julian barnes, the researcher has applied linda hutcheon’s historio-graphic metafictional theories to them. the thesis is divided into five cha...

heuristics are often used to provide solutions for flow shop scheduling problems.the performance of a heuristic is usually judged by comparing solutions and run times on test cases.this investigation proposes an analytical alternative ,called asymptotic convergence ,which tests the convergence of the heuristic to a lower bound as problem size grows. the test is a stronger variation of worst cas...