مطالب

The recent global crisis, as a big crash ( Baldwin and Simon , 2009), has reduced foreign demand growth affecting total countries€™ exports. Given the importance of foreign trade to nations and the reality that recent crisis has affected international trade we study the effects of the global financial crisis on trade relations between countries by using Ma and Cheng (2003) approach and by applying gravity model to both selected developed and developing countries during 1998-2010. Emprical results have approved negative effects of financial crisis on international trade in the countries under consideration. The result obtained is evident that such incidence seems to be significant to explain a sharp fall in the world exports.  JEL Classification : G01, F10

This paper presents a neuro-based approach for annual gasoline demand forecast in Iran by taking into account several socio-economic indicators. To analyze the influence of economic and social indicators on the gasoline demand, gross domestic product (GDP), population and the total number of vehicles are selected. This approach is structured as a hierarchical artificial neural network (ANN) based on supervised multi-layer perceptron (MLP), trained with back-propagation (BP) algorithm. This hierarchical ANN is designed properly. The input variables are GDP, population, total number of vehicles and the gasoline demand in the last one year. The output variable is the gasoline demand. The paper proposes a hierarchical network by which the inputs to the ending level are obtained as outputs of the starting levels. Actual Iranian data between 1967 and 2008 were used to test the hierarchical ANN hence; it illustrated the capability of the approach. Comparison of the model predictions with validation data shows validity of the model. Furthermore, the demand for the period between 2011 and 2030 is estimated. It is noticeable that if there will not be any price shock or efficiency improvement in the transportation sector, the gasoline consumption may achieve a threatening level of about 54 billion liters by 2030 in Iran.

511 commercial emails from four Asian countries, namely China, Pakistan, India, and Iran have been analyzed in a mixed-method design. The focus of the study is on the two features of politeness and intimacy. In the quantitative analysis, the model proposed by Brown & Levinson (1987) and that of Coulmas (2005) which have drawn upon the features of indirectness in requesting and the length of letters as the indicators of politeness are used. In the qualitative and descriptive analysis formality in salutation and opening clause as well as the use of abbreviated forms are taken into account. The result shows that Iranians use the most polite style in their business letters, while Chinese use the most intimate discourse. On the other hand, Indians use both the least polite and intimate style in their business letters. Pakistanis’ use of polite and intimate style is not as conspicuous as that of Iranians and Chinese respectively. The findings are hoped to help better inter-cultural understanding, especially with respect to written rhetorical characteristics.

A rich research base suggests that high-stakes tests reforms serve as vehicles for promoting quality of learning, standards of teaching, and credible forms of accountability. Iran’s last decade policies to reform its University Entrance Examinations (UEEs) heralded such a case. What sparked off this reform was the long-lasting pernicious impact of the UEEs on curriculum, instruction, learning, and on societal values and access to the upward social mobility. However, attempts to introduce intended changes are often not as effective as their planners hoped. A scrutiny of change ‘antecedent conditions’ as well as its initial ‘process of diffusion’ i.e., a ‘baseline study’ will ameliorate such a failure (Weir & Roberts, 1994, Fekete et al, 1999). Assessing the feasibility of the UEEs reform through such a ‘baseline study’ is a gap in Iran’s reform initiatives. As such, the authors applied Henrichsen’s (1989) Hybrid Diffusion Model (HDM), underscoring an awareness of and a need for evaluation of any changed program from a multiplex of factors, as its theoretical framework to critically evaluate the reformed program. The paper thus first presents the policy deliberations and steering National Documents that pushed through an assessment-led reform in Iran’s education. Then it sketches a detailed discussion of the contextual policies and practices of the long-lasting UEEs program, its alternative and associated stakes. While the results highlight key political dynamics which drove national policymaking, they are suggestive of the challenges, controversies, and risks that thwart the success rate of ideals intended by the underpinning policies.

Information Systems (IS) and the process of distinguishing Information Systems ontology have been the center of challenge during the 50 years of IS development. The importance of this challenge is emergent in direct link between knowledge development process in IS and the IS ontology. In other words, theorizing and efforts to falsify theories, which have been developed, is influenced by the way IS ontology is approached. Critical realism enjoying the unique approach to the IS ontology based on transcendental realism and critical naturalism can be a useful basis to establish the transdisciplinary view in the process of IS knowledge development. This point of view is important regarding the role of human agent in different layers of the IS ontology as a result of its transcendental ontology. Critical realism develops human role during next stages of knowledge and the methodology development based on the transdisciplinary view to IS. The explanation of a transdisciplinary view to the IS ontology regarding the unique role of human agent in the process of theorizing and knowledge development in Information Systems is presented in this article.

The term paradigm has become a central issue in philosophy of science. Increasing attention to paradigm in public administration, as a branch of social science, is also highlighted. This paper attempts to analysis seven paradigms in public administration research and to study ontological, epistemological, methodological, rhetorical and axiological assumptions of the each paradigm. Finally, we briefly offer some potential areas of public administration that can be informed by seven research paradigm.