مطالب

The present study investigates the impact of macroeconomic and bank-specific variables on non-performing loans (NPLs). To avoid the identification problem, two models are employed to address this impact. The first one tests the effect of macroeconomic variables including the growth of oil revenues, inflation, and the growth of GDP without the oil sector on the growth of NPLs. Data is quarterly over the period 2004:3 to 2019:3. The transition variable in this setup is the growth of oil revenues and its threshold is 9 percent, which divides the sample into oil booms and oil recessions. According to the results, inflation has a significant positive effect on NPLs. During the oil boom, oil revenues decrease the NPLs. Due to the immense size of the government and its current and capital expenditures, when oil revenues are lower, the government forces banks to allocate loans to finance projects with long maturity. Furthermore, the present study used PSTR to test the impact of bank-specific variables consisting of interest rate spread, loan loss provision, loan to deposit ratio, and NPLs. To do so, monthly data of 10 banks is used over 2016:04 to 2020:12. The transition variable is the interest rate spread at 1 percent, which categorizes the banks into two groups of good and bad. Good banks collect deposits with a low-interest rate and allocate high-rate loans with less chance of default. So, interest spread is the most important prominent determinant of decreasing NPLs, while the loan to deposit ratio is dependent on the banks belonging to which group. For good banks, the loan to deposit ratio decreases the NPLs, while for bad banks, it worsens the growth of NPLs.

Generally, international flows of capital and foreign direct investment attraction are challengeable issues in the literature of economic growth and development in emerging market countries. However, the fluctuations in foreign direct investment, including sudden flood and stop, will affect emerging markets' output and macroeconomic variables. Using an econometric model with unbalanced panel data during 1990-2014 for 38 emerging countries, this study tries to evaluate the determinants of output losses from the sudden stop of foreign direct investment and consider the role of macroeconomic policies. The results show that the sudden stop phenomena and the financial crises have been identified as the main explanatory variables for the output collapse in the selected countries. Moreover, the role of macroeconomic policies is important, and the output losses can be controlled by using active monetary and exchange rate policies.

Economic growth is the most common goal in any economy, and capital is one of the most important determinants of growth. In the last few decades, the use of securities in various countries' capital markets has expanded and has become an essential part of the economic system supplying the capital need for investors and other institutions. This study aims to analyze the effect of securities used to finance banks (securitization) on economic growth. For this purpose, the theoretical analysis method is used in the framework of a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model. The theoretical model used is based on Frank Ramsey's (1928) economic growth model. To transform this model into a suitable model for research, the shadow banking system and securitization have been added. The model is then simulated using the calibration method and using the real data of the US economy; then, the macroeconomic changes and fluctuations created by bank securities are explained and analyzed. According to the research findings, issuing securities by banks will lead to slower economic growth. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid the use of securitization in banking.

Stock Exchange Investors have paid more attention to the banking group in recent years so that in many cases, the direction of the banking index has changed the general direction of the market. Therefore, exploring the banking index fluctuation is important from the point of view of investors as well as the direction of the market. The purpose is to examine the effectiveness and direction of news, as one of the most important factors in the formation of volatility, on the banking group index in Tehran Stock Exchange by using 1460 daily records during 2018-2019 and the GARCH family's method. The data were collected for four different newsgroups, including economic, political, psychological, and financial. After that, the news that had more relationship with the banking group was separated to underscore in the weighting stage and divided into the positive and negative news, according to the perspectives of capital market experts and economic elites. The results indicated that newsgroups have a significant effect on the group index, and only the negative political model on the banking group has an asymmetric effect. The results indicated that political and economic news has a positive and significant impact on banking index fluctuations.

Empirical s tudies in the field of the design process s tarted in the 60s. Protocol analysis is among the empirical research methods that have been developed simultaneously with the growth of empirical s tudies. Concurrent with the use of protocol analysis for researching in the field of the design process, analysis methods have been presented by some researchers, which can be used with the protocol analysis method in order to analyze the s tructure of the design process. Among these analysis methods, problem behavior graph, decision tree, linkography, and extended linkography could be mentioned. The problem behavior graph is based on problem-solving theories. In the decision tree method, the extracted data from protocol analysis is used for the perception of decision-making processes. Linkography is another method for analyzing the s tructure of the design process. In this method, the design process of a designer is unfolding by drawing a graph, which is called linkograph. This paper considers making a s tudy and comparison of these different analysis methods by the use of sys tematic review. By comparison of diverse analysis methods, two approaches could be recognized, formal and informal ones. In the formal approach, the design is mentioned as a logical research process of solving the design problem. The second approach is informal. In this one, the design process is mentioned as a reflective conversation with the situation. In this approach, which is based on Donald Schon’s theories, the design process is referred as an argumentative process.

The s tudy endeavors to identify and analyze the relationship between physical elements in his torical texture walls in the Qajar, Pahlavi, and contemporary periods; and classify the factors affecting the resident's sense of satisfaction in these neighborhoods. The research method is consis ts of both correlation in the firs t part and descriptive-analytical technique in the second part. In this regard, the criteria and indicators of physical factors in the context and neighborhood wall include the scale of proportions and height, entrances and portals, windows, and context and ornoments in the walls of residential, commercial, and cultural facades have specified. This Physical indicators consis t of relationships and organization, specific locations, and local services. In continue, a significant relationship and correlation between the desired variables were identified. Indicators were evaluated in three different textures in the his torical periods. The positive and negative points of each period were dis tinguished, and the privilege parameters of each neighborhood were examined. Then the general s tructure was explained and drawn to develop the context and body of the neighborhood walls. The results show that people are more inclined to live in neighborhoods with the same height scale and proportions and similar ornoments and appropriate to their specific use. People also tend to live in residential buildings with high-end entrances amids t large windows covered with curtains and wrought iron.

Believing in the world of Mesal has always been relevant in the beliefs of the illuminationis ts (ishrāq). This world has proximity to the world of Barzakh in the viewpoints of Muslims as the layers of the spiritual unconscious. Therefore, it’s borne results in the ideology of philosopher’s line Mulla Sadra in the Safavid era. Since architecture has always been a language for the values of its time, especially the unconscious of the society, to find out how and if the world of Mesal is manifes ted in the Safavid architecture, this writing is s tudying this case in the architecture of this era. Using the descriptive-analytical method, the present s tudy has s tudied the ornaments of Isfahan’s Imam Mosque to evaluate its conformity with the world of Mesal in the Muslims’ beliefs. The descriptive-analytical research method and information-gathering are through the library and observational sources. It’s concluded that the ornaments of Isfahan’s Imam Mosque could be the manifes tation of the details of the Muslims’ beliefs and spiritual subconscious in the Safavid era in Iran, especially Isfahan, and the amount and manner of this matter in the of decorative patterns topic, the numbers used in them and then, the colors in the architectural ornament have been s tudied.

The concept of lifes tyle was initially used in psychology and sociology, but its features gradually gained entry into other fields of s tudy, including housing. Various s tudies have been conducted on applying housing lifes tyle in Iran, as in other countries. In this s tudy, the s tructure and contents of lifes tyle research in the field of housing have been compared to Iranian research. To achieve this goal, 45 English and 13 Persian articles were thoroughly s tudied by the sys tematic review method. The CASP checklis t was used for validity and quality control. The results of this analysis show that there are different views on the methodological approaches so it is sugges ted to use mixed methods. Housing lifes tyle s tudies can be divided into four types of micro and macro scale design, residential preferences, energy consumption in the building, and the meaning of housing. Research on the international scale in the field of meaning and energy consumption is less than design and residential preferences. This is more evident in Iranian s tudies and should be further s tudied in the field of housing planning, residential preferences, and building energy. The number of lifes tyle factors in international s tudies is broader than in Iranian s tudies. However, there is a gap in the field of subjective lifes tyle and its psychological issues.

The current study investigated the impact of an interventionist model of dynamic assessment, using a repetitive process of pretest-teach-posttest design, on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension and classroom engagement. To this end, 40 intermediate participants were selected through convenient sampling from among the English majors of a university in Kerman, Iran, and assigned to two control and experimental groups, each including 20 students. Then, during 4-month period, the experimental group was exposed to reading comprehension class, using an interventionist model of DA, while the control group did not receive ant dynamic assessment program. At the end of the treatment, the participants’ scores on the pretest and post-test were statistically compared. The obtained results revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the scales of reading comprehension skill. A change was also observed in the classroom engagement of the experimental group, but not for the control group. Indeed, the results showed that dynamic assessment can boost participants' performance in a practical and effective way, not only in terms of reading performance but also in terms of motivating more classroom engagement among EFL learners. This finding has implications for teachers to design more efficient courses which are the ultimate goal of education.  

The popularity of integrating technology in language instruction and its fundamental effect on the language learning dimensions has been widely acknowledged whereas learners’ motivation and attitude are expected to be improved in a web-based Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment. Therefore, this paper aimed to investigate the Iranian EFL learners’ motivation to learn English and attitude in a CALL environment. The participants of this study were 120 intermediate EFL learners from two private English language institutes in Isfahan, Iran. They were divided into two equal groups; one experimental group (EG) and one control group (CG). Then, a motivation questionnaire pretest was administered out to check the participants’ motivation at the beginning of the course. As the treatment, the EG learners were taught through CALL-based instruction and the CG learners were taught traditionally. After the treatment, a posttest of motivation and an attitude questionnaire were administered. The outcomes indicated that the CALL-based instruction promoted the participants’ motivation as checked by the Motivation Questionnaire. Moreover, as measured by a 20-item A-CALL attitude questionnaire, it was discovered that the learners in the EG had positive attitudes toward using CALL-based instruction. In light of the findings, a number of conclusions are obtained and several implications are put forward.