Credit Risk, Macroeconomic and Bank Specific Factors in Jordanian Banks

High volume of risks facing banks is one of the most important reasons behind their failure. The exposure of banks to risks measured by risk index could indicate the extent of the vulnerability of banks to adverse performance. This thesis applies risk index to measure risk exposure of 23 Jordanian banks during 1995 to 2008. Findings reveal that the average risk index of banks is 17.5 units in comparison to the mean industry index of 17.9 units. The lower value for risk index for the banks in the sample in comparison to the industry mean reflects the higher risk borne by some of the banks in the sample. Further investigation provides evidence that a bank with a higher risk index level has strong capital and profit relative to the volatility of their returns. Among the banks, Arab Jordan Investment Bank has the highest index of 33.3 units, while Jordan Investment and Finance Bank has the lowest index of 6.8 units. For industry risk index, the highest value for the risk index is 35 units (in 2006), while the lowest of 11 units in 1997. The low risk index showed high risks faced by the Jordanian banks in 1997. This is due to low economic performance where GDP decline from 6.2 percent in 1995 to 2.1 percent and 3.3 percent in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Most banks achieved low net income, which affect negatively their profitability. In addition to measure risk index, this thesis investigates the relationship between risk index and banks size. Results show that there exist significant differences between the mean of risk index between large, medium and small banks. Large banks have a significant mean difference among group of banks. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship was found between risk index and banks' size, which suggest that the larger the banks, the safer they are. This thesis also measures market risk of banks during the test period using single index market model and Dimson's procedure with 2 lag and 1 lead to correct non-synchronous trading effect. The results show that the average market risk (beta) measure of Jordanian listed banks over 1995-2008 is 0.461, which indicates a very low market risk in terms of price volatility. Among the banks, Arab Bank has the highest average beta of 0.766, and Ahli Bank has the lowest market risk of 0.327. An investigation of the trend of average market risk during a study period reveal that the changes in market risk are mainly due to a fluctuation of financial market and movements of the prevailing interest rate. Finally, this thesis investigates the determining variables of credit risk among the sample banks. According to the Capital Assets Pricing theory, risks are attributable by external factors and internal factors. Hence, twelve variables comprising five macroeconomic variables (aggregate economic activity, inflation, money supply, interest rate and market risk), and seven bank specific variables (lag non performing loans, provision of loan losses, loan growth, equity capital ratio, loan concentration in risky sectors, net interest margin and size) are applied as independent variables. The dependent variable is credit risk, which is measured by non performing loans to total loans ratio. Four theories which are financial intermediation theory, agency theory, diversification theory and capital assets theory formed the theoretical framework in this study. OLS regression model was used to investigate the determinants of credit risk in the Jordanian banks. The results show that all the macroeconomic variables together explain 51.9 percent of the variation of credit risk. From the five macroeconomic variables, three were found statistically significant. They are GDP, inflation and market interest rate. Our study shows that bank specific variables were found to affect credit risk more than the external variables. All bank specific variables explain 73 percent variation of credit risk. This indicates a strong association between bank specific variables and banks credit risk exposure. Five variables which are non performing loan, loan growth, loan concentration in risky sectors and banks size were found as significant determinants of credit risk at the Jordanian banks. On a pool basis, all macroeconomic variables and bank specific variables together explain 72 percent of the banks' credit risk. For the whole model, net interest margin was found significant and negatively related to credit risk. In conclusion, this thesis assesses the risk exposure and for the first time, empirically determines the variables affecting credit risk of the Jordanian banks. As credit risk is the main risk that could lead to bank failure, the results imply that the management of the Jordanian banks should pay great attention to the significant factors, in particular their non performing loans and loan growth. The positive and significant relationship between banks' risk index and their size supports the Basel Accord standards, where the greater the bank risks, the higher should be the size of their capital base in order to ensure that the risks adequately be covered

THE EFFECT OF THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION ON UNIVERSITY PARTICIPANTS` ACQUISITION OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of the language of instruction on the participants’ acquisition of the scientific terms with respect to their knowledge, usage, proficiency, adoption and evaluation in two Arab universities. The faculty members and the students of the faculties of Engineering and Medical sciences in the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), where the medium of instruction is English , and the University of Damascus (UD), where Arabic is the medium of instruction, were the participants in the study. They were 991 students of different scientific fields at JUST, and 729 students at the UD. The students ranged from third-year level to graduate studies level. Also, 132 faculty members in different scientific fields at JUST, and 109 faculty members at the UD participated in the study. The results of the study show that there were statistically significant differences between the means of the criteria of knowledge, usage, proficiency, adoption and evaluation of the Arabicized terms due to the effect of the language of instruction (i.e., English language) in favor of JUST, and there were statistically significant differences between the means of the criteria of knowledge, usage, proficiency, adoption and evaluation of the Arabic equivalent terms due to the effect of the language of instruction (i.e., Arabic) in favor of the UD. The results of the study, also show that the percentage of the participants’ responses to the items that ask about their use of the Arabicized scientific terms in JUST is 93.3%, which is higher than that in UD which was 27.8%. Also, the percentage of the participants’ responses to the items that ask about their use of the Arabic equivalents in UD is 72.2%, which is higher than that in JUST which was 6.7%. The result is ultimately due to the effect of the medium of instruction at each university. In light of the findings of the study, it was recommended that research in different scientific fields other than medical and engineering fields be conducted to explore the role of the medium of instruction in the acquisition of the scientific terms

Virheilmoitusten raportointijärjestelmä PHP - ja Zend Framework 2 pohjaisessa verkkosovelluksessa : case: eKeiretsu Oy

Tämä opinnäytetyö käsittelee virheilmoitusten raportointijärjestelmän suunnitelman toteutusta. Päätutkimusongelmana haetaan vastausta siihen, miten PHP:ssä toteutetaan virheilmoitusten raportointijärjestelmä? Alaongelmina selvitetään, miten Zend Framework 2:n käyttö vaikuttaa järjestelmän toteutukseen sekä, miten järjestelmään kirjataan käyttäjien löytämät virheet? Tämä tutkimus on luonteeltaan kvalitatiivinen ja asetettuihin tutkimusongelmiin haetaan vastausta suunnittelutieteellisellä tutkimusmenetelmällä. Tutkimuksen teoriaosuudessa käsitellään olemassa olevia teknologioita, virheilmoitusten käsittelyä, käyttäjien huomaamia virheitä sekä tietoturvaa. Nämä käsiteltävät aiheet ovat kohdeyrityksen kehittämän verkkosovelluksen määrittämiä. Verkkosovellus on tehty PHP verkko-ohjelmointikielellä sekä sen Zend Framework 2 ohjelmistokehyksen avulla. Opinnäytetyön kohdeyritys on asettanut työn tutkimustehtäväksi tehdä suunnitelma virheilmoitusten raportointijärjestelmää varten. Tämä suunnitelma tehdään työn empiria osuudessa ja sitä tullaan käyttämään jatkossa tarkemman järjestelmäsuunnittelun pohjana. Tämän työn tuloksena muodostui yleinen käsitys ja suunnitelma siitä, miten virheilmoitusten raportointijärjestelmä kannattaa toteuttaa PHP:ssä. Työssä myös havaittiin, että Zend Frameworkin käyttö helpottaa tällaisen järjestelmän toteuttamista sekä löydettiin vastaus sille, miten käyttäjien löytämät virheet voidaan kirjata.The purpose of this thesis is to develop a plan for an error message reporting system. The theoretical part of the thesis seeks an answer to the research question how to make an error message reporting system in PHP? Sub-questions try to find out whether the use of Zend Framework 2 affects the system design and also how to log user submitted error reports. This is a qualitative study and it seeks to answer the research problems using a design science research methodology. The theoretical part of the thesis consists of existing technologies, the processing of error messages, methods to help users report errors and data security. The technologies analysed in this chapter are those used in the case company’s web application. The web application is created using the PHP programming language and its Zend Framework 2 program framework. The goal set by the case company for this thesis was to produce a plan for an error message reporting system. This plan was created in the empirical part of the thesis and it will be used as a basis for future, more detailed system planning. This study resulted in a general answer to the question how to create an error message reporting system in PHP. The use of Zend Framework 2 was found to be beneficial in making the system more accessible and easier to develop. The thesis also resulted in a general suggestion as to how the application’s users could submit their own error reports

Arabicization and Arabic Expanding Techniques Used in Science Lectures in Two Arab Universities

The aim of this study is to observe directly the various Arabicizationand Arabic expanding techniques which faculty members of two Arabuniversities (Jordan University of Science and Technology [JUST] inJordan and the University of Damascus [UD] in Syria) employ in lectureswhen dealing with scientific terms. The researchers used an observationchecklist to collect the needed data from a chosen sample. The resultsdo not support the original hypothesis of the study since there weresignificant differences in how the JUST and the UD faculty membersemployed the above-mentioned techniques. It is evident from the resultsthat Arabicization techniques were more frequently used in JUST thanin the UD, and Arabic expanding techniques were employed morefrequently in the UD than in JUST. This means that the usage of theArabicized scientific terms in JUST is higher in frequency than in the UD,and the usage of the Arabic equivalents in the UD is higher in frequencythan in JUST. In the light of the findings of the study, it is recommendedthat Arabic can cope with the new influx of scientific terms and that thereare many inactive Arabic terms (or expressions) that can be revived andsubsequently employed as equivalents to scientific terms in English.Finally, the researchers recommend that there should be open channelsof communication among Arabic language academies to coordinatetheir efforts to unify and standardize the use of Arabic terminology inall fields

Potential Inclusion of Multiple Intelligences in Jordanian EFL Textbooks : A Content Analysis

This study examines the potential incorporation of the principles of Multiple Intelligences Theory in the Jordanian EFL textbooks. More specifically, it reports on a content analysis of Action Pack textbooks for the first-, fourth-, eighth- and eleventh-grades by means of content analysis. The findings reveal that the moral, existential and spiritual intelligences are not incorporated in the activities of the textbooks under study; the verbal/linguistic, intrapersonal and spatial/visual intelligences are relatively more incorporated than other intelligences; and the inclusion of multiple intelligences is fairly unbalanced in the four textbooks.Aquest estudi examina la possible incorporació dels principis de la Teoria d'Intel·ligència Múltiple en els llibres de text d'anglès com a llengua estrangera jordans. Més específicament, da un anàlisi del contingut del llibre de text Action Pack per als nivells de primer, quart, vuitè i onzè, mitjançant l'anàlisi de contingut. Els resultats revelen que les intel·ligències morals, existencials i les 15 intel·ligències espirituals no es troben en els llibres de text que s'han estudiat. Les intel·ligències verb-lingüístiques, intrapersonals i espai-visuals estan relativament més incorporades que altres intel·ligències, i que la inclusió d'intel·ligències múltiples no apareix de forma equilibrada en els quatre llibres de text.Este estudio examina la posible incorporación de los principios de la Teoría de Inteligencia Múltiple en los libros de texto de inglés como lengua extranjera jordanos. Más específicamente, informan sobre un análisis del contenido del libro de texto Action Pack para los niveles primero, cuarto, octavo y undécimo mediante el análisis de contenido. Los resultados revelan que las inteligencias morales, existenciales y las 15 inteligencias espirituales no se encuentran en los libros de texto que se han estudiado. Las inteligencias verbo-lingüísticas, intrapersonales y espacio-visuales están relativamente más incorporadas que otras inteligencias, y que la inclusión de inteligencias múltiples no aparece de forma equilibrada en los cuatro libros de texto.Cette étude examine l'éventuelle intégration des principes de la théorie des intelligences multiples dans les manuels de l'anglais comme langue étrangère Jordaniens. Plus précisément, compte une analyse du contenu du manuel Action Pack pour les niveaux premier, quatrième, huitième et onzième travers l'analyse de contenu. Les résultats révèlent que les intelligences morales, existentielles et spirituelles ne sont pas intégrés dans les activités des manuels à l'étude; Le verbale-linguistique intelligence, intrapersonnelle et visuo-spatiales sont relativement plus intégrés que les autres intelligences, et l'inclusion des intelligences multiples est assez déséquilibrée dans les quatre manuels

The Effect of an Integration-Based Instructional Strategy on Developing EFL Students' Listening Skills at Al-Al Bayt University

Listening is a language skill that people in general and students in specific may need it more than some of the other language skills such as reading and writing in their everyday life and communication. Yet, the integration of the four language skills should be always emphasized when learning any foreign language since this reinforces each other and represents the natural acquisition of the language. The current study aims to examine the effect of an instructional program based on integrating the four language skills on Jordanian undergraduate EFL students' listening comprehension skills and to find out their attitudes regarding the effectiveness of this program on improving their listening skills. In order to collect the data , the researchers used two instruments: pre-post test and an interview. The study is a quasi-experimental one, and the subjects of the study were 61 students from Al Al Bayt University in Jordan. The subjects were divided into two groups: the control one had 24 students while the experimental one had 37. The findings of the study reveal that there is a significant difference at ( α= 0.05) between the means of the two groups at the listening post-test due to the program. In addition, the instructional program proves to be effective for the students of the experimental group who believe that the program improved their listening skills