Hot Potatoes: The Merits and Demerits

The present study was firstly meant to review and study the main functions and applications of the Hot Potatoes program and further to identify its main features in terms of the development of various types of language tests and exercises. Secondly the study identified a number of deficiencies both in connection with the applications and the modality of the exercises it produces. The analysis revealed that although the program offers facility in creating different types of exercises together with teacher’s feedback that can be posted online for the ease of access, it is limited in some important areas such as providing interactive activities and synchronous feedback for the learners. Moreover, it was found that the efficiency and usefulness of this program to a great extent depends on the creativity and skills of the teacher who uses the program to create tests. Similarly, the language contents that the teacher uses can have a great influence on the effectiveness of the exercises developed by Hot Potatoes. Therefore, the program by itself gives no advantage in helping learners with their language learning practice and exposure, but only acts as a learning tool

Present a feature selection technique based on machine learning in order to increase the detection rate of classifiers using CHOA algorithm

In creating a pattern classifier, feature selection is often used to prune irrelevant and noisy features to producing effective features. Feature selection algorithms; try to classify an instance with lower dimension, instead of huge number of required features, with higher and acceptable accuracy. In fact an instance may contain useless features which might result to misclassification. An appropriate feature selection methods tries to increase the effect of significant features while ignores insignificant subset of features. In this paper, an efficient feature selection algorithm based on Cheetah optimization algorithm and support vector machine (CHOA-SVM) was used. First a population of cheetahs (feature subsets) were randomly generated, and then optimized by CHOA-SVM wrapper algorithms; finally the best fitness feature subset was applied to SVM classification. Experiments over a standard benchmark demonstrate that applying CHOA-SVM in the context of feature selection is a feasible approach and improves the classification results. The simulation experiment results have proved that the feature subset selection algorithm based on CHOA-SVM is very effective

Providing an efficient framework for power theft detection based on combination of Raven roosting optimization algorithm and clustering and classification techniques

One of the main concerns of power generation systems around the world is electricity theft. One of the goals of the Advanced Measurement Infrastructure (AMI) is to reduce the risk of electricity theft in the electric smart grids. However, the use of smart meters and the addition of a security layer to the measurement system paved the way for electricity theft. Nowadays, machine learning and data mining technologies are used to find abnormal patterns of consumption. The lack of a comprehensive dataset about abnormal consumption patterns, the issue of choosing effective features, the balance between consumer\u27s normal and abnormal consumption patterns, and the choice of type and number of classifiers and how to combine them are the challenges of these technologies. Therefore, a detection system for electricity theft that is capable of effectively detecting theft attacks is needed. To this end, a framework including data preparation phases, feature selection, clustering, and combined modeling have been proposed to address the aforementioned challenges. In order to balance normal and abnormal data, 6 artificial attacks have been created. Moreover, with respect to the Chief element in the Raven optimization algorithm and its two-step search feature, this algorithm has been used in feature selection and clustering phases. Stacking as a two-step combined modeler has been used to strengthen the prediction of accuracy. In the second step of this modeler, the meta-Gaussian Processes algorithm is used due to the high accuracy of detection. The Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA) dataset has been used to evaluate performance. The results show that the proposed method identifies dishonest customers with higher accurac

The Impact of Feedback Provision by Grammarly Software and Teachers on Learning Passive Structures by Iranian EFL Learners

A major concern in today's world of pedagogy in general and language teaching, in particular, is the application of computer-assisted learning to improve students' achievement. There has been a long time that in the classroom setting only the teacher's feedback in a traditional way has been used in teaching. Due to the fact that this kind of notion can be traced back to a traditional attitude toward feedback, we looked for a new alternative in order to bring some innovation in an educational environment, namely Grammarly Software feedback provision. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the impact of feedback provision by Grammarly Software and teachers on learning passive structures by EFL learners. Through convenience sampling, 70 intermediate male and female EFL learners were selected, then they were randomly assigned to two main groups: the experimental and control group. A grammar pre-test, a post-test, and a delayed post-test were administrated to the participants in six sessions. The results of the data gathered from pre-test and post-test reveal that the effect of teacher on learning passive structure, in pre-test and post-test, were more than the effect of Grammarly Software on learning passive structure of the learners, and the effect of Grammarly Software on learning passive structure in delayed post-test scores was more than the effect of teacher on learning passive structure of learners. The results might have implications for language teachers, learners, and materials developers

A Description and Evaluation of Hot Potatoes Web-authoring Software in Educational Settings

In the late twentieth century, information and communication technologies (ICTs) came to the service of education in order to change and facilitate the learning process in pedagogical settings. In order to support the learning process of children and/or students, teachers –along with implying effective teaching principles and techniques in their classrooms −may benefit the potential of the computer and the web-based programs. The educational program Hot Potatoes, innovated by Half-Baked Software, Inc., was designed to allow educators to create interactive, Web-based exercises that can be used by learners at any Internet terminal with a standard Web browser. The software favors six different applications, namely: J Quiz, J Cloze, J Match, J Mix, J Cross and Masher; Moreover, Hot Potatoes program has  also the capability to create interactive Web exercises without programming knowledge. With the help of the above mentioned six modules, educators are able to create different interactive web-based exercises and to combine them into one unit and publish them as Web Page. As such, the current study sheds more light on the use and application of Hot Potatoes software and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of this interactive, Web authoring, pedagogical program

A study on relationship between electronic banking and liquidity management on Iranian banks

E-banking has been extensively developed in recent decades and most banks need to have such services in their daily activities. Therefore, it is necessary that banks do a better management on banks’ liquidity risks. Electronic banking and the expansion of its scale from POSs and ATMs to telephone banking, mobile banking and internet banking have increased banking transactions, significantly. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the relationship between the development of e-banking and liquidity management using liquidity ratios. The focus of this investigation has been on the amounts of transaction of ATM machines, POSs and PIN PADs as the most important means of electronic banking. In this respect, the data obtained from 14 private and public bank representatives of banking system over the period 2007-2012 are considered. Our survey indicates that the characteristics of electronic banking significantly influence on liquidity

Explicit Instruction of Context-embedded Hyperlinked Thematic Words and Vocabulary Recall

AbstractThis follow-up study examined the effect of some strategies on vocabulary recall of 75 Iranian intermediate learners through PowerPoint. Three groups were in the study. Seventy new hyperlinked thematically-related words were explicitly taught in context. The first experimental group used L1 translation via hyperlinks for vocabulary learning, while the second experimental group received English definition in the same way. The control group learned the words using a handout through a traditional method. The results indicated a significant difference between the experimental groups and the control group but not between the experimental groups. The study has some theoretical and pedagogical implications

An Analysis of Pragmatic Competence in 2013 Presidential Election Candidates of Iran: A Comparison of Speech Acts with the Poll Outcomes

This study tried to investigate pragmatic competence in Iran’s 2013 presidential election candidates. The data were collected from the recorded video of a live TV program at the Fararu news source by sampling the third debate. At first, the researchers employed Austin’s (1962) and Searle’s (1975) theory to extract types of speech act strategies used by the candidates. Then, the study used the Pearson chi-square formula to examine the frequency of speech acts types. Moreover, the present study compared types of locutionary, illocutionery, and perlocutionary speech acts used by candidates with the poll outcomes issued by press media, in order to achieve the assumption that speech acts might have a great effect on election’s outcomes. It found three kinds of locutionary acts: declarative, imperative and interrogative. Also, it found five kinds of illocutionary acts used by some candidates: declarative, representative, directive, expressive, and commissive. Consequently, the candidates were almost equally in using locutionary acts, but they were permanently different in illocutionary acts. Finally, in terms of perlocutionary acts, the candidates were mostly intended to get the hearers know by their assertion, explanation, clarification, argumentation, etc

The Effect of Teacher-Centeredness Method vs. Learner-Centeredness Method on Reading Comprehension among Iranian EFL Learners

The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of teacher-centered method versus learner-centered method on reading comprehension of the Iranian EFL learners. In order to do the current research, 120 Iranian EFL learners were selected from Mehrvarz Language Institute located in Tehran, Iran. In order to conduct the research, some steps were taken-administration of the QOPT, administration of the (pretest), the research treatment and administration of the posttest. To analyze the raw data of the research, independent samples t-test by the use of SPSS was applied for inferential statistics. The results revealed that learner-centered and teacher-centered groups had positive results on the improvement of Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension performance. However, it was concluded that learner-centered instruction was more effective than teacher-centered instruction in improving Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension performance. The findings of the present study may be beneficial for materials developers in designing syllabi that are more adaptable with those learner-centered method which help language learners to use language communicatively

The Noticing Function of Output in Acquisition of Rhetorical Structure of Contrast Paragraphs of Iranian EFL University Students

This article is an attempt to contribute to the growing body of research investigating the noticing function of output (cf. Swain 1995 in Izumi/Bigelow 2000: 239), and more specifically the use of output-fronted activities that might prompt FL learners to notice their linguistic problems to facilitate their gain of rhetorical structure of contrast paragraphs in English. Three groups of EFL learners participated in the study. Two groups (the experimental group and comparison group 1) were required to initially produce a paragraph (output 1), then they received a model contrast paragraph to underline, and finally they were asked to produce a contrast paragraph (output 2). For the experimental group, the topic to write was a contrast topic; whereas, the comparison group were to write on a non-contrast topic. The third group (the preemptive comparison group 2) received the teacher's deductive instruction and explanation of contrast paragraphs in English followed by an output to produce a contrast-related paragraph. The results indicated considerable effect of output-fronted activities on learners' noticing the targeted structures and forms. In addition, the output-first-then-input activities were found to be much more effective than pre-emptive input activities