Ikhlaas Gurrib

Prof. Dr. Ikhlaas Gurrib

Faculty of Management, Canadian University of Dubai, Dubai, Dubayy, United Arab Emirates
orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

20Years (2007-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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16 August 2023 in Sustainability
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Firuz KamalovFiruz Kamalov
Firuz Kamalov
DCDavid Santandreu Calonge
David Santandreu Calonge
IGIkhlaas Gurrib
Ikhlaas Gurrib
The recent high performance of ChatGPT on several standardized academic tests has thrust the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) into the mainstream conversation about the future of education. As deep learning is poised to shift the teaching paradigm, it is essential to have a clear understanding of its effects on the current education system to ensure sustainable development and deployment of AI-driven technologies at schools and universities. This research aims to investigate the potential impact of AI on education through review and analysis of the existing literature across three major axes: applications, advantages, and challenges. Our review focuses on the use of artificial intelligence in collaborative teacher–student learning, intelligent tutoring systems, automated assessment, and personalized learning. We also report on the potential negative aspects, ethical issues, and possible future routes for AI implementation in education. Ultimately, we find that the only way forward is to embrace the new technology, while implementing guardrails to prevent its abuse.

15 December 2021 in Studies in Economics and Finance
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
IGIkhlaas Gurrib
Ikhlaas Gurrib
FKFiruz Kamalov
Firuz Kamalov
Purpose: Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) attracted a lot of attention in recent months due to their unprecedented price fluctuations. This paper aims to propose a new method for predicting the direction of BTC price using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) together with sentiment analysis. Design/methodology/approach: Concretely, the authors train an LDA-based classifier that uses the current BTC price information and BTC news announcements headlines to forecast the next-day direction of BTC prices. The authors compare the results with a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model and random guess approach. The use of BTC price information and news announcements related to crypto enables us to value the importance of these different sources and types of information. Findings: Relative to the LDA results, the SVM model was more accurate in predicting BTC next day’s price movement. All models yielded better forecasts of an increase in tomorrow’s BTC price compared to forecasting a decrease in the crypto price. The inclusion of news sentiment resulted in the highest forecast accuracy of 0.585 on the test data, which is superior to a random guess. The LDA (SVM) model with asset specific (news sentiment and asset specific) input features ranked first within their respective model classifiers, suggesting both BTC news sentiment and asset specific are prized factors in predicting tomorrow’s price direction. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the potential effect of crypto-related sentiment and BTC specific news on BTC’s price using LDA and sentiment analysis.

1 March 2021 in Journal of Computer Science
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
FKFiruz Kamalov
Firuz Kamalov
IGIkhlaas Gurrib
Ikhlaas Gurrib
KRKhairan Rajab
Khairan Rajab
Forecasting directional movement of stock price using machine learning tools has attracted a considerable amount of research. Two of the most common input features in a directional forecasting model are stock price and return. The choice between the former and the latter variables is often subjective. In this study, we compare the effectiveness of stock price and return as input features in directional forecasting models. We perform an extensive comparison of the two input features using 10-year historical data of ten large cap US companies. We employ four popular classification algorithms as the basis of the forecasting models used in our study. The results show that stock price is a more effective standalone input feature than return. The effectiveness of stock price and return equalize when we add technical indicators to the input feature set. We conclude that price is generally a more potent input feature than return value in predicting the direction of price movement. Our results should aid researchers and practitioners interested in applying machine learning models to stock price forecasting.

25 March 2019 in Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
IGIkhlaas Gurrib
Ikhlaas Gurrib
Firuz KamalovFiruz Kamalov
Firuz Kamalov
This study proposes refinements to some weaknesses in the Relative Strength Index (RSI) model and tests its predictability over pre and post crisis periods for the most active USD based currency pairs, including two energy markets. A new model (AdRSI) is tested using daily data over 2001–2015. Benchmarked against RSI and buy-and-hold models, findings support an inverse relationship between energy and currency markets. While energy markets had relatively higher risk, Chinese yuan had the lowest annualized risk. AdRSI produced higher annualized returns, lower number of trades and higher annualized risk. Overall, the buy-and-hold model was superior with higher reward-to-volatility.

8 November 2020
Verified
Conference Paper
Closed access
FKFiruz Kamalov
Firuz Kamalov
LSLinda Smail
Linda Smail
IGIkhlaas Gurrib
Ikhlaas Gurrib
In this paper, we compare various approaches to stock price prediction using neural networks. We analyze the performance fully connected, convolutional, and recurrent architectures in predicting the next day value of S&P 500 index based on its previous values. We further expand our analysis by including three different optimization techniques: Stochastic Gradient Descent, Root Mean Square Propagation, and Adaptive Moment Estimation. The numerical experiments reveal that a single layer recurrent neural network with RMSprop optimizer produces optimal results with validation and test Mean Absolute Error of 0.0150 and 0.0148 respectively.

12 July 2019 in Studies in Economics and Finance
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
IGIkhlaas Gurrib
Ikhlaas Gurrib
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to shed fresh light into whether an energy commodity price index (ENFX) and energy blockchain-based crypto price index (ENCX) can be used to predict movements in the energy commodity and energy crypto market. Design/methodology/approach: Using principal component analysis over daily data of crude oil, heating oil, natural gas and energy based cryptos, the ENFX and ENCX indices are constructed, where ENFX (ENCX) represents 94% (88%) of variability in energy commodity (energy crypto) prices. Findings: Natural gas price movements were better explained by ENCX, and shared positive (negative) correlations with cryptos (crude oil and heating oil). Using a vector autoregressive model (VAR), while the 1-day lagged ENCX (ENFX) was significant in estimating current ENCX (ENFX) values, only lagged ENCX was significant in estimating current ENFX. Granger causality tests confirmed the two markets do not granger cause each other. One standard deviation shock in ENFX had a negative effect on ENCX. Weak forecasting results of the VAR model, support the two markets are not robust forecasters of each other. Robustness wise, the VAR model ranked lower than an autoregressive model, but higher than a random walk model. Research limitations/implications: Significant structural breaks at distinct dates in the two markets reinforce that the two markets do not help to predict each other. The findings are limited by the existence of bubbles (December 2017-January 2018) which were witnessed in energy blockchain-based crypto markets and natural gas, but not in crude oil and heating oil. Originality/value: As per the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to analyze the relationship between leading energy commodities and energy blockchain-based crypto markets.