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Introduction Being engaged in multiple roles can affect a person's health and well-being and the middle-aged people are usually exposed to this situation more than other age groups. Most of the western studies that have looked at this issue with a demographic lens have introduced middle age as a situation of being caught or sandwiched between the needs of two generations (children and parents). On the other hand, increasing women's participation in paid work means that more middle-aged women are faced with a conflict between their work and family responsibilities, a phenomenon often characterized by the term "double burden" or "second shift" (Bratberg et al., 2002; Hochschild & Machung, 2012). According to the demographic changes of the family in recent years, living arrangements in mid-life have become more complex and heterogeneous (Demey et al., 2011) so that some researchers have used the term "cluttered nest" to describe this period of life, which is in contrast to the "empty nest" stage, that is, when all children leave the parental home (Lingren & Decker, 1992). The available data in Iran showed that the age transition of population has entered the middle-age phase since 2015 (the population aged 30-64) and will remain in this phase for several decades. It is predicted that the share of middle-aged people in Iran will reach more than 50% between 2026 and 2031 (Abassi Shavazi and Sadeghi, 2017: 46). This research aimed to expand the information about the role behaviors of this group by exploring the pattern of multiplicity of roles and its relationship with some of their social and demographic characteristics in the context of the urban society of Iran. The paper tried to answer the following questions: 1) What proportion of middle-aged women and men participate in multiple roles? 2) How does the pattern of mid-life multiple roles change based on people's socio-demographic characteristics? Materials & Methods Using the data from the latest Time Use Survey of Iran, this article examined the prevalence of occupancy and intensity of multiple roles, namely paid work, domestic work, and parenting, as well as the socio-demographic characteristics related to it. The statistical population of this survey included all people aged 15 and older living in urban households across the country and the data included all the daily activities of individuals, as well as demographic, economic and social variables, at the individual and household levels. The impacts of socio-demographic variables on people's intersectionality of roles were assessed using the Poisson regression in the STATA statistical package (version 17). The dependent variable was defined as the number of intense roles, which ranged from zero to three roles. The independent variables included gender, age group, marital status, education, and household size. Discussion of Results & Conclusion The findings showed that (1) multiple roles were more common in the middle age than in other age periods; (2) multiple roles were more prevalnent in men due to the low employment of women; (3) women were more involved in intense multiple roles than men and this pattern was due to the large amount of time that women spent on domestic activities. The results of Poisson regression analysis revealed that the household size reduced the number of intense roles for men and women. This situation indicated a wider division of labor in large households, which alleviated participation in intense multiple roles, especially for women. On the flip side of the coin, the findings showed that middle-aged people in smaller households faced more intense roles and therefore needed interventions to reduce this potentially traumatic experience. With increasing age, the number of women's intense roles increased. This is in line with the hypothesis of role density in late mid-life and near retirement age (Patterson & Margolis, 2019). Married women were more likely to be engaged in intense roles than their widowed or divorced counterparts and college education reduced the number of intense roles for men, but a similar effect was associated with a lower confidence interval for women. Thus, midlife could be a difficult time for married women, who had multiple responsibilities, while being a wife and a housewife. Meanwhile, their physical abilities decreased with age, making this period stressful and unfavorable. In fact, the important finding of this article was the noticeable difference in the pattern of experiencing intense roles between men and women, which showed that the tasks related to the domestic role alone put a heavy burden on the shoulders of middleaged women living in the urban areas of Iran so that its prevalence was more than 4 times that of the men's heavy occupational role. Our results highlighted the need for investigating the impact of multiple-role occupancy on the health and wellbeing of middle-aged people at the national level and designing evidence-based interventions to improve their conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem Definition: What are the reasons for Saudi Arabia's conservative foreign policy shift to an aggressive approach after the Arab spring in Yemen? Purpose: Investigating and analyzing the causes of the Saudi military invasion of Yemen from two geopolitical and ideological aspects and its impact on Saudi Arabia's balancing policy with Iran. Methodology: The study was conducted using the descriptive-analytic method. Data collection method was library one using scientific and research papers and online sites. The theoretical framework of this paper was derived from the theory of balance of power, which emphasizes the (relative) equality of power between the two rival blocs, providing a useful theoretical framework for examining the shift in the conservative approach of Saudi foreign policy to the aggressive approach following the Arab spring developments in Yemen. Result: The findings of this article suggest that Ansarullah's full control over Yemen could change the balance of power for Iran's benefit by endangering Saudi security (provoking Shiites in the south and east as well as threatening oil transit through the strategic Bab al- Mandab Strait) and expand its sphere of influence in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has changed its conservative foreign policy approach to an aggressive foreign policy towards Yemen after changes in Islamic awakening for expanding its influence and maximizing its security on the one hand and to curb the expansion of Iranian influence in the region with the aim of weakening the axis of resistance and balancing strategy on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the northeast of Iran, there are some outcrops of high-Mg ultramafic volcanic rocks. These rocks have been interpreted as an ideal ophiolite sequence related to the closure of Paleo-Tethys. According to detailed field observations, the komatiitic lava flows in Shandiz- Virani- Mashhad Complex (SVMC) and Fariman Complex (FC) are interlayered with the Upper Paleozoic submarine turbiditic sediments (Carboniferous- Permian). These rocks have a wide range of volcanic facies and according to the lithofacies characteristics, are divided into three groups of differentiated, undifferentiated lava flows and pillow lavas with a variety of volcanic textures and glass groundmass and with the main minerals of olivine, chromian spinel, clinopyroxene and amphibole. In this paper, the komatiitic nature of these rocks has been proven by explicit evidence from the field features petrography, internal stratigraphy and mineral chemistry. Also, the interaction of a mantle plume with the late Paleozoic (Permian) northeast subduction zone of Paleo-Tethys in NE Iran is considered as the suitable petrogenetic model involved in the genesis of the Komatiitic magma. This model can well justify and interpret the various geochemical characteristics of the studied rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation is the mirror of climate. So getting information on vegetation status, such as their extent and distribution, is of great importance. It is very difficult and costly to gather information about continuous vegetation changes with conventional methods. Therefore, remote sensing is a very useful method that provides a wide view of a region. The purpose of this study is to examine the average long-term average of Iran's coatings with the help of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). In this paper, the 16 days data of NDVI data of MODIS Aqua from 13/4/1381 to 13/12/1393 were exploited from MODIS web page and then in the base of 10 billion of codes, the long term mean of 16 days NDVI of Iran during the years was calculated. As the NDVI of above 0.2 represents vegetation, the long term mean of vegetation was calculated for each of the 16 days. The findings showed that Iran’s vegetation in the period of December 26th to January 9th is minimum covering about 8 percent of Iran's territory, and from April 15th to May 1th is maximum with 30 percent of coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe role and importance of small and medium-sized enterprises is controversial not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. Internal and external surveys of small and medium-sized firms indicate that financing is one of the most important challenges. The interest rate uncertainty will also have a significant impact on the financing and investment of these companies. The interest rate uncertainty, which is considered as the cost of rent by the investor and the opportunity cost by the depositor, is one of the most important macroeconomic variables in policy making. Therefore, the present article seeks to explain, after explaining SME financing and its position in the Iranian economy, the role of the interest rate uncertainty on SME financing as a challenge. The main aspects of their development are analyzed using a regression analysis. The statistical population of the study is small and medium-sized companies whose financial data is published in the Comprehensive Database of All Listed Companies (CODAL) 70 selected SMEs during 2011-2017. Generaly, the results show a negative and significant effect of interest rate uncertainty on financing at small and medium enterprises in Iran. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested in order to improve the financing of small and medium enterprises in the country, by reducing the amplitude of fluctuations in the real interest rate, the policies based on reducing interest rate uncertainty should be adopted.Kewords: Facility Interest Rate, Financing, Iran, Small and Medium Enterprises, Uncertainty.JEL Classification: D81, G21, L25, E43. Introduction:The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises is controversial not only in developed countries but also in developing countries, usually because of their role in economic development. Researches on SMEs indicate that financing is one of their most important challenges. Both Financing and investing of these companies are affected by interest rate uncertainty. The interest rate, which is considered as the cost of rent by the investor and the opportunity cost by the lender, is mostly recognized as a crucial macroeconomic variable in policymaking. Because of the substantial share of the banking system in the financing of Iranian companies, the interest rate uncertainty can have a considerable impact on their financing and investment. Meanwhile, determination of the interest rate by the government, and asymmetric information between the bank and the applicants of bank facilities has caused uncertainty in this rate. Therefore, considering the effect of uncertainty on the intensity and impact of economic variables, the paper’s object is to explore the role of the interest rate uncertainty in the financing of selected Iranian SMEs. Method and Data:This paper has specified an econometric panel model for the financing of SMEs in Iran which includes a set of main and control variables. To estimate the model, the paper has used relevant data of the selected Iranian SMEs. The sample of the study includes 70 selected SMEs that their financial data is published in the Comprehensive Database of All Listed Companies (CODAL) during 2011-2017. In this study, the dependent variable is the firm financing (total amount of bank facilities per year for the firm) and the independent variables are interest rate uncertainty of bank facilities, inflation, gross domestic product, and a set of variables within the organization (internal variables). Indeed, an attempt has been made to measure the uncertainty indices of the bank interest rate to be used in the model estimation. Hence, this research has measured the uncertainty variable by a method which is called Geometric Brown Motion (GBM). In these methods, the uncertainty variable (interest rate uncertainty) is expected to grow at a constant rate, so the variance of future values of the variable increases during the time. Findings:Based on the results of the F-Leamer test, the Panel data method has been used to estimate the econometric financing model. Then we have used the Hausman statistic to test the selection between two models of Fixed Effects and Random Effects, in which the Fixed Effects model has been finally selected to estimate the model. Generally, the results show a negative and significant effect of interest rate uncertainty on the financing of Iranian SMEs. In general, the empirical findings of this study express the fact that interest rate uncertainty of bank facilities has had a negative and significant effect on the financing of selected Iranian SMEs and this indicates that an increase in interest rates of facilities can lead to some kind of investment risk, which ultimately increases the credit risk of firms and reduce the possibility of receiving future bank facilities to maintain their production capacity. Our findings imply that uncertainty in the Iranian economy has caused a reduction in their investment plans. However, to reach more stability in investment and production, Iranian companies and investors need to develop their business through benefiting from productive and certain bank facilities. Conclusion and discussion: According to the obtained empirical results, decision-makers and policy-makers of the financial sector should try to reduce the interest rate uncertainty of the bank’s loans to improve the Iranian SMEs' financing ability. More specifically, the main attempts can be based on reducing fluctuations in the real interest rate and asymmetric information in the Iranian banking facilities sector through the development of efficient financial tools and any reduction in the uncertainty of the bank’s interest rate. Indeed, incomplete or asymmetric information between the borrowers and the bank (lending institution) is one of the basic problems in the financing system that the consequences could be uncertainty increasing, limited access to future credits, an uncertainty between banks and SMEs in the formation of stable and long-term relationships, corruption and rents in the distribution of resources, and also it has a negative effect on the financing of SMEs by the banking system.

Due to the extensive territory including the fertile plains and the productive population, the Sasanids could attain the powerful and wealthy situation during the late antiquity. Nevertheless, the vast territory caused some problems regarding threatening the political integration of Iran. The eastern provinces locating far from the capital of the Sassanid government were in a very exposed position to invaders coming from Hephthalites as well-known groups of the invading nomads were considered as the main enemy of Sassanid in the eastern Iran. Hephthalites could occasionally determine the international relationships between Iran and its neighbours. Moreover, they played an important role in the formation of the cultural and artistic practices of the eastern Sassanid. In order to recognise the Hephthalites' influence on the Sassanid Iran, we need firstly to study their ethnical attributes and lifestyles and secondly to know the borders of their territory throughout history. In pursuing these purposes, the paper, while relying on the historical documents, would explain the history of Hephthalites in eastern Iran and describe their material cultures indicating their history and culture. Synchronised study of history, geography, and material culture of the Hephthalites would help us to introduce a new approach to history and archaeology of the eastern Iran in Sassanid period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing tourists' photos' visual content proves to be an effective method for understanding their behaviors and preferences in tourism destinations. This approach can serve as a valuable tool for precision marketing of tourism destinations, including tourist villages. The present study employed a novel methodology by conducting visual analysis of data. The analysis considered the characteristics of the photos, describing the observable appearance of themes and specific features within the collection. Subsequently, the most significant items, their frequency, simultaneity, and categories were identified and the relevant items were coded. For this study, a sample of 548 uploaded photos of Iranian villages on Flickr was selected and analyzed. Through the photo analysis, 21 dominant scenes in villages were identified and further classified into 5 attractions and 9 types of tourism. ArcGIS was employed for spatial analysis to examine differences in tourists' perceptions and behaviors. The study findings revealed that attractions, such as landscapes, infrastructure, and scenes of rural houses had captured the interest of tourists visiting Iranian rural destinations. These attractions were perceived more frequently compared to others. Additionally, among the various types of tourism, rural tourism emerged as the predominant perception among tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Election participation, as one of the most important forms of political participation, has a special place in the discussions of political sociology, in general, and election sociology in particular. While we are witnessing various elections in Iran every year, but in contrast to other political phenomena such as the revolution that rarely happens and we are dealing with rich literature in this field, the election process has major theoretical and experimental weaknesses. The lack of compatibility of research findings on the relationship between education and electoral participation over the past four decades in Iran shows that there is no consensus on this issue, because there was no critical analysis in this regard. Material & Methods This paper tries to explain the electoral participation on the basis of education and literacy from the point of view of explanation and causation, not commentary or explanation. The research method in this study is an in-country comparative (longitudinal) method. In this way, the social units (here, the city and the province) are to be compared. In collecting data, a library survey technique including books, articles, research papers, dissertations, etc., and secondary documentary evidence from the holding of the presidential election in the twelfth year (2017) and other documentary data from relevant websites have been used. The statistical population included all of the documentary data in 31 provinces of the country and 429 counties in the 12th presidential election. The "year-province" analysis unit and the year-city are the political-social units with a well-defined geopolitical definition and characteristics of a political entity (i.e., political, provincial, or social). The statistical population of this study is all the cities and provinces of the country in the studied sections. In this paper, election participation is limited to the 12th presidential election. The elections to the Islamic Consultative Assembly cannot be seen at this level due to the interference of ethnic, cultural, and regional trends. Discussion of Results & Conclusions The initial analysis showed that the correlation between literacy rate and electoral participation in the provinces of the country (31 provinces) show that there is a direct relationship between electoral participation and literacy rate and there is no relation between gender and urban and rural variables. In the next statistical analysis, with the entry of the educational levels as an effective factor, the previous relationship is destroyed; in this way, the correlation was obtained in the relationship between electoral participation and the literacy rate which was not linear, but there was a nonlinear relation between the levels of education and the participation of the electorate. There are positive coefficients between electoral participation and percentage of total students, and the percentage of MS students and the negative coefficient between the number of undergraduate students in the province and the participation of the electorates. The relationship between the level of students at different levels shows that there is a positive relationship between the number of undergraduate students in a province and the participation in the election and the number of students in a province and electoral participation. Other relationships are weak and non-significant. The research showed that the relationship between literacy rate and direct election participation is the best predictor of urban literacy rate. Also, the research showed that the relationship between electoral participation and lower levels of diploma and diploma level is higher than direct, but in the regression equation, none of these variables (percent of people with different educational levels) do not have the power to predict the level of electoral participation. In order to solve this contradiction, we try to provide consistent results by changing the level of analysis to the level of the city, by obtaining the conflicting results of the above-mentioned analysis presented at the systemic level (province). In a separate statistical analysis of the educational levels, the county level shows that the relationship between electoral participation and the percentage of people to direct educational level is direct, with the percentage of people with a higher educational level than the secondary school level. The overall results of the equation show that the level of electoral participation is influenced by the level of education of the city and this variable alone can explain the participation of the electorate. The effect on the electoral participation is negative. The research showed that there is a fundamental difference between electoral participation and political participation, and contrary to the modernization theory between education, education and electoral participation (not political participation), there is no linear relationship. With increasing education to the level of diplomas, election participation increases. And with the increase in university education, the level of electoral participation decreases. Also, at the theoretical level, the research has shown that political culture can explain the impact of education and literacy on electoral participation.

Members of Polyphysaceae (Acetabulariaceae) are very beautiful and attractive unicellular plants which grow on coral reefs of the intertidal regions especially in tropical oceans and seas. In this study morphological features of some collected and identified species of the family from the Iranian seashores of Persian Gulf has been reported. Parvocaulis parvulus, Acetabularia caliculus and Parvocaulis clavatus are three identified species in the studied area which mainly collected from Hormozgan province seashores. Cap forms, number and form of rays, form of corona, hair scars and size of vegetative and reproductive parts of each species were studied after decalcification and results were presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Literary tourism plays a crucial role in generating wealth and creating jobs worldwide, particularly in Iran and other developing countries. It serves as a fundamental pillar of tourism, offering societies a new path for knowledge, progress, and long-term sustainability. Purpose: This study aimed to identify the key factors driving the advancement of literary tourism in Iran. Research method: To achieve this objective, the study adopted an applied approach with an interpretive and analytical focus. Methodologically, it fell within the realm of qualitative and quantitative research. The analysis utilized grand theory, Delphi, and the Structural Self-Interaction Matrix (SSIM) model. The research population consisted of experts and elites in the broader field of tourism with a specific emphasis on literary tourism. Targeted sampling methods were employed to select a sample size of 30 individuals for data collection. Findings: The study identified several categories for enhancing the development of literary tourism in Iran. These categories included improving managerial and institutional practices, increasing investment in literary tourism and related initiatives, enhancing competitiveness through effective advertising, considering legal aspects, and constructing a localized model. Such factors as discourse narratives, educational initiatives, specialized activity development, and literary route creation were determined through a two-stage Delphi method research and confirmed to be significant by expert consensus. The subsequent analysis using the SSIM Matrix revealed that improvements in managerial and institutional measures exerted influence over other factors. Additionally, formulation of a local literary tourism model, encompassing discourse narratives, education, specialized activity development, and literary route creation emerged as a crucial factor in attracting literary tourists, influencing other factors while also being influenced by them in return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the world has seen a meteoric rise in e-commerce which can be defined as the sharing of business information, maintaining of business relationships, and conducting of business transactions by means of telecommunications networks. Nowadays, online business is considered as one of the most important business strategies for sales and customer services. A website does not only represent a company, but also provides new product/service information, online transaction capability, 24/7 customer support, and access to a broader range of products and services. A website presence lends greater benefits when the products and services offered by an organization are intangible and frequently purchased, as is the case of financial and insurance services. Web-Enabled Technology has changed the mentality of conducting business in the financial markets. On the other hand, customers are pushing for faster, better, and more convenient service from their financial service providers. At the same time, the internet has lowered the barriers of entry into the industry. Most studies in e-commerce systems' success are relying upon consumer's technology acceptance or electronic readiness of supplying companies. But different studies have shown that a comprehensive acceptance is needed for success of these systems. There are a few studies that focused on both demand (consumers) and supply (companies) aspects. In this paper, we are proposing a new integrated model for electronic insurance success which considers both insured's acceptance and insurer's readiness. The results of this empirical study showed that there is a direct relationship between perceived usefulness and e-insurance acceptance by customers and also between organizational and technological attributes and e-readiness of insurance companies. In addition, the research findings showed the relationship of both customers' acceptance and companies' e-readiness with e-insurance success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the floristic survey on the Salaheddinkola forests (Nowshahr). These forests posses high variations in elevation ranges and special physiographic properties, which form the growth platform for most of the typical Hyrcanian forest species. The floristic-physiognomic investigation of the region was performed using field-walk procedure and revealed 237 plant species belonging to 196 genera and 85 families. The important families were Asteraceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae and Fabaceae with 23, 20, 14, 13 and 10 species, respectively which represented 33.17 percent of the total species. According to Raunkaiaer method, Cryptophytes (28.7%), Hemicryptophytes (27.5%) and Phanerophytes (22.5%) were the most important structure groups of the local biological spectrum followed by Therophytes (17.7%) and Chamaephytes (3.4%) Chorotypes. According to Zohary, most of the identified species belonged to Euro-Siberian and Pluriregional regions with 79 (33.6%) and 62 (26%) taxa, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indians and Iranians, as the oldest Aryan groups, had a special worldview about the forces of good and evil and a special attitude toward the forces that surrounded man and influenced people's lives. Examining the religious attitude of these civilizations toward the power and ability of demons/asuras and their assistants and the influence of demons on human life is one of the important issues that we will address in this research. The main question of this research is: What different or similar attitudes did the ancient Iranians and Indians have toward the ability and performance of evil forces (whether it is possible to give importance and credit to human existence as a competitor or helper against harmful and evil beings)? The results of the present descriptive-analytical research, by analyzing important Indian and Iranian sources, showed that considering the different attitudes of Indians and Iranians toward the origin of demonic forces, there are differences in the belief in the power and ability of evil forces. In the meantime, because the Indians considered the Asuras and daevasto be of the same origin, the influence of the Indian Asuras and their control over humans was more legal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, chromosomal data are presented for six species representing five genera within the Brassicaceae family including Odontarrhena lanigera (DC.) Španiel, Al-Shehbaz, D.A. German & Marhold (=Alyssum lanigerum DC.) 2n=16, Aubrieta parviflora Boiss. 2n=16, Matthiola flavida Boiss. 2n=12, (=Matthiola ovatifolia Bél.) M. tomentosa (Boiss.) Boiss. 2n=12, Sisymbrium erysimoides Des. 2n=14 and Sterigmostemum longistylum (Boiss.) Kuntze 2n=14. Two of the studied species (Matthiola flavida and Sterigmostemum longistylum) are reported for the first time, while the chromosomal data for the remaining species are consistent with previous findings. These species exhibit a basic chromosome number of x=6, 7, or 8. Karyotypic analyses were also conducted in the existing samples and idiogram was drawn for them. The shortest chromosomes belong to Odontarrhena lanigera (2n=16) and the longest chromosomes were observed in Matthiola flavida (2n=12) species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption as a universal problem has taken up substantial time and money from judicial, social, and political officials of many countries imposing lots of cost on people from different dimensions. In the last few decades, the issue of corruption has attracted the attention of many researchers from different fields, such as sociology, law, economics, etc., and much research literature has been produced on this issue. It can be said that corruption is a global phenomenon that exists more or less in all countries of the world, but its existence and extent differs from one society to another according to social and economic development and based on the effectiveness of moral, religious, and cultural values. Although corruption has extensive negative consequences, its importance is more evident in the healthcare system. It can have many negative effects because it deals with human lives. Therefore, the aim of the current research was to analyze the causes of occurrence and spread of corruption in the healthcare system from the experts' perspectives in the context of sociological framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe Muckbang discourse, as digital commensality, depicts the preparation of food (Cookbang) or eating food (Muckbang) by an influencer in the presence of other users. This trend is considered as a tool for spreading Korean food tradition as an essential part of the Hallyu or "Korean wave." Through indirect means as well as the interaction of influencers with social network users, the Korean wave of Hallyu has been recontextualized in Iran in its own particular way. In this connection, as it concerns Iranian brand values, discovering the implicit levels of meaning-making in Muckbang or the Korean wave of Hallyu in Iran requires adopting and applying an interpretive multidisciplinary approach. The research corpus consists of all Muckbang-cookbangs that were purposefully selected by considering the meaning-making mechanisms of food culture system. Employing an integrated model for data analyses, the results indicated that the cultural codes of food in Iranian Muckbang-cookbang discourse represents the value of food brands through and in terms of the type of food, the style of eating and preparing. The results suggest that concerning food type, the Muckbang discourse of native Iranians particularly includes the consumption of unpleasant food, flavor-enhanced food, and crunchy and fresh food. Besides, Iranian Muckbang discourse also includes the consumption of some non-native foods such as squid, crabs, and calamari. The examination of written interactions revealed that some users and followers encouraged other users to accept the Hallyu wave by weakening the local cultural structures and enriching the elements of the global Hallyu wave. This is while another group of users avoided accepting this trend by maintaining and preserving the local traditional elements. In Muckbang discourse, the eating style often stimulates the senses of users with amplified sounds, challenging them to overeat, binging, and eating alone or in pairs. Depending on the type of eating, Iranian Muckbangs include eating with amplified sound, overeating, and fast eating challenges, often performed in person or in pairs. Finally, Cookbang discourse in Iran includes selecting and preparing food from foreign countries, especially East Asia, depending on their origins, communicating current and modern fast food in line with McDonald's global trends, and finally recontextualizing the recipes of traditional Iranian foods based on historical narratives.Keywords: Muckbang, Cookbang, Hallyu Korean wave, social network marketing, food cultural system, Iran. IntruductionEating is practiced not only to fulfil biological needs and to be nourished, but also to be involved in a social activity (Choe, 2021: 137; Beeman, 2014; Kerner et al., 2015). In most cultures, eating together is considered a valued activity. In Korean culture, "loneliness" means "without anyone" (Choe et al., 2015; Kim, 2018). With this in mind, albeit many young Koreans live alone and independently, they have used digital technology innovatively to meet the need for communal eating (Choe, 2019). The importance of the collective act of eating in traditional Korean culture has led to the emergence of the Muckbang discourse in cyberspace. Muckbang was created with an aim to preserve the sense of collective eating in an online forum, so that the new generation, who are forced to live a modern lifestyle, would not suffer emotional damage. To put it more clearly, Muckbang is a new method of online social activity to satisfy the need for collective eating (Choe et al., 2015). Based on this, Muckbang is a type of digital commensality- collective eating - where a person eats in the presence other users (Beeman, 2014; Eleftheriou-Smith, 2017). Then all viewers share their views and ideas to start an online interaction in a live virtual space.The Hallyu trend was first introduced in 2010 by Muckbang presenters and on the Korean live video platform known as Africa TV. Since then, It has widely and globally spread to other areas across the world over time (Kim, 2018). This new form of Muckbang motivates the sensory stimulation of viewers. Interestingly, it is known as "food porn" in Western cultures with visual representations of food and hearing food sounds (Song, 2023).The identification of the strategic aspects of Muckbang discourse, as a new genre of influential marketing in the cultural or creative industries (Yu, 2022), is spreading across the globe through social networks (Khamis et al., 2017: 191-208). According to De Veirman et. al., (2017: 798-824), Muckbang has also provided a platform for more intimate relationships with consumers. This has not only increased brand identity awareness and professional brand equity building, but also has created a comfortable understanding of brand identity among loyal and potential customers (De Veirman et al., 2017).Over time, with the interactive capabilities of the social network improved, the Muckbang discourse, as an essential part of the Korean Hallyu wave (Chu, 2018), has not only found the possibility of transformation and continuous life, but also has grown with flexibility and the change of its original form to permeate to different cultures in different ways. In constant interaction with global users, this strategic trend in modern marketing, has either led to a change in their attitude or to overcome non-native opponents in a conservative and flexible way and try to gain more credibility. In today's Iran, grounded upon the processes of globalization, the Korean Hallyu wave has on the one hand spread in virtual spaces and led to the creation of value in the process of interacting with users and on the other hand contributed to the restoration of the Korean cultural system. Changing the cultural codes of Iranian food, this mysterious current has prepared the ground for the formation of a new wave with a constructed identity that has adopted elements from Iranian food system. Presenting the influential aspects of this current in the local food system has undoubtedly led us to discover the hidden or at least implicit layers of this current in Iran. In this context, we intend to analyze the discourse of this current from the emergence of Korean Hallyu wave to the spread of global Muckbang wave to the localized Muckbang in Iran. On this basis, we will try to answer the following question: "How does the Korean Hallyu wave represent the indigenous Iranian Muckbang food culture system in the process of co-creating the value of Iranian food tokens?"The structure of the paper is as follows: First, we will overview the current literature on the subject. Second, we will outline the research methodology. Third, we will embark upon analyzing the Muckbang and Cookbang flow. Finally, we will discuss and conclude the findings. Materials and MethodsThe data for the present research is collected using documentary method. Our data mainly come form multiple resources of Muckbang on social networks, extending from May 2022 to April 2023.Thus said, firstly, through browsing the Instagram pages of Muckbang-cookbang, we randomly examined more than 350 posts to check for their appropriacy with our research objectives. With regard to the discourse of Muckbang-cookbang as an observable recurring code - showing higher degree of spontaneity and creativity-, we purposefully opted for one movie for Muckbang and another for Cookbang to represent the cultural systems of Iranian food.Taking into account the levels of interactive meaning-making, the sample is studied using an integrated corpus-based model examining the meaning-making processes of brand discourse in the value-creation process. The expression level includes the possible structures of the social network for systematic meaning-making. The content level describes the meaning-making procedures of the social network discourse based on the levels of inter- and intra-semiotics. At the context level, the re-semiotization of non-textual elements considered. At the level of user interaction, users' comments or written conversations on the Muckbang-cookbang discourse are examined. Creation of brand valueExpression of brand valueCo-occurance situational discourseNonuccurance situational contextContext of culture (socio-cultural semosphere; cultura l) values) Discourse of contextInterpretation of brand valueMuckbang discourse Co-creation of brand value user's surface context surface content surface expression surface Figure 1- An overview of the integrated research model Taken together, these functional perspectives comprise a powerful toolkit for doing a socially relevant, multimodal discourse analysis. After the research corpus is studied using the adopted analytical research model, the descriptive statistical methods will be applied to shed light on a number of issues or problem areas in the integrated model. Discussion of Results and ConclusionsThe Muckbang-Cookbang movement in Iran has mysteriously resulted in cultural structures adopted both from Korean origins and through global trends. In this context, the influencer, relying on his/her credibility, presents the value of the advertised brand with the help of Mockbank. The represented value of the brand in Muckbang's discourse was to show the provocative effect of foods that sometimes conflict with the local culture and, in some cases, to reweave the local cultural elements in conjunction with the Korean Hallyu craze to encourage followers to accept the cultural elements of the global Hallyu trend. In the process of value creation, the meaning of the brand discourse was examined based on the styles of eating and consuming. Likewise, the value creation process of and the Cookbang discourse was grounded upon on food preparation (Barthes, 1967; Danesi, 2006) and (Sujudi, 2008; Agha Ebrahimi, 2015).In relation to the type of Muckbang foods (Yun et al., 2020; Kim et al., 2016), it was found that the flow of native Iranian Muckbang, unlike Korean and Chinese Muckbang, does not contain raw foods, living organisms, and any kinds of insects. It is often limited to some seafood, the most important of which are octopus, crab and lobster. In Iranian Muckbangs, the consumption of foods such as octopus, crab, and calamari has led to a hegemonic interaction; in this interaction, Mookbanker encourages his followers to eat unfamiliar and non-native foods through emotional stimulation. After continuing the written conversation about eating such non-Iranian foods by users, their normalization begins by weakening the local cultural structures and strengthening the elements of the global Hallyu wave to lead to the acceptance of this current among Iranian users. In line with the global trend of eating foods with a flavor enhancement, Iranian muckbangers include very sour foods in addition to spicy Korean noodles. In addition to eating crispy crackers, Iranian muckbang also includes hot pots, dry bread, as well as traditional foods and even fresh vegetable products in some cases.In the context of how food is eaten in muckbangs, in line with the findings of (Yun et al., 2020; Haghbin and Monfard, in press), it was found that Iranian Muckbangs - in line with the global challenge to eat a lot of raw eggs or fried potatoes, soukhari chicken and similar things - are sometimes performed with a certain time record and a prize. In some cases, this challenge is contested by two people. Koreans hear sounds such as swallowing, chewing, sucking, slurping, gulping and slurping while eating. This is while most Iranian MucKbangs involve fried foods and macaroni, where the sound of crunchy food can be heard. Donad and in some cases chewing and swallowing sounds can be heard, which is not annoying.Finally, in addition to the findings of (Yun et al., 2020), it was found that Kukbang, which represents the preparation of food and its consumption in front of the user with a sense of intimacy and comfort, arouses emotions and creates pleasure related to food, which may lead to overconsumption and unhealthy eating. The trend of Cookbang in Iran is to select and cook Korean or national foods with reference to their origin and history, which often correspond to Iranian tastes. Cookbang also involves teaching practical and contemporary methods for traditional Iranian foods and similar products, which is accompanied by the revival of historical narratives and, in some cases, myths. In this way, the adoption of the Korean wave of Hallyu occurs along with the reconstruction of historical elements in the form of narratives, indicating the influence of the collective action of online eating in the lower strata of Iranian culture.

Identifying homogeneous climatic zones plays an important role in the success of regional development programs. The climate system is composed of various elements, factors, and variables that together form the climatic components of a region. Multi-characteristic and multivariate methods can combine and overlap the types of elements and variables effective in constructing the climate with appropriate weights in the climatic zoning area. In the present study, climatic zoning of the Caspian region was performed using factor analysis and cluster analysis. For this purpose, a 30*30 matrix consisting of 30 meteorological stations and 30 climatic and environmental variables was formed. The results of factor analysis showed that the climate of the region is affected by 5 factors including precipitation-humidity, temperature, wind, sunlight, and environmental factors. These factors explained a total of 92.5% of the variance of the data. Then, cluster analysis was performed by the hierarchical integration method of Ward on the five mentioned factors. The results showed four climatic zones including humid, semi-humid, semi-arid, and arid in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floristic databases constitute the second level of plant information systems, after taxonomic-nomenclatural databases. This paper provided the details of data structure and available data resources to develop a floristic database, along with some explanations on taxonomic and floristic databases. Also, this paper proposed the availability and possibility of a shortcut to constructing a national floristic database through uniforming and compilation of dispersed floristic data contained in various botanical centers of Iran. Therefore, Iran could be the second country in SW Asia region to have a national floristic database, and the resulted services can be presented to national scientific community.

The Muckbang discourse, as digital commensality, depicts the preparation of food (Cookbang) or eating food (Muckbang) by an influencer in the presence of other users. This trend is considered as a tool for spreading Korean food tradition as an essential part of the Hallyu or "Korean wave." Through indirect means as well as the interaction of influencers with social network users, the Korean wave of Hallyu has been recontextualized in Iran in its own particular way. In this connection, as it concerns Iranian brand values, discovering the implicit levels of meaningmaking in Muckbang or the Korean wave of Hallyu in Iran requires adopting and applying an interpretive multidisciplinary approach. The research corpus consists of all Muckbang-cookbangs that were purposefully selected by considering the meaning-making mechanisms of food culture system. Employing an integrated model for data analyses, the results indicated that the cultural codes of food in Iranian Muckbang-cookbang discourse represents the value of food brands through and in terms of the type of food, the style of eating and preparing. The results suggest that concerning food type, the Muckbang discourse of native Iranians particularly includes the consumption of unpleasant food, flavor-enhanced food, and crunchy and fresh food. Besides, Iranian Muckbang discourse also includes the consumption of some non-native foods such as squid, crabs, and calamari. The examination of written interactions revealed that some users and followers encouraged other users to accept the Hallyu wave by weakening the local cultural structures and enriching the elements of the global Hallyu wave. This is while another group of users avoided accepting this trend by maintaining and preserving the local traditional elements. In Muckbang discourse, the eating style often stimulates the senses of users with amplified sounds, challenging them to overeat, binging, and eating alone or in pairs. Depending on the type of eating, Iranian Muckbangs include eating with amplified sound, overeating, and fast eating challenges, often performed in person or in pairs. Finally, Cookbang discourse in Iran includes selecting and preparing food from foreign countries, especially East Asia, depending on their origins, communicating current and modern fast food in line with McDonald's global trends, and finally recontextualizing the recipes of traditional Iranian foods based on historical narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the flora of Tange-Khoshk Forest Reserve of Semirom in Isfahan with two zones, the core zone (under protection) and the buffer zone, was investigated to introduce the floristic composition, life forms, and geographical distribution, and understand the effects of exclosure on the vegetation structure. In this region, a total of 194 species belonging to 45 genera of plants were identified, of which Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae were the most abundant in terms of the number of species. In terms of life forms, hemicryptophytes were dominant in both core and buffer zones. The study of the geographical distribution of the species showed that in both core and buffer zones, most species belonged to the Irano-Turanian vegetation area. This research showed that the exclosure of the Tange-Khoshk forest reserve had increased the diversity of vegetation, especially the presence of various tree species in the core zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The false spider mite Brevipalpus californicus from the family Tenuipalpidae was collected from Caucasian alnus, White willow, Persian raspberry and a wild Chrysanthemum bush in Mazandaran province. This species is reported as a new record to the false spider mites-fauna of Iran here. Reviewing literatures revealed that it was briefly described in the original paper without any measures. So, a completed description is presented based on the Iranian specimens and different body segments are drawn for B. californicus. In addition, the above plants are new host records for B. californicus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of temperature estates is hot day occurrence. In order to recognize the mechanism of this estate، surveying its spatial behavior is crucially important. In current paper it has been attempted to recognized widespread hot days and their spatial distribution by using statistical methods. Accordingly maximum temperature database of Iran during 1962-2008 has been used. The analyses result has illustrated 1537 widespread hot days. Most of these days have been occurred during winter and spring seasons. In order to recognize distribution patterns and spatial autocorrelation، Global and local Moran statistic and also Getis- Ord G* statistic has been used. Using Global Moran has been revealed that in 99% confidence interval، cluster pattern governs the hot days frequency as well as hot days temperature. Frequency clusters has been raised in centre of Iran while clusters of the mean of temperature has been occurred in southern (from west to east) and northwest margin of the country. However the regions that experienced maximum frequencies of hot days do not happened in regions with hottest day's temperature mean. Generally hot days regions are determined by humidity، latitude and elevation. The hot spots are located in south، southeast and cold spots are founded in high lands and northwest of Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionDespite the continuing roles of cultural and religious values in family attitudes and behaviors, it seems that some transformations in the family system have happened in Iranian social beliefs. Divorce is one of such changes. The annual growth of divorce rate was about 6.2% during 1996-2016. The increase in divorce rates has largely eliminated its social stigma. Research has shown that a key determinant in this event is the attitude towards divorce. It should be noted that attitudes can vary between different generations. This variation in societies like Iran, which is experiencing a transition, is so crucial since its generational differences have been the source of widespread changes in family values. This paper aimed to examine such differences between Iranian generations and their changes over the last two decades. Margaret Mead's theory was applied to classify the generations. She did it based on differences in the economic and social conditions of a society. In the present study, three generations were distinguished to have undergone the influence of the Islamic Revolution in 1979: first, the generation before the revolution, who was born in the 1940s and 1950s; second, the people born in the 1960s and 1970s, who were called the generation of war and revolution; and finally, the generation born in the 1981s and 1991s. Materials & MethodsThis study was based on a secondary analysis that used the 4th, 5th, and 7th waves of the World Values Survey (WVS) in Iran, in the years of 2000, 2005, and 2020, the sample sizes of which were 2535, 2667, and 1499 people, respectively. Thus, the information of 67101 people was analyzed. The statistical population comprised all the Iranians, who were 15 years old and older. A multistage cluster random sampling method was utilized for selecting the people. In addition to using a descriptive analysis, multilevel regression was applied for multivariate data analysis. Discussion of Results & ConclusionsThe results revealed that there were significant differences in the attitudes of the different studied generations towards divorce. The younger generations at all ages had a more positive attitude towards divorce. The third generation had a higher level of education than their predecessors and had more access to mass media, especially social media and hence, they were more connected to other cultures. It could reasonably lead to getting impressed by the issues like divorce or other emerging family behaviors among them.The findings also indicated that the attitudes of the studied generations had always changed in favor of divorce over time. This was true about all the generations.The bivariate analyses showed that urban dwellers had a more positive attitude towards divorce than those living in rural areas. The traditional atmosphere of the villages and the divorce stigma in rural communities and high frequency of divorce and individual anonymity in urban areas could be the most important reasons for these differences. Men had a more negative attitude towards divorce than women. Also, the never-married people had a more positive attitude than the married ones. The relation between education and divorce attitudes was also significant. People with higher education had a more positive attitude. Education spontaneously changes people's behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs and higher education usually means having modern views on the family. Unexpectedly, the attitudes towards divorce did not differ significantly between the ethnic groups.The results of the multilevel models demonstrated that although some differences in the attitudes towards divorce were rooted in individual characteristics, such characteristics of the generations as university education, secular values, gender equality, and modern family values had affected their attitudes towards divorce.Finally, a clear gap was witnessed between today’s generations although their attitudes towards divorce had been slightly close in the past. Especially, the youngest cohort had segregated itself from older generations. The growing positive attitude towards divorce was expected to persist due to the continuation of the cohort replacement process, acceleration in urbanization, cultural globalization, education expansion, development of new communication and information technologies, mass media, and social networks.

Spatial distribution of thermal regions is dependent on local factors and circulation patterns in long terms. Recognition of spatial distribution of temperature in geographical regions could be help on planning and environmental policies. The aim of this paper is recognition and detachment of thermal regions in Iran. For this object, maximum daily temperature data have been provided using 620 synoptic and climatology stations. Maximum temperature converted for any station, base on solar calendar, and maps of maximum daily temperature have been interpolated using kriging method. Spatial resolution of these maps is 15×15 km. So 7187 pixels cover the country and temporal and spatial behavior of maximum temperature could be represented by a 7187×366 matrix. For diagnostic thermal regions in Iran, an agglomerative Hierarchical cluster analysis with ward's linkage applied on this matrix and five different thermal regions which consist: high mountainous, mountainous and Caspian's coasts, central plane, south eastern plane, southern coasts. In creating thermal regions topography spatial configuration and latitude have been involved. Recognition of thermal regions is important for energy consumption and tourism timing management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines generational considerations associated with demographic attitudes in Iran. The importance of such studies lies primarily on the increasing pattern of the process so-called 'the transformation of demographic characteristics, which is also identified as one of the most important traits of contemporary societies. In this line, the main research question addressed in the present study is the whether demographic attitudes depend on generational belongings or not. In other words, are we dealing with 'generational divergence' or 'generational convergence' with respect to demographic attitudes? Accordingly, the research findings presented and discussed in the present study aim to address this key research question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The population of women and gender equity play a crucial role in the society’s growth and development process. This is a long-standing fact throughout human history that has been experienced in many societies across the world. It is also vitally important to mention that while gender bias and gender stereotypes exist more or less in all societies throughout the world, the existence and the extent of gender unfairness and stereotypes are still critical benchmarks for socio-economic development across the world: on the one hand, the existence and dominance of gender unfairness and stereotypes are overwhelmingly more visible in the developing countries so that women’s lives are substantially affected by gender unfairness and stereotypes; on the other hand, the opposite applies to the developed countries where gender fairness and a significantly lower level of gender stereotypes are the predominant patterns of gender dynamics of the societies in the developed world. Material & Methods Methodologically, the context of this analysis is Iran which has witnessed one of the most spectacular demographic swings throughout the world in human history (McDonald, 2005) and has experienced fundamental socio-cultural changes and challenges which are also significantly associated with gender dynamics and women’s status in Iran. More specifically, the empirical research findings of this analysis are based on a recently-conducted and nationally-representative survey to explain the dimensions and differentials of gender stereotypes in Iran. The survey includes a sample of 3667 males and females aged 15 years old and over. It covers both urban and rural areas in varying parts of the country including Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, Gonbade-kavos, Hamadan, Khoram-abad, and Mahmoud-abad. The present analysis employs the combined model developed by Macionis (2001) and Taylor (2003) in order to measure gender stereotypes. Using these methodological bases, the present study examines the major patterns and determinants associated with attitudes towards gender stereotypes in Iran from a socio-demographic perspective. Discussion of Results & Conclusion Generally speaking, the results of this analysis show that about one-third of the respondents have positive attitudes towards gender stereotypes. However, this general pattern is substantially affected by three major groups of determinants: demographic variables, religiosity, and gender attitudes. This suggests that gender stereotypes tend to be significantly more visible and dominant amongst the older people than the younger individuals, males than females, married people than unmarried individuals, rural residents than urban residents, illiterates and low-educated people than individuals with higher tertiary education. Additionally, the results of this analysis have revealed that people’s attitude towards gender stereotypes is significantly associated with their religiosity. This means that the higher the level of religiosity is, the stronger the attitude towards gender stereotypes will be. However, when the level of religiosity decreases, the attitude towards gender stereotypes also witnesses a decreasing trend. For instance, half of those with the highest level of religiosity hold a positive attitude towards gender stereotypes, whereas this proportion falls substantially down to one-third amongst those with the lowest level of religiosity. Another example relates to the fact that positive attitudes towards gender stereotypes are significantly stronger among the believers of full hijab, as compared with those who believe in modest types of dress codes for women. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate the key fact that attitudes towards gender roles have substantially key effects on gender stereotypes: the more conservative the former, the stronger the latter. For example, according to the research findings of this analysis, the stronger attitudes towards gender stereotypes exist overwhelmingly amongst those who believe in the male-breadwinner traditional model and disagree with women’s employment outside the home. In sum, the main patterns observed in this analysis and discussed in this paper can be explained by theories of modernization and changing values, suggesting that modern and liberal approaches tend to play a fundamental role in individuals’ attitudes towards gender stereotypes in Iran.

Introduction Generally, this paper focused primarily on the association between ethnicity and religiosity. More specifically, it aimed to examine the major patterns and determinants associated with the religious attitude of ethnic groups in Iran. Theoretically, it was based on religious socialization theory, modernism, and fundamental changes in social values theories that explain socio-cultural changes of contemporary societies including the changes in religious attitude. The literature review indicated that while a substantially wide range of ethnic groups is widespread throughout the country, their religious attitude has not been sufficiently studied in the existing literature particularly from comparative perspectives. This study aimed to contribute to filling this substantial research gap. The data of this study were collected using a survey with 5200 males and females aged 15 years old and over in rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, Gonbad Kavos, Gorgan, Hamadan, Kamyaran, Khoramabad, Mahmoudabad, Rasht, and Saghez. This analysis included seven ethnic groups of Kurd, Gilak, Lak, Lur, Mazani, Turk, and Turkoman residing throughout the country. Material & Methods The methodological foundations of this study were based on the analysis of an experimental research and survey study. The field of this study was Iran which has witnessed one of the most spectacular demographic swings throughout the world in human history (McDonald, 2005) and has experienced fundamental socio-cultural changes and challenges which are also significantly associated with gender dynamics and women’s status in Iran. More specifically, the empirical research findings of this analysis were based on a recently-conducted and nationally-representative survey to explain the dimensions and differentials of ethnic groups’ religiosity in Iran. The survey covered both urban and rural areas in the varying parts of the country with the total sample of 5200 males and females aged 15 years old and over in rural and urban areas of Ahvaz, Babolsar, Bojnord, Esfarayen, Gonbad Kavos, Gorgan, Hamadan, Kamyaran, Khoramabad, Mahmoudabad, Rasht, and Saghez. As noted above, the present study had seven ethnic groups including Kurd, Gilak, Lak, Lur, Mazani, Turk, and Turkoman, who lived in varying parts of Iran. Discussion of Results & Conclusions Generally, the results of this analysis revealed two key points including the patterns of religious attitude and also its determinants vary substantially across the ethnic groups. For instance, on the one hand, more than two-fifths of the respondents across the ethnic groups hold a ‘high and very high levels’ of religiosity and more than half of them believed in women’s right to decide about their dress codes in the public spheres. On the other hand, ethnic variations were significantly visible: while in the ethnic group of Mazani followed by the two other ethnic groups of Turk and Turkoman, the substantially higher proportion of religiosity and positive attitude towards full covering hijab or chador was observed, the proportions were substantially lower amongst the other ethnic groups particularly Lur, Lak, and Gilak residing throughout the country. Besides, the results of this research supported the fact the similarities and disparities still exist in terms of the determinants of religiosity that vary overwhelmingly across ethnic groups. This suggests that, on the one hand, the religiosity of all ethnic groups is significantly affected by determinants such as age, educational level, rural-urban places of residence, and gender attitude. On the other hand, the strength and magnitude of these determinants are not similar across the ethnic groups. While theses determinants play an important role in the religiosity of some ethnic groups, the opposite applies to some other ethnic groups of this analysis. In sum, these results confirmed the underlying conclusion that ethnicity plays a significantly important role, which echoes the fact that to comprehensively understand the association between ethnicity and religiosity, we must specify religious attitudes in terms of every single ethnic group.

In the northeast of Iran, there are some outcrops of high-Mg ultramafic volcanic rocks. These rocks have been interpreted as an ideal ophiolite sequence related to the closure of Paleo-Tethys. According to detailed field observations, the komatiitic lava flows in Shandiz- Virani- Mashhad Complex (SVMC) and Fariman Complex (FC), are interlayered with the Upper Paleozoic submarine turbiditic sediments (Carboniferous-Permian). These rocks have a wide range of volcanic facies and according to the lithofacies characteristics, are divided into three groups of differentiated, undifferentiated lava flows and pillow lavas with a variety of volcanic textures and glass groundmass and with the main minerals of olivine, chromian spinel, clinopyroxene and amphibole. In this paper, the komatiitic nature of these rocks has been proven by explicit evidence from the field characteristics, petrography, internal stratigraphy and mineral chemistry. Also, the interaction of a mantle plume with the late Paleozoic (Permian) northeast subduction zone of Paleo-Tethys in NE Iran is considered as the suitable petrogenetic model involved in the genesis of the Komatiitic magma. This model can well justify and interpret the various geochemical characteristics of the studied rocks.

The geography of the Caspian Sea and its coasts have long attracted the attention of the enemies of Iran, particularly its northern neighbor, Russia, for its strategic position. From the late Safavid era, along with the emergence of Peter the Great in Russia, full domination on the Caspian Sea and its coasts was seriously included in the Russia’s military plan. Therefore, in order to reach their goals, they attacked the islands and coasts of Iran at different times and under different pretexts. However, despite the seizure of parts of Iran's territory, they could not survive long periods on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, and were forced to evacuate these regions. This paper intends, with a descriptive-analytic approach, to answer the question that: what are the causes of the instability of Russians military presence in the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the considered time interval? The findings of the research indicate that a combination of internal and external factors along with the unique geographical, climatic, and social features of this area caused the southern sides of the Caspian Sea to act as a solid fortress against invaders, and even if they could access to it, they would not have the ability to stay in the long run

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Different species of Alcea L. are widely distributed in different regions of Iran. In the present study, macromorphological factors such as leaf characteristics, flower, plant height, and leaf micromorphological factors such as stomata and hairs in the ecotypes of Alcea koelzii, A. arbelensis, and A. aucheri were compared under different habitat conditions. These characters were different among different ecotypes of each species and among species. All traits, including stomatal perimeter, stomatal area, guard cell length, large width of stomata on leaves, hair density on the surface below the leaves and stem height were significantly higher in A. koelzii than the other two species. The stomata were anisocytic type. The results showed that under the leaves, the stomata density was higher than the upper surface of the leaf, and there was an inverse relationship between the stomatal density and stomatal size. There was also a positive and significant correlation between the characteristics of the stomatal structure with the stomatal perimeter and the stomatal area. The study showed that the hair density in the lower surface of the leaf was higher than its upper surface. The hairs were mostly stellar and multi-branched. The changes in macro and micromorphological characters of ecotype, such as changes in size and density of stomata and hairs, indicated high adaptation to different habitat conditions, and this is particularly important in propagation, breeding, and genetic conservation programs. The morphological diversity of Alcea L. showed that it was compatible with different environmental conditions and therefore can be easily expanded to produce medicinal products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Introduction: By advances in remote sensing techniques, it has been possible to better monitor environmental phenomena. Satellite data with appropriate temporal and spatial coverage along with high spatial resolutions are valuable resources in environmental studies. During the past two decades, many studies have been conducted to evaluate the temporal variations of accumulation and melting as well as the seasonal characteristics of snow covers using remote sensing data. For instance, Hall et al. (2015) used Landsat satellite data from 1972 to 2013 to study changes in snowmelt time in the Fremont Lake Basin in the United States. The results have shown that snow melting time in this region begins earlier in the 2000s than in the 1972-1999 periods and that increasing nighttime temperature in spring and autumn resulted in earlier melting of snow cover. In another study, Bi et al. (2015) used MODIS data for the period 2003–2013 to investigate the time of beginning and end of snow cover in the northeast Tibetan Plateau. Their findings showed that although during the study period, the timing of snow accumulation and ablation varied, the spatial distribution of the number of snow-covered days has shown a stable behavior. 2. Methodology In the present study, in order to investigate the trend of changes at the beginning of the snow cover accumulation season in Iran, the version six of MODIS Terra (MOD10A1) and MODIS Aqua (MYD10A1) for the time span from 1379/7/1 to 1397/6/31 (1999 to 2007) was used. One of the natural barriers to monitoring snow cover is the cloud issue problem. Cloud contamination causes snow cover to hide beneath the satellite's field of view. Various techniques have been suggested by researchers to reduce cloudiness and better observation of snow cover. In the present study, three techniques including the combination of two satellite and temporal and spatial filtering were applied to the raw data. The application of these three techniques resulted in a significant reduction of the cloud cover effect on the data. After the preparation and construction of the snow cover dataset, the first day of the snow cover reported by the MODIS (based on the first day of October) was computed and that day was defined as the start of the snow cover season, this process was carried out for all the 7541502 pixels in the country. This process was repeated over 18 years of available data and finally, the slope of the regression line was calculated on more than seven million pixels. 3. Discussion Calculations of the trend of spatial variations of the snow cover accumulation season showed that generally there was a significant increasing trend in the western parts of the country on the Zagros Mountains, it means that the first time that snow was accumulated during the snow cover season is advancing towards late fall and winter. In a clearer sense, it means that the first day of snow cover was occurring later in these areas. But in parts of central Zagros, the beginning of the snow cover season had a negative trend, meaning that the early days of the snow cover were occurring sooner than the long-term condition. The negative trend of the beginning of the snow cover accumulation season was also seen in the Alborz Mountains and the northwestern parts of the country. This negative trend appeared to be due to the earlier onset of autumn precipitation in the study period. Investigating temporal changes at the beginning of snow cover accumulation season in Iran, on each of the altitude belts in 50 meters, spatial steps showed that up to the altitude belt of 2750 meters, the beginning of snow accumulation season was advancing toward late fall and winter. However, from the altitudes of 2800 meters upwards, the onset of the snow cover season was turning backward. In a clearer sense, it was moving back toward the early autumn season. 4. Conclusion The purpose of the present study was to investigate the temporal and spatial variations of the beginning of snow cover accumulation season in Iran. For this purpose, MODIS Terra and MODIS Aqua data were obtained at the spatial resolution of 500 × 500 meters for the time interval from 1379/7/1 to 1397/6/31 (1999 to 2007). After the construction and preparation of the snow cover database in Iran, the trend of changes at the beginning of the snow cover accumulation season was calculated temporally and spatially. The beginning of the snow cover accumulation season means the first day that a pixel was covered by snow based on the first day of October. For each hydrological year, the beginning of the snow cover season was calculated for each of the MODIS pixels and finally, the regression slope of changes was then computed. The findings showed that snow cover accumulation season was advancing towards winter on the western and northeast highlands of the country while snow cover accumulation season on the north and northwest of the country was forwarding back to fall. The calculations also showed that up to 2750 meters the onset of the snow cover season was moving toward winter, while from the height of 2800 meters, the onset of snow cover season was forwarding back to the fall season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Election participation, as one of the most important forms of political participation, has a special place in the discussions of political sociology, in general, and election sociology in particular. While we are witnessing various elections in Iran every year, but in contrast to other political phenomena such as the revolution that rarely happens and we are dealing with rich literature in this field, the election process has major theoretical and experimental weaknesses. The lack of compatibility of research findings on the relationship between education and electoral participation over the past four decades in Iran shows that there is no consensus on this issue, because there was no critical analysis in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the extensive territory including the fertile plains and the productive population, the Sasanids could attain the powerful and wealthy situation during the late antiquity. Nevertheless, the vast territory caused some problems regarding threatening the political integration of Iran. The eastern provinces locating far from the capital of the Sassanid government were in a very exposed position to invaders coming from Hephthalites as well-known groups of the invading nomads were considered as the main enemy of Sassanid in the eastern Iran. Hephthalites could occasionally determine the international relationships between Iran and its neighbours. Moreover, they played an important role in the formation of the cultural and artistic practices of the eastern Sassanid. In order to recognise the Hephthalites’ influence on the Sassanid Iran, we need firstly to study their ethnical attributes and lifestyles and secondly to know the borders of their territory throughout history. In pursuing these purposes, the paper, while relying on the historical documents, would explain the history of Hephthalites in eastern Iran and describe their material cultures indicating their history and culture. Synchronised study of history, geography, and material culture of the Hephthalites would help us to introduce a new approach to history and archaeology of the eastern Iran in Sassanid period.

Introduction: Religiosity in society such as Iran is critical and this debate is conserning while various studies which has been done in this regard (Kalantari et. Al., 2009; Ganji et. Al, 2010; Alavi et. Al., 2010; Mousavi & Kalantari, 2011; Safiri & Meamariani, 2011; Safiri & Neamatollahi, 2011; Bahonar & Jafari, 2012; Karimian Seyghalani, 2012; Ahmadi et. Al., 2014; and Riahi et. Al., 2014) showed that religiosity and religious identity has been decreased among Iranian youth. This situation can be lead to harmfull and negative consequences, thus, it is necessary to being investigate, scientifically. The scientific investigation of web-based social networks is so important because of rapid expansion of web-based social networks among various social stratums, especially among youth, extention of various matrials, from which, some matrials may be in contradiction with Islamic ideas, and necessary of awarening and public education via increasing growth of mass media. The religiosity reduction mentioned in previous researchs, from one side, and increasing the web-based social networks among various social stratious of society, especially youth, lead to study this subject in a research project in Yasouj University. This paper aimed to evaluate the religiosity of students and its relationship to degree and kind of web-based social networks usage based on "Uses and gratification" theory and Giddens' "Structuration" theory. Material & Methods: Using survey method, Statistics society had been Yasouj university students during 2014-2015 semesters (by 4,195 students) ; from which 400 persons were determined based on Lin Sampling Table (1976) as sample size and were selected by classified-multi stage random sampling method. Researcher-made questionnaire was used as research tool for collecting data, which face validity and Cronbach's alpha (0.93) were used for its validity and reliability, respectively. Discussion of Results & Coclusions: The findings showed that there is significant diference in religiosity according to membership situation in social networks, kind of social netwoks’ usage, gender and studying dicipline and there is significant direct relationship between membership history and religiosity. There is not significant relationship between the degree of social networks use and religiosity. Independent variables, can explained 15.5 percentages of dependent variable’s variance. It can be aguied, based on research findings, that internet and social networks, essentially, don,t reduce religiosity, but, as mass media, their contents, and kind of usage has some consequencies for users’ religiosity; so that some contents ans usages reduced religiosity. Thus, according findings, it can be said that while web-base social networks may have some advantages for users, but due to contents of used matrials and the kind of web-base social networks usages, lead to decrasing of youth religiosity, and consequencly, this situation can be lead to hrmfull situation in spiritual condition of society. As usages of web-base social networks, has been overwolmed during past decade and most of studies in this field have been done via survey method, qualitative methods for more understandings of social networks are suggested. According to importance of web-based social networks, ewarning and senseting family institution, education ministry, and Television and Radio organization of bad consequencies of web-base social networks is suggested. Thus, educational and cultural organizations must provide healthy contexts for youth and safeting them from bad consequences of web-base social networks via offering cultural and religious programas and contents in internet. As religious contents in web-base social networks are effective in empowerment of religiosity, it is necessary to insist local web-base social networks and provide and offer religious subjects to youth and by such services both lead youth attention to local web-base social networks and empowering youth religiosity; The Islamic culture and Adviserment ministry and Islamic Extension Organization can do effective programs in this regard.

The monitor lizards (the Varanidae Family) are an ancestral group of the Anguimorph reptiles. The monitor lizards, crocodiles, and pythons are the largest living ectothermic predators. The varanid lizards are distributed in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Indonesian archipelago, and Australia. The genus Varanus encompasses three species in Iran. The species studied in this survey include Varanus griseus and Varanus nesterovi. In the present study, samples kept in the laboratory of Razi University of Kermanshah and a body of Varanus griseus were used. To study the skeleton, two methods of a) removing the skeletal components and photographing them, and b) using the CT-scan method were used. The Varanus skull contained 39 components of braincase as well as 12 elements of the lower jaw and hyoid apparatus. The comparison of the skulls showed that the skull of Varanus griseus and Varanus nesterovi had no significant difference except in the form of the nasal bones. The characteristic of the skull in some lizards is an important diagnostic key among various species including Varanus griseus and Varanus V. nesterovi. The similarity in skull structure in the two studied species is probably the result of their close relationship as well as the very similar method of nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1- Introduction The increase in the global mean temperature during the twentieth century, in particular over the last 30 years, has provided a strong incentive for investigations of climate change. Climatic and weather hazards are amongst the most deadly and destructive natural disasters worldwide, resulting in loss of life, severe damage and large economic and societal losses (Nutter 1999 Su et al. 2006). Those natural and human effects are mainly triggered by shifts of frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions related to temperature, precipitation, or other aspects of climate, rather than changes of mean climate (Katz and Brown 1992 Plummer et al. 1999). Heat or cold waves are characterized by the occurrence of a sequence of days with high or low values of temperature. These waves have significant impacts in terms of their socioeconomic effects on health, agriculture, forest fires, and the production and consumption of energy (SIAM, 2002 García-Herrera et al., 2005 Pereira et al., 2005 Trigo et al., 2005). The aim of this study is investigation and recognition of cold wave and spatiotemporal analysis over Iran. Methodology In order to recognition of cold waves in Iran the interpolated minimum daily data of Asfezari Data base during 1/1/1962 to 31/12/2004. The data matrix with dimension15706 7187 has been created that located on the columns pixels and on the rows are days. In this study, by 6 indices that calculate the intensity, duration and frequency of cold waves, the characterizations of the cold waves in Iran has been investigated. The indices were based on the 10, 5 and 1 percentiles. The indices calculated for any pixels over Iran. Then the significant of trends of indices investigated by nonparametric Mann-Kendal method. The slope of trend on the pixels that have trend in 95% confidence level calculated by linear method. The programs of the calculation has been written in Matlab software environment and the maps has been drawn by Surfer software. Table1. Cold wave indices summary. The T1 value is defined as the 10, 5, 1th percentile value of minimum temperature based on the entire data record(1/1/1962-31/12/2004) No Index name Definition Unit 1 10,5 ,1P value The value of the 10, 5 and 1th percentile minimum temperature for each year °C 2 Number of runs The number of runs of consecutive days(1or more) over the T1 value per year Day 3 Average run length The average length of a run of consecutive days over the T1 value per year Day 4 Maximum run length The longest run of consecutive days over the T1value per year Day 5 Minimum temperature index The mean of the warmest three consecutive minimum temperatures per year °C 6 Cold Spell Duration Index Annual count of days with at least 6 consecutive days when Minimum temperature [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1- Introduction Precipitation is usually recognized as the most important and variable factor of climate which is considered from different aspects in environmental sciences especially meteorology and climatology. Because of precipitation temporal-spatial variability importance, and its role in communication and economical disasters, it has attracted much attention by many researchers (Rodriguez et al. 1998 Ochola and Kerkides 2003 Baigorria et al. 2007 Jianting et al. 2009 Nastos and Zerefos 2009). Spatially, the amount and characteristics of precipitation will change greatly, especially in the arid countries and middle-latitudes in distances less than one kilometer. In order to investigate the precipitation variability, various time scales are taken into account. Scales to study the precipitation element varies from different geological eras consisting of several thousands and millions year periods to month, hour, and minute (Livada and Asimakopoulos 2005). 2. Methodology The main data under study are 24-hour maxima precipitation frequency for each month of a year in the whole statistical period. We used 40 weather stations which spread out over the whole country along with a full statistical records and a statistical period of 40-years (1966-2005). Harmonic analysis is usually used to study the periodical changes, and includes oscillations or changes display in a time series obtained from sinus and cosines function set (Kirkyla and Hameed 1989 Wilks 2006). The first harmonic shows an annual cycle with the greatest amplitude as compared to other harmonics. The second harmonic indicates a semi-annual change, while the third one illustrates 4-months seasonal changes in details besides it is an index of inter-annual patterns of frequency. Eventually, the values of demonstrate the time motion of maxima frequency along the time axis. 3. Discussion 3.1 Harmonic Analysis In monthly data, 6 harmonics are required to explain the data variance. In the studies, also 3 harmonics are used to explain data variance. Of course, since the first two harmonics explain nearly 90% of the total variance, in some research only the first two harmonics are used to study the annual changes (Livada et al. 2008 Nastos and Zerefos 2010). According to the statements discussed above, first harmonic consists of more PVR1 and plays a significant role in variance distribution in central and southern stations. The amount of first harmonics role decreases in north-west stations. 3.1.1 The First Harmonic The 1st harmonic indicates annual changes and explains variance largely in most stations. The first harmonic which signifies an annual alternation in regions with regular precipitation has longer amplitude in comparison with other harmonics. Spatial distribution of the first harmonic demonstrates the following: 1. In northern coasts of Persian Gulf, this value consists of a high value of about 60-70%. 2. In the west, PVR1 values are approximately 80%. 3. The lowest value of PVR1 is seen in southeastern and northwestern of Iran. 3.1.2 The Second Harmonic The 2nd harmonic indicating oscillations with shorter time periods (six months) as compared to 1st harmonic in sections with more PVR1 consists of lower values. PVR2 values in the northwest of the country in Azerbaijan region, the values are remarkable (60%). Spatial distribution of T2 in this section has more complexity. 4. Conclusions Because PVR component indicates the role of each harmonic in explaining and interpretation of variance, in each section which consists of a high value, the higher the portions of changes, the higher the share of changes will be. 1. In many regions in Iran, the 1st harmonic plays a significant role in variance distribution. 2. The highest values of PVR1 for extreme precipitations were observed in Kashan. 3. After the 1st harmonic, the 2nd harmonic has a very important role in variance distribution. 4. Extreme precipitation has a more harmonious pattern in the central parts of Iran around Kashan, southern coasts of Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf's shores as compared to other parts. 5. In northwest and southeast sections, the PVR value of the 1st harmonic is less. On the contrary, PVR value of 2nd harmonic increases especially in the northwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lakes act as a system. Climate, mathematical position, physiographic features (including basin area, perimeter, length, shape, slope, aspect and time of concentration), rugged topography and gravity center (geometric gravity center of basin, geometric gravity center of lake, hydrological gravity center and geomorphological gravity center) are among the affecting factors of lakes survival or destruction. With regard to the peaks, the topographic lines and waterways of the 14 Iranian basins (Urmia, Gavkhoni, Maharloo, Meighan, Qom, Duranjyr, Jazmurian, Abarkuh, Bafegh, Ardestān, Yazd, Qatruyeh, Sirjan and Lut) have been delineated according to the peaks, topography and drainage lines in 1/50000 topographic maps and by the use of Arc GIS software. Altitude of water and dry equilibrium line in some of lakes such as Urmia, Gavkhoni, Meighan, Qom and Maharloo was extracted from the source documents. For the rest of basin lakes, reflected evidence in topographic maps was used. In climatic calculations, temperature and precipitation of the database Asfezari with 50 years duration was used. Lake water volume was calculated according to the altitude of water and dry equilibrium line and the volume of annual rainfall was computed based on basin area in geographic information system. By dividing the volume of lake's water by the volume of precipitation, runoff coefficients have been estimated. Afterwards, geomorphological gravity center and lake and basin's geometric gravity center were determined. Hydrological gravity center was estimated based on river's discharge data. Analyzing the result of holes, runoff coefficient showed the fact that Lut, Dranjyr, Gavkhoni, Abarkuh and Qom basins have allocated the lowest runoff coefficient. The similar coefficients of Gavkhoni and Qom basin's with Lute basin, represent how distanse between basins’ topographic center and geometric center can affect the amount of runoff coefficient. High runoff of Qatruyeh, Ardestān and Sirjan watersheds are as the result of complaining the lowest part of topography with geometric center of the basin. Gravity center of lake have located in the topographic center of Bafgh basin and, this affected the location of Meighan and Maharloo basins accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of Polyphysaceae (Acetabulariaceae) are very beautiful and attractive unicellular plants which grow on coral reefs of the intertidal regions especially in tropical oceans and seas. In this study morphological features of some collected and identified species of the family from the Iranian seashores of Persian Gulf has been reported. Parvocaulis parvulus, Acetabularia caliculus and Parvocaulis clavatus are three identified species in the studied area which mainly collected from Hormozgan province seashores. Cap forms, number and form of rays, form of corona, hair scars and size of vegetative and reproductive parts of each species were studied after decalcification and results were presented in this paper.

Introduction: Being legal is one of human social life traits. Using rules and law systems, human beings live together, without any interruption in social system formation by individual law- breaking tendencies. As laws are originated from general will, and recognized as social convention in a territory, are sanctioned by all citizens. Meanwhile, all people do not coordinate with formal laws, equally and some of them attempt to deviate from law-regularities, directly and indirectly, latently and obviously. Thus, a repertoire of behaviors including legal and illegal behaviors are being done in society. Legalism in each society caused to consistency in social relations and establishment of security feeling. Law-breaking as order-escaping which caused to dissatisfaction to self right, offending toward others right, ignoring duties, escaping from responsibilities, which in turn, could threaten social and psychological health. Urbanization increase, caused to various social deviances. Ignoring citizenship rights, caused to social disorder and anarchy. During recent years, an increasing trend of some crimes such as robbing, traffic deviances, mass conflict and changes in statistics of all crimes are indicate the growth of law-breaking in Yasouj. Reviewing the trends of crimes show their increase level and high rate of law-breaking during the last years. However, this paper aimed to study the relationship between variables such as social control and social participation, from one side, and the tendency to law-breaking, from another side, in Yasouj city. Material & Method: using survey method, Statistics society had been 18-45 years old persons in Yasouj city; that were determined 381 persons via Lin table (1976) as a sample and they be selected with use of classical-multi stage random sampling method. The collection instrument was researcher -made questionnaire. Face validity and factor analysis were used for validity evaluation and Cronbach's alpha was used for evaluation of reliability. During face validity, questionnaire was reviewed and evaluated by some expert researchers and sociologists. Factor analysis coefficients were acceptable. The Cronbach's alpha for law-breaking variable was 0.86 and for social participation variable was 0.73 and for social control variable was 0.75. Discussion of Results & Conclusions: The findings showed that there is significant indirect relationship between social participation and tendency towards law-breaking. There is significant relationship between the use of the mass media and the tendency to law- breaking. Men and singles have more tendencies to law - breaking than women and married. Independent variables, can explained 23.4 percents of dependent variableâs variance. Results showed that more social participation; lead to less law-breaking and vice versa. This finding is compatible with results of theoretical framework which being used in this study. There was no significant relationship between the degree of social control and tendency towards law-breaking, while their weak relationship was indirect. This finding was not compatible with Hirschâs theory. This finding is not implying that social control, as one of social supervisionâ means has not enough efficiency for decreasing criminal and law-breaking behaviors.  Evaluating the relationship between use of mass media such as TV and satellite and tendency to law-breaking showed that there was significant relationship between the degree of mass media use and tendency to law-breaking. In terms of relationship of research results with Yasoujâs social conditions, can be argued that this city is one of less developed regions of Iran, which according its new urban ecology, have considerable traits of traditional structures. This structure is ongoing to passing duration from traditional to modern condition, via extension of urbanization and migration of nomadic and rural people to urban areas. Yasouj, as the center of Kohgilouyeh & BoyerAhmad province, in the process of becoming province and change in human ecology of its region, have been the magnet for migrants from its different regions. These migrations, from one side, had not lead to decrease in traditional bonding and governing the nomadic and tribal culture has been lead to behave based on their tribal and nomadic traditions and customs, in spite of legal commitment, and in other side, fast growth of population which, mainly, originated from migrations have less attentions to social regularities and systems and lead to law-breaking.

The false spider mite Brevipalpus californicus from the family Tenuipalpidae was collected from Caucasian alnus, White willow, Persian raspberry and a wild Chrysanthemum bush in Mazandaran province. This species is reported as a new record to the false spider mites-fauna of Iran here. Reviewing literatures revealed that it was briefly described in the original paper without any measures. So, a completed description is presented based on the Iranian specimens and different body segments are drawn for B. californicus. In addition, the above plants are new host records for B. californicus.

The present paper deals with the study of the taxonomy of one hundred accessions of Aegilops cylindica collected all around the country, and also Iranian materials and type specimens and related species housed in the Natural History Museum Vienna (W), the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin (B), were studied morphologically. The results showed that morphological traits such as length of spike, length of awn, number of spikelet in each spike, presence/absence of hair on spikelets and rachis were highly variable among the studied materials. Based on the results of this study A. cylindica was recognized as having three varieties, all new records, for Iran.

Psilotum nudum is an ancestral epiphytic of the monilophytes which has been recently reported from Hyrcanian forests. It was already introduced as an epiphytic species from some patchy habitats in the lowland parts of Hyrcanian forests. Moreover, Psilotum nudum was reviewed using morphological and anatomical characteristics in two different populations in central parts of Hyrcanian zone. The results showed that there were no significant differences between morphological and anatomical characteristics. The aerial stems of the plant were linear, chlorophyllous, and dichotomously branched. Leaves were much reduced, simple, scale-like, and without ligules. Synangium was composed of 3-locular capsule-like sporangia. Also, stele type in apex aerial stem and aerial stem was actinostele and it was haplostele type in rhizome. In this paper, a new locality of this species growing on the rocky sites was reported in Ata-kuh of Guilan.

This paper reports the floristic survey on the Salaheddinkola forests (Nowshahr). These forests posses high variations in elevation ranges and special physiographic properties, which form the growth platform for most of the typical Hyrcanian forest species. The floristic-physiognomic investigation of the region was performed using field-walk procedure and revealed 237 plant species belonging to 196 genera and 85 families. The important families were Asteraceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae and Fabaceae with 23, 20, 14, 13 and 10 species, respectively which represented 33.17 percent of the total species. According to Raunkaiaer method, Cryptophytes (28.7%), Hemicryptophytes (27.5%) and Phanerophytes (22.5%) were the most important structure groups of the local biological spectrum followed by Therophytes (17.7%) and Chamaephytes (3.4%) Chorotypes. According to Zohary, most of the identified species belonged to Euro-Siberian and Pluriregional regions with 79 (33.6%) and 62 (26%) taxa, respectively.

Determining the location of the different areas in the national division of labor and the structure of industry in the country is of particular importance. One of the most important elements of industrial structure is geographic concentration. As in most studies related to regional development, spatial concentration and regional specialization are considered as two sides of a coin. This research aimed to analyze the patterns of regional specialization and geographic concentration of industries in the country in the period 1997–2011, to answer the question of whether between regional specialization and geographic concentration, there is a significant relationship. To achieve the goal of research, various techniques such as Gini coefficient and location quotient were taken into consideration. The results indicated that the average of spatial concentration during the studied period increased by 21 percent which means that the manufacturing industries tend to become geographically concentrated. However, it seems that this concentration in 2011 tended towards the provinces such as Khorasan, Yazd, and Khuzestan. Finally, the results showed that there is a direct relation between geographical concentration and regional specialization in Iran and the concentrated provinces have become specialized in concentrated industries as well. Thus, the division of space in some regions of Iran formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the location of the different areas in the national division of labor and the structure of industry in the country is of particular importance. One of the most important elements of industrial structure is geographic concentration. As in most studies related to regional development, spatial concentration and regional specialization are considered as two sides of a coin. This research aimed to analyze the patterns of regional specialization and geographic concentration of industries in the country in the period 1997–2011, to answer the question of whether between regional specialization and geographic concentration, there is a significant relationship. To achieve the goal of research, various techniques such as Gini coefficient and location quotient were taken into consideration. The results indicated that the average of spatial concentration during the studied period increased by 21 percent which means that the manufacturing industries tend to become geographically concentrated. However, it seems that this concentration in 2011 tended towards the provinces such as Khorasan, Yazd, and Khuzestan. Finally, the results showed that there is a direct relation between geographical concentration and regional specialization in Iran and the concentrated provinces have become specialized in concentrated industries as well. Thus, the division of space in some regions of Iran formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basaltic prisms assemblages of Poshtsar are located in the south-eastern of Germi city and include of mafic volcanic rocks such as olivine basalt. They are outcropped with about 1000 meters thickness in the eastern part to 10 meters thicknes in the western part of Moghan. The main minerals of these rocks are olivine phenocrysts, clinopyroxene (augite) and plagioclase. The dominant textures of the rocks studied are microlitic and microlitic porphyritic. According to geochemical diagrams, the study rocks were originated from an alkaline magma. Spider diagrams show that the parent magma has been enriched in LREE/HREE ratio and LILE to primordial mantle which indicates enrichment of mantle source of the parent magma The magma of the studied rocks were generated from garnet lherzolite in depth of around 100 Km. It seems these basalts have been formed in Back-arc basin due to subduction of the eastern Black Sea (northern branch of Neo-Tethys) beneath the Armenian microcontinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The growth of science and technology tend to convert society to a learning society and enjoy its profits and also cope with its challenges (Edwards, 2002; Jarvis, 2008; Unesco, 2005). In response to questions such as "what is a learning society?" And "what are features of a learning society?" researchers have noted that understanding the concept of learning society requires attention to lifelong learning objectives or outcomes (Tuomi, 2005). These goals can be obtained by individual, social and economic developments. Today, despite the differences of opinion between the professionals about the purpose of lifelong learning, all believe that in a learning society, individuals are encouraged to undertake learning in different locations to realize the above three developments. They have proposed different models about learning society. Edwards (1997) have divided these models based on their philosophical foundations into three: learning society as an educated society, as a learning market, and as learning networks. Reviewing the learning society model, many scholars have noted that there is not a single ideal model for learning society, which could be suitable for all countries. Therefore each country should supply a specific strategic model of learning society that fits the cultural and national heritage of its nation (Tuijnman, 2002, p 26). According to the notification, the present paper seeks to examine the concept and model of learning society for Iran. Materials & Methods This research is a developmental study to design a model based on the philosophical foundations of Islam and Iranian culture. Also, it is a descriptive qualitative survey study. The Statistical population consists of two groups. The first group includes managers, assistants and faculty members working in the public universities in the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Tehran in the academic year 2010-2011. The criteria for their selection were a history of teaching, management and research on issues related to the research topic. The second group includes professionals working in higher education and research institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Iran. Potential sample size included 98 individuals who were identified as informants based on purposive sampling strategies and chain approach. They were all invited to participate in the interview. Finally, 24 individuals (9 male and 15 female administrators and faculty experts) announced their agreement. They were all interviewed. We analyzed interviews using thematic categorization and the results were analyzed by direct and indirect quotations in the research report. Discussion of Results & Conclusions With the turn of the third millennium, the Iranian society has chosen a knowledge-based development as its path towards development. In this country, the community members should keep their skills up to date, not only because of the natural need but also for being able to be actively involved in generation, transmission, distribution and use of knowledge. In other words, they must become a learning society. This society must be based on the philosophical foundations of Islam. The main message of this religion is (Aqra’) which asks people to read and learn from the cradle to the grave. According to Islam, The ultimate goal of people in a learning society is to be the servants of God. Therefore, learning is considered as a duty for every Muslim at any time and at any age. And the community should provide the opportunity to perform this task. However, Iranian society is a learning society that has a balanced look to the three goals of learning throughout life (Individual development, economic development and social development). Iranian-learning society is a community with the features listed below: This society: • considers the right to receive education • and develops equal learning opportunities to establish social justice • supports the collective rationality and is both critic and receptive of critic • encourages active citizenship in a global and national level to achieve the ultimate goal of being servant of God. • provides learning opportunities to help people feel they have reached to the learning and teaching right • enhances learning motivations by different methods. • fosters the ability of self-directed learning and learning how to learn. Educational Features in this society include: • interconnectivity among different sectors of formal education • Informal education is developed to suit the needs of all people. • appropriate learning strategies to take non-formal learning into account. • qualitative and quantitative developments of learning opportunities at the same time • The potential of ICT for development of national and global learning networks is used. Cultural features of this society include: • citizens extracts their procedures and instructions from principles and teachings of Islam. Economical features of this society include: • learning opportunities are provided to help people keep up to date with their knowledge and skills and to supply their personal life and skilled manpower for economic development The comparison between this model and other models shows that Iranian Learning Society is a Humanist Society which is based on Islamic philosophical foundations; hence this is different from Western models. It is necessary to note that the current cultural, social and educational conditions are not desirable to provide the basis for development of a learning society in Iran. Lack of belief in science and knowledge among all people, reduced learning motivation, inattention to orders of Islam, problems in the educational system are, among others, a few obstacles to realize this model.

In the present study, a comparative anatomical study of stem, midrib of basal leave and fruit is provided. In this paper, 45 anatomical characters of stem, midrib and fruit of some species such as Glaucium grandiflorum, G. fimbrilligerum, G. corniculatum, G. contortuplicatum, G. haussknechtii, G. elegans and other species such as Roemeria hybrida, R. refracta, H. pendulum and C. majus are presented. In this study, we report the presence of glandular hair in G. oxylobum and G. pulchrum for the first time. Among the examined traits, some traits such as shape of placenta, the presence of hairs, carpellary angle, the shape of carpellary angle, the number of external and internal layers of parenchyma of outer wall of ovary, the number of vascular bundles of placenta in the fruit and the presence of the central cavity, existence of hairy glands, the number of vascular bundles of phloem, lack of strengthening tissue surrounding the vascular bundles in the midrib of some species are different and the differences are significant enough to be useful in the delimitation of some species of Glaucium. Anatomical features of midrib in these genera indicate, in spite of some differences, the fundamental structure is similar, so cross section of blade by itself cannot be a good scale for identification of the species of the genus Glaucium and other genera. Anatomical features of stem are neither a suitable scale for separating species of Glaucium, nor for other genera. Anatomical features of fruit are useful in identification and determination species of genus Glaucium, but also, for four other genera, especially cross section of the fruit of H. pendulum showed significant differences in comparison with other genera. Some anatomical features of fruit in Glucium can be used in taxonomically grouping of the genus. The most important traits are the apparent shape of ovarian placenta.