Search

Bringing rightist movement studies into the Iranian context, this study advances a generalizable understanding of the ideological, moral, and cultural activism of Islamist movements and their rightist counterparts. While numerous studies have discussed the economic explanation of rightist movements, I integrate Islamist movements in the Muslim world and rightist movements in the West to develop a generalizable cultural and moral explanation of rightist movements. Value and ideological conflicts, as well as moral outrage, drive this integrated understanding of rightist movements. The rise of innovative and contentious forms of millennialism in Iran—especially the increasing salience of the Jamkaran mosque, the rise of new media outlets and millennial discourses, and pertinent policies—provide evidence for proposing this generalizable understanding. I argue that the rise of performative contentions surrounding millennialism, known as Mahdaviat, within the pro-regime revolutionary rightist movement in Iran was Islamists' ideological response to liberal threat perceptions. These threat perceptions were activated before the liberal Reform era (1997–2005). After the ascent of Ahmadinejad to power in 2005, ideological millennialism became the dominant discursive field in Iran's state politics. Drawing on narratives of prominent Islamist figures and media personalities in Iran and events surrounding Mahdaviat, this paper advances a generalizable argument of the moral and cultural explanation of rightist movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media companies increasingly play a role in regulating freedom of speech. Debates over ideological motivations behind suspension policies of major platforms are on the rise. This study contributes to this ongoing debate by looking at content moderation from a geopolitical perspective. The starting premise is that US-based social media companies may be inclined to moderate content on their platforms in compliance with US sanctions laws, especially those concerned with the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Despite the release of transparency reports by social media companies, we know little about the scope of the problem and the impact of suspensions on political conversations. I tracked 600,000 users who follow Iranian elites on Twitter. After accounting for alternative explanations, the results show that Principlist (conservative) users and those supportive of the Iranian government are significantly more likely to be suspended. Further analyses uncover the types of discussions that are being suppressed as a result of these suspensions. Although the exact mechanism at hand cannot be decisively isolated, this paper contributes to building a better understanding of how governments can influence conversations of geopolitical relevance, and how social media suspensions shape political conversations online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Shahyad monument, which has served as a symbol of Tehran—and by extension of modern Iran—since its inauguration in 1971, stands at the center of a huge open space that has been successively appropriated by Pahlavis, revolutionaries, and the Islamic Republic and has been persistently mediated and remediated in its relatively short life. This contested urban monument embodies the complex story of a space in which multiple sets of illusions—a Pahlavi fantasy as well as a revolutionary dream—are undone. In this paper, the space's story is traced through varied types of media and archival material, including plans and architectural drawings, official reports and correspondences, and especially through journalistic photographs of the Square in 1979 and its representation in various media afterward. I examine shifts in this specific space at particular and historically grounded conjunctures, honing in not just on the site's meta-narratives and its grand spectacular events, but also on the decentralized and ignored narratives and histories, demonstrating how they have reworked the meaning of this monumental space, turning it into a stage for contrarian politics. Focusing on the monument during the 1978-79 Revolution, I argue that the transformations in the meaning and perception of the site at that particular moment are indeed forces of a fundamental remaking, in that they open up the monumental site to further appropriations, as we are currently witnessing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employer branding in organizational human resources management is essential. Nevertheless, certain gaps persist within the realm of scientific research in this field, particularly in the exploration of novel concepts like employer brand personality appeal and its potential impact within the hospitality industry, which grapples with numerous human resources challenges. To fill this gap in knowledge, this paper introduces employer brand personality appeal as a concept within the hospitality employer brand context and measures its impact alongside corporate social responsibility on employee turnover intention and satisfaction in Iran's hospitality industry. Using a quantitative approach, a survey questionnaire was applied to investigate employees' perceptions. Respondents were 225 employees of four-and five-star hotels in Tehran. Results signify the impact of both corporate social responsibility and employer brand personality appeal on employees' behavioral consequences. Furthermore, findings support the influence of corporate social responsibility in promoting employer brand personality appeal. Therefore, this study expands hospitality employer brand literature by proposing a novel concept and exploring its potential for hospitality human resources deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parrotia C. A. Meyer (Hamamelidaceae) is a relictual genus with only two extant species disjunctly distributed in the subtropical forests of East China and temperate forests of North Iran. Fossil records suggest that Parrotia was widespread in Europe and Asia during the Miocene, but its fossils are predominantly based on pollen and leaves. In this paper we describe the first fossil flower of Parrotia based on an exceptionally well‐preserved amber inclusion from the middle Miocene of Zhangpu, Southeast China. The fossil flower was investigated with light microscope and microcomputed tomography techniques. Parrotia zhiyanii sp. nov. is a small apetalous staminate flower subtended by a pair of prominent bracts. The androecium consists of 12 stamens, and each stamen consists of a short, slender filament and a prominent, elongated anther. The anthers with short simple trichomes on the outer surface and a prominent apical connective extension are opened by longitudinal slits. Unlike its living relatives, the new Parrotia from Zhangpu grew in a Miocene seasonal tropical rainforest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In continuation of the previous part, this paper comprehensively focuses on energy, exergy, exergo-economic, and environmental (4E) analyses of two prioritized clean hydrogen (H 2) supply chains pathways. The first scenario relies on domestic demand , involves blue H 2 production and storage using steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture and storage through H 2 conversion to hydrogen carriers in liquid form (ammonia and methanol) aligned with the existing infrastructure. The second scenario involves green H 2 production from photovoltaic panels as the power source follows by storing H 2 in liquid form which is more suitable to export. The findings indicate that the blue H 2 system outperforms the green H 2 system in terms of energy and exergy, boasting 41.38% and 22.15% compared to 12.16% and 12.75%, respectively. However, when examining economic parameters, the blue H 2 system shows a total cost rate of 1976 US$/h, a net profit of $747.2 million (mn) at the end of its lifetime, and a payback period of approximately nine years. Conversely, the green H 2 system demonstrates economic indicators of a 125.2 $/h as a total cost rate, $1.26 billion (bn) net profit, and an 8.17 year payback period. Moreover, the production cost rates for blue and green H 2 are 1.32 $/kg and 2.55 $/kg, respectively; while the CO 2 emissions rate in the blue H 2 system is 10.71 kg/s. The green H 2 system prevents 19.84 kg/s of CO 2 emissions resulted a significant environmental cost reduction of 2.28 $/kg H 2. This analysis facilitates a thorough comparison of these two clean H 2 production and storage systems, offering insights for policymakers across performance, economic, and environmental dimensions. • A comprehensive 4E analysis was applied for the selected H 2 value chain scenarios. • Blue H 2 scenario is superior economically while environmentally the green one takes precedence. • Carbon credit makes the green H 2 scenario emerges frontrunner utilizing PV solar technology. • Methanol was recognized as the most cost-effective H 2 carrier for storage in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the restoration or rehabilitation of traditional buildings, compatible materials with known characteristics must be used. However, the existing literature lacks comprehensive studies on the characterisation of Persian mud–straw plaster, focusing primarily on Persian adobe. Moreover, previous research on Persian adobe has primarily employed XRF and XRD tests, neglecting ion chromatography, moisture sorption isotherm determination, and thermogravimetric analysis with differential scanning calorimetry. Consequently, there is a shortage of information regarding the elemental composition, mineralogical characteristics, moisture sorption behaviour, and thermal properties of Persian mud–straw plaster, as well as Persian adobe bricks. This paper aims to address this research gap by examining historical and new adobe bricks and mud–straw plaster used in Iran, utilising a comprehensive array of analytical techniques. The results from XRF analysis reveal relatively similar chemical compositions across all samples, while XRD analysis indicates predominantly similar mineral phases. Ion chromatography results demonstrate higher conductivity and chloride concentrations in the mud–straw samples than the adobe samples, with higher values for new samples than historical ones. Freshly used straw, clay, or soil may have higher chloride concentrations caused by the arid climate and soil salinisation in the area. Additionally, moisture sorption isotherm determination results show that adobe and mud–straw plaster with a higher salt load of chlorides have significantly higher moisture absorption. The increased straw quantity in the samples increases the moisture content. Furthermore, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry indicate that, at low heating, adobe and mud–straw plaster lose water due to dehydration, and at high heating, they lose carbon dioxide due to decarboxylation. The comprehensive characterisation of Persian adobe and mud–straw plaster in this study fills a significant gap in the literature and offers invaluable insights for informing restoration and rehabilitation processes, ensuring the compatibility of the materials used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 outbreak changed travel behaviour in many ways. This paper evaluates these changes in Tehran, Iran, from a transportation sustainability perspective. It uses data from travel surveys before and during the pandemic to evaluate changes in travel activity and their impacts on public transportation (PT) system costs and revenues, air quality and traffic crashes. A structural equation model (SEM) is used to assess the potential impact of passengers' characteristics, details of each transportation mode and the severity of Covid-19 on travel behaviour. Hypothesis testing is used to compare the changes that occurred in air quality and traffic crashes. SEM outputs indicate that the frequency of trips previously made by sustainable modes and changes in regular trips have the highest impact on the sustainability of trips made during the Covid-19 pandemic. Air quality declined in many city districts. The pandemic caused reductions in PT ridership and an increase in private car use, which threaten the long-term sustainability of public transit services. Crash fatalities declined slightly, particularly during periods of movement restrictions. However, motorcycle fatal crashes increased in comparison with the reduction in motorcycle trips, apparently due to increased traffic speeds. The government did not use the pandemic as an opportunity to promote sustainable and low-contagion modes. This analysis infers that the Covid-19 outbreak reduced the overall transportation sustainability in Tehran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In laryngeal realism (LR), laryngeal specification of stops is explained by direct maps of cues (e.g. VOT) onto privative phonological laryngeal features [voice] or [spread glottis]. Phonetic realization of the segments and speakers' 'control' (e.g. the degree of intervocalic voicing and speech rate manipulation effects on VOT duration) are used as diagnostics of phonological specification. Similar to some Arabic vernacular dialects (e.g. Qatari Arabic), Khuzestani Arabic in Iran presents a case where three voiced stops /b d ɡ/ are in contrast with voiceless stops /p t k/, but two voiceless guttural plosives /tˁ q/ have no voiced homorganic counterparts. In this paper we examine the phonetic realization of voicing in these stops at word-initial and intervocalic position, as well as the effects of speech rate manipulation on VOT and closure voicing. The data came from 12 native speakers recorded in Khorramshahr, Iran. Our findings suggest an over-specified voicing system in this Arabic variety. We found that voiced /b d ɡ/ were produced with voicing lead in initial position and complete closure voicing word medially, voiceless /p t k/ had long lag VOT, while guttural /tˁ q/ had short lag VOT. Speech rate manipulation revealed that only duration of (pre)voicing and duration of aspiration increased in slower speech. Also, f0, F1, and F2 were measured at vowel onset to evaluate the glottal state in production of stops. The results support the predictions of LR that voiced stops are specified by [voice], voiceless stops are [sg], while gutturals lack underlying specification for voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arabia – Eurasia collision zone in the central part of the Alpine – Himalayan orogenic system has had a complex deformation history since the Palaeozoic. In Iran, the collision zone consists of the Alborz‐Talesh, Kopeh Dagh and Zagros foldbelts and the intervening Central Iran area. In this review paper, we summarize the structural architecture and tectonostratigraphic characteristics of these domains and attempt to correlate regional deformation events between them. The results show that six regional‐scale deformation phases can be recognized and correlated in Iran over a time interval extending from the Late Palaeozoic to the Late Cenozoic. Late Palaeozoic rifting in northern Gondwana and subsequent oceanic spreading resulted in the separation of the Central and North Iran blocks from the Arabian Platform. These blocks later converged and collided with the southern margin of Eurasia due to the subduction of the intervening PalaeoTethys lithosphere ("Cimmerian orogeny": Late Triassic). The convergent setting resulted in the initial development of the Alborz‐Talesh foldbelt in present‐day northern Iran, while extensional basins developed in the forebulge area in Central Iran. Continuing northward subduction of NeoTethyan oceanic lithosphere at the southern Eurasia margin produced Early Cretaceous back‐arc extension and associated volcanism in Central Iran and the Alborz‐Talesh area to the north. A phase of compressional deformation in the Late Cretaceous was related to the collision of a series of microcontinents derived from Northern Gondwana, including the Ercinjan and Bitlis massifs, with the Central Iran block, and is recorded in the Alborz‐Talesh foldbelt and in Central Iran. Further back‐arc extension in the late Paleocene – Eocene was accompanied by pervasive volcanism and volcaniclastic sedimentation throughout northern and Central Iran. The final closure of NeoTethys and convergence between the Arabian and Eurasian Plates evolved through phases of early Oligocene "soft" collision and middle Miocene "hard" collision. This was accompanied by thrusting in the internal parts of the Zagros foldbelt and by folding and subordinate thrusting in the more external parts, with related development of the flexural Mesopotamian Basin in the foreland to the SW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the combined impacts of COVID-19 and sanctions on Afghans in Iran. It draws on semi-structured interviews with Afghans and experts that were analyzed thematically using the human security framework. Findings indicate that Afghans without access to the internet and social media received no detailed and accurate information through national TV and radio. Patients with COVID-19 had difficulty accessing imported medicines, which were not affordable for Afghans with middle and lower economic backgrounds regardless of their immigration status. We argue that sanctions in combination with the COVID-19 pandemic have negatively affected the economic and health conditions of Afghans in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was inspired by Michael Rush's works on the social construction of fatherhood in non-European contexts. It aims to fill a knowledge gap in gender, family and Iranian studies by exploring both the changing role of fathers and men's involvement in family life and care in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Adopting an intergenerational approach and a mixed methods design, the paper considers how fatherhood practices and discourses have changed over the last decades and how different generations of men elaborate, describe, and perform the paternal role. Despite institutionalized gender inequality and a patriarchal family structure supported by family law legislation, fatherhood in Iran is anything but static. Instead, it is possible to notice a gradual redefinition of gender roles within the family. Especially urban middle class's men are negotiating diverse masculinities and, at the same time, delivering non-traditional parenting roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The greenhouse gas emitted due to transportation is the third greatest emitter globally, and its impact has become a threat to the environment, public health, and economic development. Waste transportation is excluded in studies of waste management despite its significant environmental impacts such as global warming and human toxicity. The objective of this study is to develop a quantification model to estimate the carbon footprint of waste transportation and environmental impact assessments in three categories applied in Tehran using IPCC guidelines. In Tehran, light and heavy vehicles ran on diesel fuel. Data on fuel and waste characteristics were provided by Tehran's department of transportation and municipality, respectively. In this study, transportrelated emissions are 8.47 k tonCO2eq/y, and the carbon footprint of waste transportation is 93.57 g of CO2 eq per ton of waste transported (t.km), which is relevant to three main parameters: the amount of waste transported annually, the freight shipped from the temporary station to the disposal landfill site, and fossil fuels consumed. Also, an environmental impact assessment in three categories - human health (global warming, abiotic depletion, and ozone layer depletion), resources (fossil fuels), and ecosystem quality (acidification and eutrophication) - using SimaPro, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool is presented. Global warming (3.49 kg CO2 eq/t MSW), human toxicity (0.95 kg 1,4-DB eq/t MSW), and freshwater aquatic eco-toxicity (0.04 kg 1,4-DB eq/t MSW) have the greatest impact among categories. Sensitivity analysis of the effective parameters allows us to conclude one of the potential implications of this study would be the introduction of natural gas or biogas-based trucks replacing diesel fuel vehicles to improve air quality and mitigate the greenhouse gas emission. Implications: This paper addresses the significant issue of global warming, particularly in Iran, a developing country that ranks among the top contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. The study emphasizes the importance of evaluating emissions across various sectors such as electricity, waste, etc., Specifically, in this paper we focus on developing a model to quantify the environmental impact resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels in vehicles, focus on the metropolitan city of Tehran as a case study. By examining the waste transportation process, we aim to provide decision-makers with effective strategies to mitigate the environmental consequences. In this paper, we develop a simple quantification term of Carbon Footprint to calculate total greenhouse gas emission of waste transportation process. Carbon Footprint is a fraction which, its numerator is total greenhouse gas emission and its denominator is total waste transported in traveled distance. Effective parameters have been investigated and based on parameters and emission factors taken out of IPPC, the carbon footprint model have been developed. The total greenhouse gas emission of this study and the carbon footprint has estimated at 8.47 k tonCO2eq/y and 93.57 g CO2eq/t.km respectively. Furthermore, the paper explores additional environmental impacts beyond global warming, including abiotic depletion, ozone layer depletion, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity, photochemical oxidation, and freshwater aquatic eco-toxicity. Using SimaPro software these eight impact categories have been estimated. in this study we identify fossil fuel consumption, traveled distance, and mass transported are the primary parameters influencing greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint. To reduce emissions in the waste transportation system, we suggest promoting renewable biofuels, highlighting Iran as a suitable candidate due to its high percentage of biodegradable material in municipal solid waste. Additionally, the study assesses nonrenewable energy and mineral extraction using the IMPACT 2002+ V2.15/IMPACT 2002+ method, revealing that global warming (100 years), human toxicity (100 years), freshwater aquatic eco-toxicity, nonrenewable energy, and mineral extraction have the most significant impacts on the municipal solid waste transportation system. Overall, this research underscores the need for quantifying environmental impacts and recommends strategies to mitigate them in waste transportation processes, particularly in developing countries like Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Cannabis is a herbaceous annual plant that belongs to the Cannabaceae family, which is used in the production of fibre, paper, oil and pharmaceutical products. Aims: The aim of this study was to identify drought-tolerant ecotypes and medicinal and industrial populations. Methods: Due to the medicinal and industrial importance of cannabis, 12 cannabis ecotypes were collected from different regions of Iran. Then, their agronomic and phytochemical characteristics were evaluated under different soil moisture conditions. Key results: The soil moisture levels had significant effects (P < 0.01) on the studied traits except for the 1000 seed weight. Based on duration of the growth period, the Tabas and Dasht-e-Moghan ecotypes were identified as early and late maturing ecotypes, respectively. Also, the highest stem dry weight and stem height/diameter ratio and the lowest seed yield were related to the Dasht-e-Moghan ecotype, which is valuable for fibre production. Based on seed yield (relative reduction) and some tolerance indexes, the Tabas and Tabrize ecotypes were shown to be the most tolerant and sensitive ecotypes, respectively. As soil moisture decreased, tetrahydrocannabinol levels increased and cannabidiol levels decreased. The highest amount of tetrahydrocannabinol was related to the Qom ecotype at 50% soil moisture and the highest amount of cannabidiol was related to the Rasht ecotype at 100% soil moisture. Conclusions: Generally, these ecotypes had different responses to soil moisture. Some ecotypes were valuable in terms of the production of pharmaceutical metabolites and some in terms of fibre production. Implications: Tolerant and sensitive ecotypes might be considered in production and also breeding programs. Cannabis is a herbaceous annual plant that belongs to the Cannabaceae family, and is used in the production of fibre, paper and oil. This plant has been used for the treatment of rheumatism, epilepsy, asthma, skin burns, gastrointestinal activity, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disorders, cancer and metabolic syndrome-related disorders. Generally, our findings showed that these ecotypes had different responses to soil moisture, and some ecotypes were valuable in terms of the production of pharmaceutical metabolites and some in terms of fibre production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The increase in the average age of the population, the decrease in the size of the household and rising in the number of working women impose an increasing burden on home caregivers in Iran. The aim of this study was to measure care burden of informal caregivers in Iran through systematic review and meta-analysis of existing literature. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted by using national and international databases of Scopus, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, SID, Magiran, and IranDoc papers in English and Persian language up to the first half of 2020. In this meta-analysis, we calculated the pooled care burden and 95% confidence intervals in Statistical Software For Data Science (STATA) V.15. Results: Forty-four papers were included in the current study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria comprising of 8626 samples. Pooled mean of Burden of Care was 52.01 (95% CI: 48.21-55.82). Highest pooled mean(SD) of care burden (64.37) was related to caregivers of schizophrenia patients (95% CI: 56.09–72.64). Highest care burden (53.45) was observed in most deprived areas (95%CI = 47.05–59.86). A statistically significant relationship was observed between caregivers gender and care burden (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The reported care burden of informal caregivers requires the establishment of a support system to control mental and physical stress. Due to the dispersion and cultural diversity in Iran, more studies are needed to obtain more accurate data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Online ride-hailing platforms match drivers with passengers by receiving ride requests from passengers and forwarding them to the nearest driver. In this context, the low acceptance rate of offers by drivers leads to friction in the process of driver and passenger matching. What policies by the platform may increase the acceptance rate and by how much? What factors influence drivers' decisions to accept or reject offers and how much? Are drivers more likely to turn down a ride offer because they know that by rejecting it, they can quickly receive another offer, or do they reject offers due to the availability of outside options? This paper aims to answer such questions using a novel dataset from Tapsi, a ride-hailing platform located in Iran. Design/methodology/approach: The authors specify a structural discrete dynamic programming model to evaluate how drivers decide whether to accept or reject a ride offer. Using this model, the authors quantitatively measure the effect of different policies that increase the acceptance rate. In this model, drivers compare the value of each ride offer with the value of outside options and the value of waiting for better offers before making a decision. The authors use the simulated method of moments (SMM) method to match the dynamic model with the data from Tapsi and estimate the model's parameters. Findings: The authors find that the low driver acceptance rate is mainly due to the availability of a variety of outside options. Therefore, even hiding information from or imposing fines on drivers who reject ride offers cannot motivate drivers to accept more offers and does not affect drivers' welfare by a large amount. The results show that by hiding the information, the average acceptance rate increases by about 1.81 percentage point; while, it is 4.5 percentage points if there were no outside options. Moreover, results show that the imposition of a 10-min delay penalty increases acceptance rate by only 0.07 percentage points. Originality/value: To answer the questions of the paper, the authors use a novel and new dataset from a ride-hailing company, Tapsi, located in a Middle East country, Iran and specify a structural discrete dynamic programming model to evaluate how drivers decide whether to accept or reject a ride offer. Using this model, the authors quantitatively measure the effect of different policies that could potentially increase the acceptance rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper for the first time improved a Robust Multi-Output machine learning regression model for seismic hazard zoning of Turkey, Iraq and Iran using constructed 3-D shear-wave velocity (Vs), seismic tomography dataset model for the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the study area. The focus of this paper's opportunity is to develop a scientific framework leveraging machine learning that will ultimately provide the rapid and more complete characterization of earthquake properties. This work can be targeted at improving the seismic hazard zones system ability to detect and associate seismic signals, or at estimating other seismic characteristics (crust acceleration and crust energy) while traditionally, methods cannot monitor the earthquakes system. This work has derived some physical equations for extraction of many variables as inputs for our developed machine learning model based on a reliable understanding of the tomography data to physical variables by preparing huge dataset from different physical conditions of crust. We have extracted the velocity values of the shear waves from the original NETCDF file, which contains the S velocity values for every one km of the depths of the crust for the study area from one km down to the uppermost mantle beneath the Middle East. For the first time, this study calculated new seismic hazard parameter called Peak Crust Acceleration (PCA) for seismic hazard analysis by considering the transmitted initial seismic energy through the Earth's crust layers from hypocenter. All machine learning algorithms in this study wrote in python language using anaconda platform the open-source Individual Edition (Distribution). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Iran-Saudi Arabia conflict is an ongoing struggle for influence in the region that has created uncertainty, affected oil prices and regional economics. This paper uses wavelet analysis to examine the frequency and time-varying co-movement and casual nexus between petroleum prices (OP) and financial liquidness (MS) with and without geopolitical risk (GPR). The aim is to test the validity of the monetary equilibrium model from 1988 to 2019. The model is supported by the findings, as both short and medium-term association is found between OP and MS at high frequencies in the presence of GPR. We find a medium-term association between OP and MS in the absence of GPR. The paper's overall conclusion suggests that GPR affects OP and OP, in turn, impact MS. Diversifying economic activities to minimize oil dependency, which is sensitive to external shocks, is suggested as a mitigation solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging causes the reduction in physical and physiological strength and an increase in the odds of affliction with chronic physical and mental diseases ultimately affecting the quality of life (QoL). So far, several primary studies have been conducted on the impact of religious-spiritual education and care on the QoL of the elderly. However, to the best of our knowledge, a study that compiles and represents these findings in a published paper is lacking. Therefore, the current study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the effect of religious-spiritual education and care on the QoL of the elderly population. To access studies related to the aim of the study, SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Embase, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched. The search was done using relevant and validated keywords with MeSH/Emtree without time limitations until December 2021. The qualitative appraisal of the papers was done using the JBI checklist. To estimate the heterogeneity of studies, I2 index was used, and to combine the data and carry out a meta-analysis, Random Effects model was used. In the primary research, 1065 studies were found. The omission of the redundant cases led to a total number of 12 papers with a sample size of 317 in the intervention group and 321 in the control to be included in the meta-analysis. After the intervention, the mean score of QoL showed a significant increase by 1.42 ± 0.31 with a Confidence Interval of 95% (P<0.001). Meta-regression results showed that the increase in the year of conducting the study, and the number of intervention sessions, that the standardized mean difference had a decreasing trend, and that with the increase in the average age of the elderly, there was a rising trend (P<0.001). Therefore, it seems that the application of religious-spiritual education and care could be part of a program to improve the QoL of the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The importance of data quality whether in collection, analysis or presenting stage is a tangible and undeniable scientific fact and the main objects of researches implementation. Objective: This paper aims at explaining the main problems of the Iranian scientific papers for providing better data in the field of national and sub-national prevalence, incidence estimates and trends of obesity and overweight. METHODS: To assess and evaluate papers, we systematically followed an approved standard protocol. Retrieval of studies was performed through Thomson Reuters Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus, as well as Iranian databases including Irandoc, Scientific Information Database (SID), and IranMedex. Using GBD (Global Burden of Diseases) validated quality assessment forms to assess the quality and availability of data in papers, we considered the following four main domains: a) Quality of studies, b) Quality report of the results, c) Responsiveness of corresponding authors, and d) Diversity in study settings. RESULTS: We retrieved 3,253 records; of these 1,875 were from international and 1378 from national databases. After refining steps, 129 (3.97%) papers remained related to our study domain. More than 51% of relevant papers were excluded because of poor quality of studies. The number of reported total population and points of data were 22,972 and 29 for boys, and 38,985 and 47 for girls, respectively. For all measures, missing values and diversities in studies' setting limited our ability to compare and analyze the results. Moreover, we had some serious problems in contacting the corresponding authors for complementary information necessary (Receptiveness: 17.9%). CONCLUSION: As the present paper focused on the main problems of Iranian scientific papers and proposed suggestions, the results will have implications for better policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This article explores the care British nurses provided to victims of typhus during the Second World War. Background Typhus is associated with poverty and overcrowding. During wars in the pre-antibiotic era, civilians were particularly susceptible to epidemics, which military governments feared would spread to their troops. Design This discussion paper draws on archival data from three typhus epidemics in the Second World War to examine the expert work of British nurses in caring for victims during these potential public health disasters. Data Sources The published sources for the paper include material from nursing and medical journals published between 1940-1947. Archival sources come from the National Archives in Kew, the Wellcome Library and the Army Medical Services Museum, between 1943-1945. Of particular interest is the correspondence with Dame Katharine Jones from nurses on active service overseas. Implications for Nursing Whilst epidemics of typhus are now rare, nurses in the present day may be required to care for the public in environments of extreme poverty and overcrowding, where life-threatening infectious diseases are prevalent. This article has demonstrated that it is possible for expert and compassionate nursing to alleviate suffering and prevent death, even when medical technologies are unavailable. Conclusion Expert and compassionate care, adequate nutrition and hydration and attention to hygiene needs are crucial when there are limited pharmacological treatments and medical technologies available to treat infectious diseases. The appreciation of this could have implications for nurses working in current global conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly cited papers are mostly authored in international collaboration. It is expected that co-authored papers bring more citations. On the other hand, it is inevitable that a part of citations is self-citation. This study investigates 134 and 236 highly cited papers in Iran and Turkey, respectively, to determine the extent to which highly cited papers are affected by author self-citation. A comparison accross subject disciplines shows that highly cited papers in Clinical Medicine (in Turky) and Physics (in Iran) received more citations than others while Engineering stands at the top position based on author self-citation counts in both countries. There is a significant relashionship between Iranian nationally co-authored papers and author self-citation. But it is not true of Turkish researchers. This indicates that Iranian contributors have more tendency toward author self-citation than Turkish researchers. Consequently, the influence of author self-citation on highly cited papers is to some extent a matter of citation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) play a very important role in military and civilian activities. In this paper, the aim is to cover the borders of Iran using UAVs. For this purpose, two zero-one programming models are presented. In the first model, our goal is to cover the borders of Iran at the minimum total time (the required time to prepare UAVs to start flying and the flight time of the UAVs). In this model, by minimizing the total time of UAVs for covering the borders, the costs appropriate to the flight of UAVs (such as the fuel costs of UAVs) are also reduced. In the second model, which is mostly used in emergencies and when a military attack occurs on the country’s borders, the aim is to minimize the maximum required time to counter attacks and cover the entire country’s borders. The efficiency of both models is shown by numerical examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As English has increasingly become the lingua franca in science and international journals require nativelike academic writing standards from nonnative researchers, there is more pressure on nonnative scholars to write their research articles more accurately and appropriately in English. This study was conducted to determine the most-occurring language-related errors which Iranian medical authors/ researchers commit while trying to have their research published in international English journals. Also, this article seeks to provide useful guidelines to reduce such linguistic mistakes. Methods: The present study investigated the most common language-related errors in Iranian medical specialists' research articles. To this end, the first drafts of 60 published research articles in medical sciences were cross-checked against their peer-reviewed published versions in order to identify the most frequent non-target language forms which received discoursal, lexical, grammatical, and mechanical revisions by peer editors. Results: The findings revealed that the editors had surprisingly dealt with discoursal errors more than any other linguistic aspects of these research articles. This was followed by lexical replacements. In third place were grammatical improvements, where erroneous structures mostly related to tenses, usage of articles and prepositions, and agreement between verbs and nouns were treated. The least common revisions were on the mechanics of academic writing, consisting of hyphenating, spelling, case lettering, spacing, and spacing with commas. Conclusion: Although most of the Iranian medical authors/researchers enjoyed a good level of proficiency in English, their manuscripts required discoursal, lexical, grammatical, and mechanical revisions before publication in credited international journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) factors influencing occupant satisfaction in commercial buildings in Iran, contrasting the views of building experts (architects and engineers) with those of building occupants. Employing the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), this study focuses on the four primary IEQ factors: thermal comfort, indoor air quality, visual comfort, and acoustic comfort. The study aims to bridge the gap between expert evaluations and occupant perceptions of IEQ factors in commercial buildings in Iran. By examining the disparities in prioritising IEQ factors between these two groups, the study sheds light on the complexities of IEQ assessment and highlights the importance of considering diverse perspectives in optimising indoor environments. Our methodology includes a survey conducted among 30 building experts (15 architects and 15 building engineers) and 102 occupants, employing FAHP to derive the relative importance weights of each IEQ factor. The results highlight significant disparities between architects, engineers, and occupants in prioritising these factors. Architects emphasise visual comfort (42%), while engineers and occupants view thermal comfort (53% and 41%) as the most crucial factor for occupant satisfaction. The study underscores the complexity of IEQ in commercial buildings and the diverse perspectives influencing its assessment. It contributes to the broader discourse on optimising IEQ, emphasising the need for a comprehensive approach that encompasses both technical expertise and occupant experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Tomography (TomoSAR) has ascertained great potential for the three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of observed scenes, especially in urban areas. However, the number of proceed snapshots (observations) is usually less than that of slant height samples (unknowns) in TomoSAR inversion processes. This impairs the quality of the reconstructed vertical information. To cope with this issue and improve the reliability of reconstructed vertical information, this paper investigates the possible potential of a deterministic descriptive regularization-based method. Deterministic descriptive regularization is a well-conditioned optimization framework based on the descriptive idea of a regularization solution. This strategy can help to mitigate the effect of the ill-posed problem. Thus, it can assist SAR tomography to deal with the possible impairing issues arising from low numbers and the distribution of baselines. For this purpose, the result of the proposed strategy is compared with the outcomes from the standard TomoSAR techniques, including Beamforming, Capon, and Minimum Norm. The proposed method for reconstruction of the reflectivity function of the observed scene has been performed on a dataset acquired by the Sentinel-1 sensor in 2022 over Tehran City, Iran. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can estimate building heights with a vertical accuracy of better than 91%. These results demonstrate the great potential of the proposed method for reconstructing the full 3-D images of urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preparedness of Iranian nurses for potential pandemics. Background: Nurses play a critical role in managing pandemics. They require adequate training, proper equipment, and organizational support to be well-prepared. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Ardabil, Iran, from July to September 2023, involving 233 nurses from five hospitals. The number of nurses required for each hospital was calculated based on the proportion of nurses in each hospital. Data was collected through a paper-based form that included information about the participants' demographic characteristics and their level of pandemic preparedness in health services. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine the demographic characteristics and levels of pandemic preparedness. Pearson's test was also conducted to establish a relationship between different dimensions of pandemic preparedness. Results: Most participants relied on clinical measures and supported using human resources and environmental methods to curb the transmission of a pandemic. They felt assured in their ability to explain the preventive measures against the pandemic. However, fewer respondents had access to healthcare improvement programs, and only a few worked remotely from home. Conclusions: According to our study, 90.1% of nurses believe hand washing is the most effective way to prevent spreading infections. Additionally, healthcare professionals can use various tools to respond to the pandemic, including screening for COVID-19 at work, health and wellness programs, telecommuting, COVID-19 Safe programs, social media, and posters. Nurses need continuous education in hand hygiene, health programs, remote work options, and pandemic-safe programs to control infections, reduce risks, and optimize patient care during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preparedness of Iranian nurses for potential pandemics. Background: Nurses play a critical role in managing pandemics. They require adequate training, proper equipment, and organizational support to be well-prepared. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Ardabil, Iran, from July to September 2023, involving 233 nurses from five hospitals. The number of nurses required for each hospital was calculated based on the proportion of nurses in each hospital. Data was collected through a paper-based form that included information about the participants' demographic characteristics and their level of pandemic preparedness in health services. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine the demographic characteristics and levels of pandemic preparedness. Pearson's test was also conducted to establish a relationship between different dimensions of pandemic preparedness. Results: Most participants relied on clinical measures and supported using human resources and environmental methods to curb the transmission of a pandemic. They felt assured in their ability to explain the preventive measures against the pandemic. However, fewer respondents had access to healthcare improvement programs, and only a few worked remotely from home. Conclusions: According to our study, 90.1% of nurses believe hand washing is the most effective way to prevent spreading infections. Additionally, healthcare professionals can use various tools to respond to the pandemic, including screening for COVID-19 at work, health and wellness programs, telecommuting, COVID-19 Safe programs, social media, and posters. Nurses need continuous education in hand hygiene, health programs, remote work options, and pandemic-safe programs to control infections, reduce risks, and optimize patient care during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the main vector of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. Wolbachia is a symbiotic alphaproteobacteria of arthropods that can be involved in susceptibility or resistance. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Wolbachia and Deltamethrin susceptibility/resistance in Ph. papatasi. Deltamethrin filter papers (0.00002%) were used to test sand fly field collected from southern Iran. After the test, PCR amplification of the Wolbachia surface protein gene (wsp) was used to measure Wolbachia infection rate in the killed, surviving, and control groups. Result: The rates of infection by Wolbachia strain (wPap, super group A) differed between killed (susceptible) and surviving (resistant) Ph. papatasi specimens. The rate of Wolbachia infection in susceptible individuals was more than twice (2.3) (39% vs. 17%) in resistant individuals with the same genetic background. This difference was highly significant (p < 0.001), indicating a positive association between Wolbachia infection and susceptibility to Deltamethrin. In addition, the results showed that Deltamethrin can act as a PCR inhibitor during detection of Wolbachia in Ph. papatasi. Conclusion: Results of this study show that Wolbachia is associated with Deltamethrin susceptibility level in Ph. papatasi. Also, as Deltamethrin has been identified as a PCR inhibitor, great care must be taken in interpreting Wolbachia infection status in infected populations. The results of this study may provide information for a better understanding of the host-symbiont relationship, as well as application of host symbiosis in pest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is about private law contracts and their social, economic, and religious background in Sasanian Persia (224–651) before the advent of Islam. After a brief introduction to the sources and research method, the paper examines Zoroastrian moral teachings about obligations in general and contractual obligations in particular. To emphasise the religious background, the Avestan hymn to Mithra and the Vendidad are scrutinised which have a classification of contracts and a pyramid of sanctions for their breach. The second part of the article analyses private law contracts, which can be found in the Sasanian Law Book called Madigan I Hazar Dadestan, such as sale, barter, donation, lease, and loan, together with legal guarantees such as surety and pledge. In addition to legal dogmatics, attention is also paid to gaps in the law and the opportunities they provide for parties to achieve unlawful ends with legal means, as well as the prudence of Sasanian lawyers and how they stopped such abuses of the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dance has entered mainstream empirical research: dance as an experimental stimulus, and dancers as movement experts. Informed by several sources, including primary sources (original, historical documents, and oral reports, such as interviews with practitioners and academic scholars of Iranian dance genres) and secondary sources (research literature), we describe what we label "Iranian classical dance" within this paper as an important resource for empirical research, not only in humanities scholarship but also, and importantly, for empirical aesthetics, emotion psychology, cross‐cultural psychology, and affective neuroscience. For this purpose, we (1) describe the aesthetics, characteristics, and history of Iranian classical dance; (2) outline issues of definition and systematization; and (3) give an overview of the cultural complexities and sociopolitical issues regarding Iranian classical dance in the past 40 years, which have shaped its current form. After the political revolution of 1979 (Iranian solar calendar year: 1358), dance in Iran—both as everyday practice and as a cultural heritage—was first forbidden, and now remains heavily restricted. International, interdisciplinary research teams can contribute to safeguarding Iranian classical dance in the future by firmly enshrining it into empirical research on human dance. We outline empirical research perspectives on Iranian classical dance, dataset resources, and expert communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iran has been among the top ten largest refugee‐host countries worldwide, sheltering one of the largest groups of forced migrants from Afghanistan during the past four decades. This policy paper briefly examines and summarizes the policies related to education of Afghan children in Iran through a structured review. The results of this review suggest that higher education has been and continues to be heavily restricted for Afghans. While access to primary education has improved for Afghans in Iran, policies continue to neglect both cultural specificity and unique needs of this group. Therefore, enrolment has remained restricted. The findings of our policy analysis call for further attention to culturally relevant education, financial assistance for families living in poverty and interventions to subsidize the cost of education to ensure access of all Afghan children to primary education and retain enrolment. Results also call for reconsiderations in restrictive higher education policies for Afghans in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a methodology for identifying urban neighborhoods with severe housing deprivation (SHD) in Iran. The study, in addition to the housing physical determinants and overcrowding, considers household's socioeconomic characteristics as an integral dimension of SHD. It proposes a methodology that adopts census-based data and data-pooling strategy to map the spatial distribution and clustering of housing deprivation (HD) within five selected cities in Iran. First, a hybrid Factor Analysis and Analytic Network Process (F'ANP) model is used to construct a composite housing deprivation index (HDI) composed of eight HD indicators. The composite HDI is then validated using the leave-one-out cross validation method in discriminant analysis, correlation and regression analyses. Second, the composite HDI scores are classified into five categories using standard deviations. Then, spatial data analyses are performed to investigate the presence of spatial autocorrelation. The results confirm that HD in the selected cities is spatially autocorrelated and have a statistically significant pattern of spatial clustering that includes five distinct categories. The neighborhoods that belong to the HD hot spots are considered as the neighborhoods with SHD. The identification and spatial distribution of the neighborhoods characterized by different levels of HD, not only provide a deep knowledge about the existing housing situation, but also can effectively support the revision of the housing planning strategies and actions both the national and local levels. The developed methodology could be replicated for the identification of areas with SHD in the cities of Iran and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Azizi, H., Daneshvar, N., Asahara, Y., Minami, M. & Anma, R. (2023). The generation of Eocene mafic dike swarms during the exhumation of a Core complex, Biarjmand area, NE Iran. Journal of Petrology 64 , 1–18 have attributed the E–W-oriented mafic dike swarm in the Biarjmand metamorphic core complex to an Eocene extensional event which is much younger than a previously suggested Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous age. They proposed that the emplacement of these dikes occurred in a rapid extensional regime coeval with the exhumation of the core complex after gravitational instability in the Central Iran/Eurasia collision zone. I appreciate the opportunity this article provides to shed light on specific aspects of the Late Mesozoic–Early Cenozoic continental extension within the Eurasian sector of the Neotethys subduction system. However, I here bring to attention certain discrepancies within Azizi et al. 's publication. Specifically, the assignment of an Eocene age to the emplacement of the E–W-oriented dike swarm, even though purportedly supported by U–Pb zircon dating, appears to be at odds with field observations and previously published geochronological data. Furthermore, the article contains internal contradictions in its presentation of the core complex model for the study area. It is important to note that Malekpour-Alamdari, A., Axen, G. J., Heizler, M. T. & Hassanzadeh, J. (2017). Large-magnitude continental extension in the northeastern Iranian plateau: insight from K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology from the Shotor Kuh-Biarjmand metamorphic core complex. Geosphere 13 , 1207–1233 previously documented the geochronological-based metamorphic core complex model of the area. Regrettably, despite its direct relevance, these earlier works have not been acknowledged in Azizi et al. 's paper. In this comment, I outline the problems with the structural and regional geology, the zircon U–Pb age of the dike samples, the age of the dike swarm, and the geodynamic interpretations in Azizi et al. 's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many in the Soviet leadership, Ayatollah Khomeini's anti-Americanism was a sufficient reason for supporting the Iranian Revolution. Yet in Rostislav Ulianovskii's view, the revolution gave Iran a much bigger opportunity: a chance to fit in the Soviet theoretical concept of 'the non-capitalist path of development'. With this picture in mind Ulianovskii and the Tudeh Party developed a strategy of temporary support for Khomeini, expecting him to fulfil his temporary 'objectively progressive' role and give way to the truly 'progressive' forces. This paper investigates the ideological constraints that led to the formation of this strategy and its imminent failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status of the Jews of Iran during the Qajar dynasty, mutated, because of being a minority among the Shiite dominant group and adjusted itself through the processes of annexation within Iranian society. Iranian Jews engaged in power relations with two main groups: European envoys and representatives of the Qajar dynasty. The ability to endure in the changing political environment of Iran as a religious minority was facilitated by the strategic dimension of silence that was used as a medium in establishing power relations with dominant elites within the Iranian society. This paper aims to use the practice of silence as a theoretical framework to understand how Iranian Jewry, between the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, managed to preserve their Judaic practices in Iran despite being a religious minority. Silence operated as being both an instrument for leading groups to control them through the practice of 'silencing' them, and as a way used by Iranian Jews themselves to resist and escape possible persecutions and social control by the dominant elites. Silence both in its oppressive and resistance forms acted to create a dynamic relationship between Iranian Jews and dominant elites working in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, human geneticists have substantially embraced the concept of "biogeographical ancestry" to account for the racial, ethnic, and linguistic categories they use to analyze and interpret genetic difference. Understanding the ongoing role of these categories in human genetic research therefore requires attention to geneticists' representations of geography, particularly the geographic maps they use to illustrate gene distribution and migration. This article examines how the methods and imagery of international genetic geography and its major evolutionary narratives have reinforced or refashioned nationalist practices of geography in the Middle East. Geneticists simultaneously conceptualize the region's physical space as both a historical "crossroads" of human migration and the birthplace of distinct gene sequences and civilizations, alternately blurring and sharpening the boundaries between Europe and Asia. Focusing on genetic research in Turkey and Iran, this paper analyzes how geneticists draw and interpret geographic maps of the region while selectively erasing or highlighting state borders. These genetic maps negotiate between the idealized aims of international projects to reconstruct human evolutionary history, and the reality of practicing science under the constraints of nationstate politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) is the primary choice for stimulating petroleum reservoirs. Rock tensile strength and brittleness are crucial parameters required for screening candidate reservoirs and in designing successful HF operations. However, in situ and laboratory determinations of the hydraulic tensile strength (HTS) of rock can prove problematic. Alternatively, the HTS could be estimated from the rock brittleness once a reliable relationship has been established between them. Accordingly, this paper investigates the correlations between the HTS, as measured using laboratory hydraulic fracture tests, and ten strength-based brittleness indices (BIs) selected from the research literature. The primary inputs for computing these BIs are uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and the Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), which are typically measured for most projects using standard laboratory rock mechanics tests or obtained from log data. For the purposes of this experimental investigation, intact rock core samples were obtained from a carbonate–dolomite formation in Iran, comprising eight distinct geomechanical units, with measured values of UCS, BTS, and HTS ranging 29.7–162.2, 1.93–12.23, and 7.20–20.63 MPa, respectively. The measured HTS was found to directly correlate with the UCS, BTS, and Young's modulus, and inversely correlated with the rock porosity. Seven of the ten investigated BIs correlated with the measured HTS over 69% (R2 ≥ 0.69). In particular, the BI expressions developed by Yagiz and Gokceoglu, Ghadernejad et al., and Khandelwal et al. exhibited relatively strong correlations with the measured HTS (producing R2 values of 0.94, 0.87, and 0.86, respectively), suggesting that these three HTS–BI correlations could be used to provide preliminary HTS estimates for the investigated carbonate–dolomite formation in Iran. This work adds to a database that can be expanded to include other geographical regions for providing useful information about the selection of a suitable site or reserve for conducting HF operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damsel bugs (Hemiptera, Nabidae) are predatory insects belonging to the order of Hemiptera. During the spring-summer of 2021-2022, nabid specimens were collected from Guilan province and adjacent areas. In this study, three species (four subspecies) belonging to two genera were collected and identified: Himacerus mirmicoides (O.Costa, 1834); Nabis viridulus Spinola, 1837; Nabis pseudoferus pseudoferus Remane, 1949 and Nabis pseudoferus orientarius Remane, 1962, furthermore, four species (four subspecies) belonging to two genera were examined from the insect collection of the Natural History Museum of the University of Guilan (UGNHM) including Himacerus major (A.Costa, 1842); Nabis pseudoferus transcaspicus Remane, 1962; Nabis punctatus punctatus A.Costa, 1847 and Nabis capsiformis Germar, 1838. In this paper, based on the morphological characteristics and genitalia of males, brief diagnostic descriptions, illustrated identification key and digital images of species habitus were provided to facilitate the identification of Nabidae of Guilan province and its adjacent areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an online scheme of a wide-area-damping-controller (WADC) for controlling the inter-area oscillatory modes in interconnected power systems using wide-area power system stabilizers and measuring signals. The proposed adaptive controller includes two individual approaches WSSS for evaluating the signal participation factor selection and GPSS as a global power system stabilizer for damping inter-area oscillations. For this purpose, considering the concept of center of inertia over inter-area signals, generators with the highest interactions are determined as oscillating areas while based on evaluating signal damping ratio, proper participation factors are estimated in which GPSS with positive damping performance is developed. In real-time working mode, based on oscillatory signals gathered from WAMS data, different combinations of PSSs are evaluated in which the combinations with the best controllability on damping the oscillations are selected. The effectiveness of the proposed widearea damping controller scheme is evaluated on the IEEE test system and practical Iran national power grid with the potential of unstable inter-area oscillations. Results show the effectiveness of the proposed WADC approach for fast and secure damping of inter-area oscillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "free zone" refers to designated areas in which companies are taxed very lightly and it enhances global market presence by attracting new business and foreign investments. For over a century, governments around the world have sought to boost and exploit the economic power of their particular regions and zones by designating them as "special" or "free" economic zones. The trend of establishing such zones or areas have gained momentum in the last four or five decades with countries accounting for small businesses and millions of direct or indirect jobs. The Middle East, especially the countries in the Persian Gulf, for some and other reasons, have particularly embarked on such a trend. The current paper tries to highlight benefits and challenges faced by free trade zones in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, taking into account recent global financial crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabies is a prevalent endemic and zoonotic fatal disease, which is normally transmitted to humans by contact (scratches and bites) from infected animals. The present paper deals with the first documented evidence of rabies in the stone marten (Martes foina). Rabies symptoms were observed in a marten in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. The animal with a strange demeanour approached people without fear, which was died after some while. Samples were taken from its brain (cerebellum, hippocampus, and hypothalamus), shortly after death. In this report, laboratory evidence of rabies by fluorescent antibody (FAT) was proved. The present work is valuable because of the environmental importance of the stone marten. Hence, sensitive surveillance and advanced reporting systems should be regularly monitored on suspected cases of rabies in animals and humans to control and prevent this deadly disease. This involves exposure history, clinical examinations, symptoms and experimental results. Rabies can be controlled by fast diagnostic tests and vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored its research trends by examining Iran's methods, contexts, and theories of information behavior research. This study is applied research regarding objectives and a content analysis regarding methodology. The research population consisted of 325 studies on information behavior. A researcher-made checklist was used to collect data, the validity of which was confirmed by experts. According to the researcher-made checklist, 325 data were analyzed based on the variables of each section. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and SPSS software (version 22). The results indicated the dominance of the quantitative approach and, consequently, the application of statistical analysis tools and methods related to this approach in relevant studies. In addition, most investigations were practical in this field, and therefore, fewer theoretical-philosophical studies and, in other words, fundamental research have been addressed in this field. There is no diversity in studies methodologically, and most of the reviewed studies, while referring to influential research in this field in their backgrounds, do not pay attention to their methodologies. Most of the research works are copies of previous studies conducted using quantitative, applied, and survey methods, and the desired population has changed only in some cases. Moreover, the scope of disciplines and specialties involved in the research production and studies reflects the interdisciplinary nature of this field with emphasis on knowledge and information science. The approach of information behavior research is expanding in various contexts with the presence of different types of users. However, it seems that the information behavior of the general public is less considered, and new studies are required in this regard. Research and studies conducted on information behavior in Iran have mainly considered the international models in this field, and some studies have even attempted to modify them. Few researchers have also proposed new models in this field, some of which have been published in international papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iran's football has been plagued by substantial safety and security problems. This paper argues that these problems represent to some extent the adverse effects of the repressive policies the government has adopted towards football. First, football matches have become focal points for social and political protests. Second, attempts to control football by limiting its commercialization have facilitated underinvestment in stadium safety. Third, the repressive policing of football crowds is likely to escalate football related riots. We provide support for these ideas on the base of a qualitative case study. Iranian football will need some fundamental reforms to escape the vicious circle of repression and conflict escalation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underlying aim of this paper is first to state the cyclic version of J -integral Banach type contractive mappings introduced by Fallahi, Ghahramani and Soleimani Rad [Integral type contractions in partially ordered metric spaces and best proximity point, Iran. J. Sci. Technol. Trans. Sci. 44 (2020), 177-183] and second to show the existence of best proximity points for such contractive mappings in a metric space with a graph, which can entail a large number of former best proximity point results. One fundamental issue that can be distinguished between this work and previous researches is that it can also involve all of results stated by taking comparable and ϑ-close elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the Mongol conquest of Iran and the Transcaucasus has focused most heavily on the campaigns of Chinggis Khan and his nephew Hülegü, in 1219–1224 and 1256–1260 respectively. Significantly less attention has been given to the nearly four decades that separate these two invasions, during which Mongol control was consolidated by a tamma (garrison) army numbering roughly 30,000 soldiers. This garrison occupied a liminal position on the frontier of the Mongol empire, linking the great khan to regional vassals in Iran, Greater Armenia, Georgia, and eastern Anatolia. This paper will use the history of the tamma to illuminate the web of personal relationships that allowed the Mongol empire to project its authority into the Middle East. It will demonstrate that this network was extremely brittle during the first three decades after Chinggis Khan's death, during which time the Mongol empire was still taking shape. Founded by Chinggis Khan, the tamma owed its loyalty to the great khan in Mongolia, yet long interregnums and political instability at the heart of empire forced the Mongol garrison to identify regional princes and princesses as suitable substitutes for political authority. This collaborative approach embroiled the tamma in the factional politics at the heart of the Mongol empire and ultimately brought about its destruction in 1261. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to identify and evaluate the environmental factors that influence human health in Hashtpar. The town locates in the coastal plain of northern Iran and has an area of 1378 ha and a population of about 53,000 people. Fourteen indicators were included in the dataset and the data was collected in 34 data collection points through the evaluation of at least 5 experienced people or by calculations using Geographical Information System (GIS) and related shape files. First, it is used a descriptive and qualitative method and statistical parameters to analyze each determinant of health, regardless of its spatial differences, then the data entered into GIS to produce zoning maps using the Kriging interpolation tool. Findings show that generally, healthy environment indicators are higher than average level and the indicators are in better condition in central parts of the town than in its outskirts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (d. 1871) wrote Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah (Naṣīrean Epilogue), a concise treatise of a few pages, in 1865 (eighteenth of Rajab of 1273 hijri); thirteen years after the emergence of the Bābī movement and seven years after the execution of Sayyid ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī (d. 1850) in Tabriz. In this treatise, he expresses his loyalty to both the fourth Qajar monarch, Nāṣir al‐Dīn Shah (d. 1896) and Twelver Shīʿīsm. Furthermore, he expounds on the political inclination of Kirmānī Shaykhīsm as well as the suspicious affiliation of his school with the Bābīs, which was a matter of speculation for the court. Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah, which took its name from the Shah, should be treated as Kirmānī's political manifesto, reflecting his uncomfortable attitude toward the presence of foreigners in a Muslim country, which was resented by the monarch as well. Kirmānī not only takes sides with him, but also warns him of the harm of becoming too close to infidels, which may even result in the dominance of kuffār on Muslim territories. Kirmānī's outlook toward politics was largely shaped by the Bābī movement. As no hint of having any political philosophy is traceable in his writings prior to 1260 H/1852, and since Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah was written shortly after the suppression of the movement, one can come to the conclusion that the socio‐religious anxiety and the radical tone of Bābīsm made him adopt such a conservative approach, which seemed to be the only tenable way of representing his patriotism. Moreover, Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah, should be treated as the official response of the Shaykhī school to the messianic radicalism of Shīrāzī and his followers. Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah has a sister text, Nāṣirīyyah dar jihād (Naṣīrean in Jihād), which was finished in the same year, although it is lengthier and discusses Jihād, inter alia, in a more nuanced way. In some copies, Nāṣirīyyah is published with Khātamah as its epilogue. In this paper, I will read and analyze both Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah and Nāṣirīyyah dar jihād to investigate Kirmānī's stance on politics, religion and nationalism. Relevant to this are his arguments against any probable affiliation with Bābīsm. As a product of its time, Khātamayah nāṣirīyyah reflects the concerns of a jurist‐theologian who was able to foresee how the religious messianism and social radicalism of Bābīsm and similar movements, can bring considerable changes to state, society and faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the game theory solution idea, the study seeks to suggest the ranking of an optimal solution when there are several Nash equilibria. The integration of the MCDM approach and game theory is a common strategy for addressing real-world challenges. This study introduces a novel hybrid method, combining a non-cooperative static game from game theory with the trade-off ranking (TOR) method from MCDM. The proposed hybrid method is used to rank multiple Nash equilibria concerning some criteria. The methodology for both static game and TOR method are explained in the paper. The game theory model used is a two-player non-constant-sum static game. The proposed methodology is tested using international cooperation in Iran. The result suggests the ranking of the combined strategies using the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of petroleum substances has a long historical tradition in Iran. Glance (1970) reported that the "first man‐made oil well was dug" in the ancient city of Susa (present‐day Shush), about 40 km northwest of Ahwaz, in 500 BC during the reign of the Achaemenid emperor Darius I. Writing in the fifth century BC, Herodotus described petroleum production near a place called Ardericca, probably present‐day Masjed Soleyman, located 210 furlongs from Susa (Lees, 1950). The petroleum substances produced included bitumen which was used in construction and the waterproofing of ships. Sorkhabi (2005) detailed the petroleum history in Iran during ancient and medieval times. The modern quest for oil in Iran dates from the second half of the 19th century. From a historical perspective, this modern period can be divided into six distinct phases: (i) The early years, 1872–1900; (ii) The Anglo‐Persian years, 1901–1932; (iii) The Anglo‐Iranian Years and Nationalization, 1933–1953; (iv) The second Pahlavi years, 1954–1978 including the rise of OPEC; (v) The Islamic Revolution and Iran‐Iraq War, 1979–1989; and (vi) Buyback Contracts and US Sanctions, 1990–Present. The search for oil was singularly unsuccessful during the first of these phases and the early years of the second phase. However, after a difficult six‐year exploration campaign, oil in commercial quantities was struck in the early hours of 26 May, 1908 at Maidan‐e Naftun, which in later years achieved world fame as the Masjed Soleyman oil field. Since then, more than 120 oil and gas field discoveries have been made in Iran's onshore areas and its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The story of oil has always been an emotive and politically charged issue in Iran and has been the focus of great national interest and debate for over a century. Certainly, the discovery in 1908 marked a milestone in Iran's 20th century history: it ushered in a new era – an era not only of progress and prosperity, but also of social and political upheaval and turmoil that has not yet ended (Ala, 2007). In this paper, important events in each of the historical phases identified above are briefly reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the emergence of the modern petroleum industry in Iran, and the early phases are covered in particular detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]