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In this paper, I show that there is a bidirectional relationship between gender-based social norms and gender-segregated education policies that excludes girls from knowledge production within the Iranian school system. I argue that gender segregation in education reproduces hermeneutic inequality through the reinforcement of epistemic segregation as a form of epistemic injustice. In particular, I focus on gender-based instructional epistemic injustice, which refers to a set of epistemic practices that actively exclude a student or an education professional in their capacity as a knower from the process of knowledge production within an education system based on gender dynamics, roles, norms, or expectations. This, in addition, has an impact on schoolboys through the reproduction of active ignorance. I conclude that in societies such as Iran, where highly gendered norms play out in the school system and are further reinforced by that system, the result is not limited to gender segregation itself, but extends beyond it to a form of epistemic injustice that wrongs students by reproducing and reinforcing those highly gendered norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural sectors worldwide are under direct threat from climate change conditions. In Iran, agricultural production has decreased due to droughts originating in an increase in annual maximum temperatures—with the corresponding increase in crop respiration and evapotranspiration—and a decrease in accumulated precipitation. Based on a static computable general equilibrium approach, this paper reports implication for the Iranian economy from the effects of climate change on agriculture––as modeled through three scenarios relying on assumptions about the magnitude of continued reduction in total agricultural production. Reductions of 6%, 12%, and 18% in total agricultural production reasonably cover the range of impacts that climate change is expected to impose on the Iranian agricultural sector––under the assumption that no behavioral adaptations or policy interventions are in place. Our simulations suggest that effects on the Iranian economy imply a reduction in GDP ranging between 3.7 and 6.3%. In addition, 5–17% of labor moves away from the agriculture sector––this labor relocation occurs due to declining agriculture incomes. Findings illustrate that climate change will reduce households' consumption and income in all economic sectors, particularly among rural households. We suggest that policies in Iran should focus on improving cultivation methods to save water resources and alleviate the expected effects of climate change. The current study's outcomes are helpful for policymakers, especially in countries with water scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upper Cretaceous carbonate rocks of the Sarvak Formation are among the most important hydrocarbon reservoirs of the Middle East. This paper summarizes the depositional history, diagenetic alteration, and geochemistry of this formation in south and southwest Iran. The combined effects of tectonic activities and the paleoclimate had remarkable control over the depositional–diagenetic evolution of this formation. Large changes in facies types, their frequency, and thickness were recorded across the study area and attributed to the tectonic activities. The complex diagenetic history of this formation includes minor marine, intensive meteoric, and burial diagenesis. Two pronounced paleoexposure events were recorded at the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary (CT-ES) and the middle Turonian (mT-ES), which are associated with remarkable changes in facies and diagenetic characteristics and special geochemical trends. Elemental (Mg, Fe, Rb, Mn, Sr), isotopic (carbon, oxygen), and 87Sr/86Sr ratios provide useful tools for delineating the paleoexposure surfaces, their associated diagenetic alterations, and chemo-sequence stratigraphic interpretation. Variable exposure durations resulted in immature to over-matured karstified profiles below the CT-ES and mT-ES, respectively. Meteorically dissolved rudist-dominated facies provided the best reservoir zone of the Sarvak Fm. in the regressive systems tract of the Cenomanian sequence, just below the CT-ES. Microporous and dolomitized mud-dominated facies formed the second important reservoir intervals, especially within the transgressive systems tracts. The results of this study revealed that the reservoir characteristics of the Sarvak Fm. were considerably controlled by paleoexposure events and, therefore, it can be considered as a typical paleokarst hydrocarbon reservoir in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Antiplatelet drugs, such as Aspirin and Clopidogrel (Plavix) are effective in the primary prevention of thromboembolic events. They are commonly used to reduce the risk of recurrence of thromboembolism. The body's hemostatic system responds differently to these drugs in different people. Resistance testing for aspirin and Clopidogrel is now recommended before starting antiplatelet therapy. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed on May 12, 2021, using the medical search engines PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, and the local databases SID and Magiran. After data extraction, a meta-analysis was performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA2) software. The I2 statistic was used to measure heterogeneity between estimates. Results: Among the 949 papers, Clopidogrel resistance was assessed in 136 patients and Aspirin resistance in 400 patients. The prevalence of Aspirin resistance was found to be 52.1% and the prevalence of Clopidogrel resistance was found to be 20.5%. Conclusion: It seems that in Iran, the issue of Aspirin and Clopidogrel resistance is suboptimally addressed. This pattern could also occur in other developing countries in the Middle East region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring spatial and temporal trends of water use is of utmost importance to ensure water and food security in river basins that are challenged by water scarcity and climate change induced abnormal weather patterns. To quantify water consumption by the agriculture sector, continuous monitoring is required over different spatial scales ranging from field (< 1 ha) to basin. The demand driven requirement of covering large areas yet providing spatially distributed information makes the use of in-situ measurement devices unfeasible. Earth observation satellites and remote sensing techniques offer an effective alternative in estimating the consumptive use of water (Actual EvapoTranspiration (ETa) fluxes) by using periodic observations from the visible and infrared spectral region. Optical satellite data, however, is often hindered by noises due to cloud cover, cloud shadow, aerosols and other satellite related issues such as Scan Line Corrector (SLC) failure in Landsat 7 breaking the continuity of temporal observations. These gaps have to be statistically filled in order to compute aggregated seasonal and annual estimates of ETa. In this paper, we introduce an approach to develop a gap-filled multi-year monthly ETa maps at medium spatial resolution of 30 m. The method includes two major steps: (i) estimation of ETa using the python based implementation of surface energy balance model called PySEBAL and (ii) temporal interpolation using Locally Weighted Regression (LWR) model followed by spline based spatial interpolation to fill the gaps over time and space. The approach is applied to a large endorheic Lake Urmia Basin (LUB) basin with a surface area of ~ 52,970 km2 in Iran for the years 2013–2015 using Landsat 7 and 8 satellite data. The results show that the implemented gap filling approach could reconstruct the monthly ETa dynamics over different agriculture land use types, while retaining the high spatial variability. A comparison with a similar dataset from FAO WaPOR reported a very high correlation with R2 of 0.93. The study demonstrates the applicability of this approach to a larger basin which is extendible and reproducible to other geographical areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydropower plants play an integral role in energy supply and are one of the main renewable energy sources. The efficiency of hydropower reservoir systems is controlled by operating rules that need to be optimized to maximize energy production. Here, a novel optimization algorithm, influential flower pollination algorithm (IFPA), is developed in this paper. IFPA has three enhancements: an efficient exploration mechanism based on an adaptive coefficient, a new exploitation mechanism around the best solution, and a rank-based strategy to smoothly transition from exploration to exploitation. IFPA is tested in two benchmark multi-reservoir systems and a real-world five-reservoir hydropower system in Iran. The results show IFPA outperforms other advanced methods in terms of convergence speed and preciseness to achieve the global solution. The tested algorithms include adaptive guided differential evolution (AGDE), composite DE (CODE), hybridizing sum-local search optimizer (HSLSO), improved teaching learning-based optimization (ITLBO), self-adapting control parameters in DE (jDE), self-adaptive TLBO (SATLBO), and a multi-strategy hybrid of DE and particle swarm optimization (MS-DEPSO). IFPA also achieved better total power production in the real-world case study compared to other algorithms. Overall, IFPA can provide better solutions with less power deficit and shows as a promising method for optimizing hydropower reservoir problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the accuracy of photovoltaic (PV) power forecasting is crucial to ensure more effective use of energy resources. Improvements are especially important for regions for which historical solar radiation data do not exist. This paper proposes a cyber-secure forecasting model called federated deep learning (FDL) to forecast PV power generation in various regions across Iran. The training process in each client is done by a convolutional neural network (CNN). Then, a generalizable global supermodel is generated based on the features extracted in each client, which has the ability to generalize and forecast for regions where there is no training data. Preserve data privacy and ideal performance against cyber-attacks are prominent features of the proposed method. The use of the proposed method is illustrated with a case study for Iran. The proposed FDL network is designed with 9 clients and three different scenarios were developed to test the robustness of the suggested method. In the first scenario, the PV power generation forecasting is done via the proposed technique and other conventional methods. The performance accuracy (R 2) of the generated global supermodel in this scenario for PV power generation forecasting in the regions of Khomein, Meybod, Varzaneh, Taleghan, and Shiraz are obtained as 0.981, 0.989, 0.986, 0.983, and 0.987 respectively. However, it was observed that other conventional deep learning-based models such as CNN and long short-term memory were not able to provide any forecasting for these regions. The second scenario models the scaling attack as a specific pattern of false data injection attack, to evaluate the performance of forecasting models against the data integrity attack. In the third scenario, cyber-attack detection is performed based on data visualization and image processing procedures. The results presented in different scenarios emphasize the high accuracy and generalizability of the global cyber-secure supermodel in PV power generation forecasting in different regions of Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpreting trends in the Sassanid state, the practices of which have been the basis for subsequent Iranian states, can deepen the knowledge of Iran's history. Various interpretations have been presented for its rise, the great kings, the Mazdakian movement, and its fall. This paper supposed that using a theoretical framework for interpreting all the events could provide a more comprehensive and integrated interpretation. Since the developers of the conceptual framework of the "natural state" have considered it a framework for interpreting the written history of humans, the main question of the current research was whether this conceptual framework could provide a satisfactory interpretation of trends in the Sassanid state. Therefore, this study was based on an analytical-descriptive method and a library approach. In the viewpoint of "natural state", a state incorporates a coalition of elites, who exercise their control over the society's political, military, economic, religious, and administrative activities to provide them the highest rent. Therefore, the state's changes are those occurring to the coalition members, who may be important due to changes in the situation. In this article, the satisfactory ability of this framework to interpret important events in the Sassanid state, regarding the roles of the coalition members in the production of rents and acts of violence, was shown in a 5-period classification, the characteristics of each of which were then presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On July 14, 2015, under the leadership of the Obama administration, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—referred to as the Iran Nuclear Deal—was signed. After 35 years of diplomatic isolation, the agreement marked a watershed moment in the United States–Iran relations and achieved a key US national security objective regarding nuclear non-proliferation. However, the agreement faced significant domestic opposition grounded in concerns that Iran was untrustworthy. Yet, the prospect of withdrawal generated a sense of insecurity that the United States's status as a "responsible world leader" would be undermined, despite ongoing anxieties around Iran's compliance. What explains such a paradox in foreign policy preferences? By incorporating discursive institutionalist approaches with ontological security perspectives, I work to show how President Obama's entry into the agreement generated ontological insecurities as he struggled to displace existing narratives around Iran as a hostile, untrustworthy actor. Yet, Iran's compliance with the agreement made it equally difficult for Trump to justify withdrawal; instead, his efforts raised additional concerns that America's international standing would be undermined. Theoretically, this paper incorporates discursive institutionalist insights with ontological security to disaggregate how different conceptions of the "Self" are contested and activated in policy debates in ways that lead to instability and variation in US foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of residential photovoltaic (PV) battery systems in a real test system with the goal of system peak load shaving. In order to encourage residential investors, a levelised feed‐in tariff (LFiT) scheme is introduced. Accordingly, two proposed cases and relevant suggestions are presented to reach a better performance. The profitability of the project is apprised via several economic criteria such as net present value, simple and discount payback period years (PBY and DPBY), internal rate of return (IRR), benefit to cost ratio, net cash flow, and levelised cost of energy. Moreover, different levels of peak shaving subject to customers' participation and the size of the PV‐battery system are also obtained. An actual test system regarding 1‐year recorded data is employed to elevate the precision of results. Obtained results demonstrate that in the current situation in Iran, the PBY is about 5.83 years and the IRR is about 0.43. Meanwhile, the ratio of the LFiT should be about 3.5 to reach the same result as the current circumstances. Finally, a sensitivity analysis on systems' parameters is performed to identify the impact of these parameters on economic indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slake durability test device was primarily designed for argillaceous rocks (clay-bearing) such as shale, claystone mudstone, and marl by Franklin and Chandra (Franklin JA, Chandra R (1972) The slake-durability test. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 9:325–341). Later, the International Society for Rock Mechanics standardized the test method (ISRM (2007) The complete ISRM suggested methods for rock characterization, testing, and monitoring, 1974–2006. In: Ulusay R, Hudson JA, compilation arranged by the ISRM Turkish national group, Ankara, Turkey). The slake durability test is conducted to assess the durability offered by argillaceous rocks to degradation (slaking) when subjected to wetting–drying cycles (WD cycles). However, in previous decades two, various researchers also have used this test to assess non-argillaceous rocks. In this paper, the effects of the WD cycles and rock lumps abrasion (RLA) on the degradation of argillaceous and non-argillaceous rocks during the slake durability test are investigated. To this end, some marls and limestones (as argillaceous and non-argillaceous samples, respectively) were collected from rock trenches along roads in Lorestan province, west of Iran. The mineralogical studies were performed by microscopic thin sections and X-ray diffraction analyses (XRD). Also, physico-mechanical tests, including porosity (n) and point load index (PLI), and slake durability tests up to 15 cycles were carried out to characterize the samples. Results indicated that the degradation of argillaceous samples [assessed using slake durability index (SDI)] during the slake durability test was remarkably affected by WD cycles. Besides, the RLA showed less effect on the degradation of these samples. WD cycles had a preventative role in the degradation of the non-argillaceous samples, and only the RLA was responsible for the degradation of these sample types. The findings show that clay minerals in argillaceous samples make them highly susceptible to degradation by WD cycles. Moreover, the absence of these minerals in non-argillaceous samples has caused their degradation to be independent of the WD cycles. According to simple regression analyses, there is a good correlation between the degradation of the argillaceous samples with their saturated-to-dry PLI ratio (PLIr). However, no significant correlation existed between degradation and PLIr of the non-argillaceous samples. Overall, the PLIr can be considered a low-cost, rapid, and precise indicator to assess the degradation of the argillaceous samples during the slake durability test. Highlights: The effect of the wetting-drying cycles (WD cycles) on the degradation of argillaceous and non-argillaceous rocks was investigated. The degradation of argillaceous samples during the slake durability test was remarkably affected by WD cycles The absence of clay minerals in non-argillaceous samples has caused their degradation to be independent of the WD cycles. There is a good correlation between the degradation of the argillaceous samples with their saturated-to-dry PLI ratio (PLIr). The PLIr can be considered a low-cost, rapid, and precise indicator to assess the degradation of the argillaceous samples during the slake durability test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims: Education is the main factor of economic growth in a country, and the curriculum is the heart of any education system. As civilization makes the transition from the industrial era to one of sustainability, educational leaders around the globe ought to implement a learning system that prepares young people for life in a unified society. Every country that has experienced high growth for a long time makes great efforts to educate its nation and reinforce its human capital. In contrast, there is considerable evidence that many developing countries are not doing enough. Education has a legal claim on public funds for at least two obvious reasons. First, the social returns are likely to be greater than the private returns. Second, some families with low incomes and credit constraints may not be able to invest as much in education as they would like, even if a higher income is guaranteed for a diploma or university degree in the case of a successful job search. Therefore, public spending on education is established based on impartial opportunity and efficiency. This paper provides a starting point to explore what skills and concepts students should be studying to lead the future. The curriculum model provides an explicit outline of some of the competencies that will likely be required for whatever world scenario emerges. This study focuses on the key roles of education and its relation to economic development as well as the curriculum as a core part of the entire educational drive of nations. In particular, the aim of the present study was to study the goals and contents of the high school curriculum of Group 7 countries and Iran with a focus on the differences and similarities of cognitive and metacognitive skills, which were compared with Iran in order to reach an appropriate model. Methods: The method used in this study is qualitative, seeking to understand a research phenomenon in its usual environment that leads to a deep understanding of the studied phenomenon. In particular, this research is a documentary analytical research with a comparative approach. The statistical population of the research in the first study, which had a comparative approach, includes all documents, printed and electronic texts regarding the curriculum elements of the selected countries. It includes all articles, websites, studies, and research related to the research topic. In the Delphi method, the presence of experts and experts in the subject is emphasized. Statistical sample: In this research, in the first part, after searching the official portals of the countries and databases, all the documents that contain the content of the curriculum elements of these countries have been found. Data analysis in qualitative research is the process of classifying, describing, and combining data. In this section, after collecting the information and data, the contents were separated into 4 components: goal, content, method, and evaluation for each country. Then it was analyzed based on John Stuart Mill's agreement and difference model. The analysis in the quantitative part includes Kendall's coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis with the help of SPSS22 and Amos Graphics version 23 software. Meanwhile, Maxqda18 software was used in the qualitative part and model extraction. All documents were translated by translators from IACTI (Iranian Certified Translators and Interpreters). It must be acknowledged that the process of translating the documents was complicated and difficult due to the different languages and finding the appropriate equivalent in Persian. 212 participants, including secondary school teachers, university professors, and Ph.D. students in the fields of curriculum and education management helped to confirm and categorize the collected information. In the next step, the Delphi method was used to obtain the opinions of experts and reach a consensus about the studied components. With a 5-point Likert style scale 80% agreement was obtained, which was regarded as attaining a minimum acceptable interrater agreement. Results: This study was motivated by doubts that have been raised about the role of education and human capital in economic development. These doubts come from a variety of vantage points ranging from whether the research has correctly identified the impact of education to whether other institutional aspects of countries might be more important. They also encompass concerns about whether or not we really know how to change educational outcomes, particularly in developing countries. The eight studied countries were divided into two groups for comparison: (a) Group of Seven, and (b) Iran. The objectives and content included in the curricula of these countries were identified, and then similarities and differences between these two groups were analyzed. The results show the importance of both minimal and high-level skills, the complementarity of skills and the quality of economic institutions, and the robustness of the relationship between skills and growth. International comparisons incorporating expanded data on cognitive skills reveal much larger skill deficits in developing countries than generally derived from just school enrollment and attainment. The magnitude of change needed makes clear that closing the economic gap with developed countries will require major structural changes in schooling institutions. Moreover, the results of this research showed that the goals and content of the curriculum of these countries often emphasize the areas of work and employment and are somehow economy-oriented. In Iran, there is not much emphasis on these areas in Iran. Although the principles and teachings of Islam pay attention to work, there is a lack of attention to this issue in the goals and content of the curriculum. It is suggested that there is an emergency need to review the national curriculum in Iran. Taking help from religious foundations in this field, such as paying attention to work and effort in Islam, avoiding laziness, and contentment, paying attention to halal earning and sustenance, etc., is very beneficial and enlightening. Using the fundamentals of Islam only in prohibitions and outward criticisms and only paying attention to prayer and fasting not only makes students evasive but also limits the main mission of religion which enlightens the path of people's lives and can open a way in their social and economic life. Pointing to the fact that the longest verse of the Holy Quran is in the field of economic transactions is one of the examples of the importance of the field of economics in Islam and proof of this matter. The lack of economic attention and cultivating students’ cognitive as well as metacognitive is felt in terms of preparing people for the future, after graduating from secondary education. It seems that it is better for the planners to update and modify the secondary school curriculum in line with economic development and changes in psychological knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To overcome the limitations of classic fuzzy systems, including Type-1 and Type-2 fuzzy systems, and to propose a robust and flexible intelligent network, this paper presents a new fuzzy system called optimized cascade chaotic fuzzy system (OCCFS) for the function approximation and chaotic systems identification. The OCCFS incorporates fuzzy reasoning of the fuzzy systems, self-adaptation of the neural networks, chaotic signal generation, and generalizability of cascade systems in a unique structure. These features are integrated and optimized with the evolutionary algorithm to present the best performance. In fact, after generating chaotic properties in the neuronal oscillation model, the cascade structure is used for enhancing it and forwarding it to the inference engine of the fuzzy model. The proposed cascade structure could enhance the chaotic properties of primary functions. In other words, outstanding results of Type-2 fuzzy systems (T2FSs) can be achieved through Type-1 fuzzy systems (T1FSs). Based on the General Function Approximation and Stone–Weierstrass theorem, we show that the proposed model has the function approximation property. The prediction capability of the proposed model is verified through popular simulated and real benchmark problems. Moreover, the OCCFS is applied to predict the traffic flow in Ferdowsi Street, Mashhad city, Khorasan Province, Iran. In comparison with T1FS and T2FS, and according to the criteria of accuracy and time, the proposed model provides more accurate and robust results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the efficacy of four entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) and their compatibility with the bioinsecticide spinosad for control of Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) under laboratory conditions. Three EPF, including Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Criveili) Vuillemin isolates Z1 and Iran 1395C, Lecanicillium (= Verticillium) lecanii (Zimmerman) Zare & Gams, isolate Iran 229, and Purpureocillium (Paecilomyces) lilacinum (Thom) Luangs-ard, Hywel-Jones & Samson, isolate Iran 1026 were tested against third and fifth larval instars of Ephestia kuehniella using a filter paper bioassay. Mortality caused by the EPF ranged from 63.3-72.5% for third instars and 50-65.5% for fifth instars, with LT50 ranging from 8.4-10.5 d and 10.1-12.9 d, respectively. The effect of spinosad at LC10 (= 26.2 ppm) on EPF spore germination was evaluated and found to be negligible, ranging from 0% for B. bassiana Z1 to 5.7% for P. lilacinum. The LC50 values for spinosad against third and fifth instar E. kuehniella larvae were 452.5 and 1446 ppm, respectively. Subsequently, spinosad at LC10 was applied to third instar E. kuehniella larvae 24 h before application of the EPFs at LC50. The addition of spinosad to applications of L. lecanii and B. bassiana Z1 and Iran1395C isolates synergized their pathogenicity to E. kuehniella larvae, whereas the effect was merely additive for P. lilacinum. Our results suggest that these EPF isolates can be used effectively in combination with spinosad for management of E. kuehniella in stored products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the bioremediation [chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color removal] of the effluent from the cardboard recycling industry in Yazd, central province of Iran, using mixed fungal culture. Design/methodology/approach: First, the effluent samples from the cardboard recycling industry were cultured on potato dextrose agar medium to isolate native fungal colonies. The grown colonies were then identified using morphological macroscopic and microscopic characteristics to choose the dominant fungi for bioremediations. The mixed cultures of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium digitatum were finally used for bioremediation experiments of the cardboard recycling industry. A suspension containing 1 × 106 CFU/ml of fungal spores was prepared from each fungus, separately and their homogenous mixture. Sewage samples were prepared and sterilized and used at 25%, 50% and 90% dilutions and pH levels of 5, 7 and 8 for bioremediation tests using mixed fungal spores. Following that, 10 ml of the mixed fungal spores were inoculated into the samples for decolorization and COD removal and incubated for 10 days at 30°C. The amount of COD removal and decolorization were measured before incubation and after 3, 6 and 10 days of inoculation. In this research, the color was measured by American Dye Manufacturer Institute and COD by the closed reflux method. The results of the present study were analyzed using SPSS 21 statistical software and one-way ANOVA tests at p-value < 0.05. Findings: The results of this research showed that the mean decolorization by mixed fungal culture over 10 days at pH levels of 5, 7 and 8 were 44.40%, 45.00% and 36.84%, respectively, and the mean COD removal efficiency was 71.59%, 73.54% and 16.55%, respectively. Moreover, the mean decolorization at dilutions of 25%, 50% and 90% were 45.00%, 31.93% and 30.53%, respectively, and the mean COD removal efficiency was 73.54%, 62.38% and 34.93%, respectively. Therefore, the maximal COD removal and decolorization efficiency was obtained at dilution of 25% and pH 7. Originality/value: Given that limited studies have been conducted on bioremediation of the effluent from the cardboard recycling industry using fungal species, this research could provide useful information on the physicochemical properties of the effluent in this industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable overhead transmission lines have a vital role in maintaining the reliability of power systems at a desirable level and ensuring the continuity of electrical energy. In this regard, a proper preventive maintenance program can ensure the reliable functioning of transmission lines. Based on the concept of reliability-centered maintenance, this paper proposes a preventive maintenance strategy that can be implemented in real power systems due to the limited data requirements. The priority of each line for preventive maintenance was obtained by two indices revealing the technical condition and importance of each line in the network. The proposed method was applied to a real transmission network in Khorasan province of Iran. In order to extract the condition index of lines, failure statistics during six recent years as well as technical data of lines were investigated. Moreover, this paper presents a two-stage method to determine the importance index of each line by evaluating the consequences of line failures on the network. The presented results show the efficiency of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, mining pollution has become a serious worldwide public health concern. One major issue in this field is concerned with arsenic-contaminated sediment. This paper, therefore, intends to determine the extent to which enhanced electrokinetic (EK) remediation is effective for remedying a case study of arsenic-contaminated sediment. The first section of this paper is devoted to determining the best enhancement agent at various solution concentrations and better discovering soil–metal action and reaction by leaching experiments. The sediment was collected from the zinc processing plant cold filter cake (CFC) in Shams Abad Industrial City, Iran, with a 5,700 mg/kg concentration of arsenic. In the second section of the study, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, citric acid, and sodium hydroxide as electrolyte conditioning solutions and sodium hydroxide for pretreatment have been evaluated as enhancement techniques for the remediation of arsenic-contaminated sediment during the electrokinetic method in tests with a duration of 8 days. Also, increasing the voltage gradient from 1 to 1.5 V/cm was assessed as another enhancement technique for improving the electrokinetic removal efficiency of arsenic. Finally, the result of experiments showed no significant increase in arsenic removal efficiency in using pretreatment and increasing the applied voltage; however, interestingly, using citric acid 0.5 M as the catholyte solution enhanced the removal efficiency up to 33.51%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Proper synthesis of existing epidemiologic studies on diabetes in Iran can guide future research efforts. We aimed to conduct a comprehensive scoping review on all research articles that investigated any aspect of diabetes epidemiology in Iran during 2015–2019. Methods: This work was conducted as a part of the Iran Diabetes Research Roadmap and completed under Arksey and O'Malley's framework for scoping reviews. The Scopus and PubMed databases were searched on Feb 15th, 2020. Eligible document types on diabetes epidemiology in the Iranian population, in Persian or English, that published during the 2015–2019 period underwent eligibility assessment. A total of 315 relevant articles were included and further analysis was performed on the original studies (n = 268). Through classifying them into six domains: Diabetes incidence; the prevalence of diabetes and associated factors; the incidence/prevalence of complications/comorbid conditions; mortality/survival; burden; and prediction modeling. Results: In total, 64 (20.3%) papers were published in Q1 journals, and 40 (12.6%) were international collaborations. No clear annual trend was present in the number of published primary or secondary articles, the portion of papers published in Q1 journals, international collaborations or relative domain proportions. Few review articles were found on prediction modeling, mortality or burden (excluding global studies). Conclusions: Our findings show a minor portion of works on diabetic epidemiology in Iran meets the quality standards of Q1 journals. Researchers have neglected some critical subjects and have occasionally fallen for common pitfalls of epidemiologic research. In particular, adhering to established guidelines can help authors implement rigorous methods to develop, validate, and deploy practical clinical prediction models. Researchers should prioritize investigating longitudinally collected data that aid in measuring disease incidence and enable casual inference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two major drivers of conflictual relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran: sectarian schism and power politics. The protracted enmity and rivalry has been analyzed in light of uncertainty and security dilemma through the prism of constructivism. The application of the theoretical lens provides clarity and supersedes the reductionist analysis of this squabble. The inception of the Shia-Sunni schism and Saudi-Iran rivalry has been investigated in greater length. Within this context, the deterioration of relations due to Saddam Hussein's demise, the Arab Spring, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr's execution, and the impact of Trump's administration in the US have also been examined. Conclusively, this paper argues that security dilemma and uncertainty of each other's actions is the driving force and primary cause of Saudi-Iran rivalry rather than sectarian divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a lifestyle training package that consisted of a 60‐ to 90‐min session of group training, educational booklet and text messages on physical activity and nutritional status in obese and overweight pregnant women. Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, 140 obese or overweight women (gestational age: 16–20 weeks) covered by health centres in Tehran, Iran, were equally randomized into two parallel groups using block randomization and stratified by the body mass index. Participants completed the Food Frequency Questionnaire and International Physical Activity Questionnaire at baseline and fourth and eighth weeks after intervention. Participants were 38 obese and 102 overweight women who were later followed‐up. Results: After the intervention, the mean weekly intake of the vegetable and fruit subgroups was significantly higher; and intake of fats and oils and the confections subgroups were significantly lower in the intervention compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Although physical activity was higher in the intervention group, 8 weeks after the intervention, this difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The training package appears to offer a suitable strategy for adjusting the intake of the recommended food subgroups in obese and overweight pregnant women. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Many studies have demonstrated the positive correlation between women's obesity and overweight and the increased risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.Obese and overweight pregnant women require specific planning to regulate their gestational weight gain and improve their nutritional quality. What this paper adds? The lifestyle training package consisted of a 60‐ to 90‐min session of group training, educational booklet and text messages. The package significantly improved the intake of the vegetable and fruit subgroups and significantly decreased the intake of the fats and oils and confections subgroups in obese and overweight pregnant women. The implications of this paper: Appropriate and simple training packages about proper nutrition and physical activity should be provided to obese and overweight pregnant women to decease pregnancy complications and enhance their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolution of the concept of photography in Iran during the two decades following the 1979 Islamic revolution and its relationship to a changing political discourse during that period. Since the state became a dominant player in culture and the arts during the post-Islamic revolutionary era, this paper puts the evolution of the concept of photography into a socio-political context. Using Discursive Institutionalism as a theoretical framework, we examine Iranian photographers' ideas on photography as well as the discourses that affected photography organisations, revealing the forces driving changes in how photographic work was conceived. The first decade following 1979 the Islamic revolution was marked by eight years of war, and photography was purposed to produce factual documents, leaving no room for picture-making, manipulation or self-expression. Meanwhile due to the revolutionary and leftist agenda set forth by the Mir-Hussein Mousavi administration (1981–1989), photography was formulated as a commitment to depict social deprivation and the difficulties in achieving social reforms. However, with the liberalising ideas introduced during Hashemi Rafsanjani's administration (1989–1997), the concept of photography began to change. Photographic work became less an expression of political commitment to being seen as a form of self-expression that valued formalism and image-making. In other words, the changing political discourses during this period mark a shift from 'taking' to 'making' photographs. The intellectual opening In Iranian society that began in the early 1990s both paved the way for a more theoretical approach to photography as well as growing diversity in the organisation of photographic work. In particular, the more liberal attitude of the Rafsanjani administration resulted in a significant increase in the number of journals, newspapers and publications that provided a market for more imaginative photography, and a fluorescence of picture 'making.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant feature of Kurdish history over the last several decades has been the proclivity of the Kurds for ethnic mobilization. The socio‐political incentives that lead to the mobilization of different Kurdish sub‐groups are usually complex and occasionally serve ambiguous political aspirations. To unpack such complexities, as the title of this paper suggests, it is useful to add an additional analytical lens to the common centre‐periphery approach (i.e. state nationalism vs. Kurdish resistance) by focusing on the mobilization incentives within the local context. To do so, the paper presents an ethnographic study of the social processes that shape the dynamics of Kurdish mobilization in the multi‐ethnic city of Urmia in northwestern Iran, where Kurmanji‐speaking Kurds live together with Azerbaijani Turks and in close proximity to Sorani‐speaking Iranian Kurds. The paper argues that the mobilization incentives for the Kurmanji‐speaking Kurds in the local context of Urmia often serve contradictory political ends, ranging from denial of the Kurdish nation at the inter‐ethnic layer to dividing it at the intra‐ethnic layer, and romanticizing it at the transnational layer. The broader contribution of this paper is to elucidate how these different and sometimes contradictory forms of ethnic mobilization are able to coexist, given that they are all characterized by the same emancipatory force – 'a politico‐symbolic struggle over power and prestige', in Bourdieu's terminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical hydraulic systems represent a significant part of landscapes and global heritage. However, from the second half of the 20th century onwards, substantial socio-economic as well as technological changes occurring worldwide have put them at risk of abandonment and, eventually, of disappearing. Recent studies and international conventions, including the ICOMOS-IFLA, framed historical hydraulic systems and water management techniques in a new dimension, not only as an element of the past to be preserved but an active element to achieve sustainable economic development and mitigate climate change. Those qanats or karez represented a major historical hydraulic sustainable solution for irrigation, providing a water supply, which during the last few decades, has been slowly replaced with modern, although polluting and unsustainable, technologies. Building on the recent ICOMOS-IFLA Principles Concerning Rural Landscape as Heritage and the recommendation provided by initial research, this paper aims to show how qanats can become: (1) an important local and regional cultural and natural heritage; (2) a valuable economic resource; (3) an environmentally friendly system that could at least partially replace the existing polluting solution (i.e., dams and other modern infrastructures). To achieve these goals, we propose a restoration or reuse approach for the qanat based on the necessity of multiple stakeholders at local and national levels using sustainable materials and respecting the different values as a heritage place. Our case study is the No-Ras qanat in North-western Iran. In the conclusion, we also illustrate the relevance of the aims and methods of this paper in the light of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to propose a policy prioritization framework in view of a layered scenario building along with key stakeholder analysis and has been applied in a case study to determine the priority of Iran environmental policies at the horizon of 2030. A creative framework that covers future scenarios and allows for a more accurate and intelligent policy assessment and prioritization. Design/methodology/approach: The general environmental policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran are evaluated, and observation policies in social area were identified. Causal layered analysis (CLA) is applied for policy prioritization based on layered probable scenarios and key stakeholder role consideration. The Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) is also used for ranking General Environmental Policies by the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). Findings: Four uncertainties were obtained in different layers based on the CLA analysis, resulting in the creation of four main scenario and 16 discrete scenarios. Finally, Iran's environmental policies were prioritized given the probable scenarios and the centralized policies on the social and political domains. The proposed model will be effective in policy-making in multilateral atmosphere to prioritize policies and alternative macro-strategies. Originality/value: This paper shows that foresight and especially developed scenarios provide intelligent, efficient and effective planning and policy-making, and in addition to illustrating surrounding changes and probable future imagery, it generates common understanding and inter-subjective knowledge by increasing participation of various officials and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between the gendered identities of Iranian women and their domestic space in the first post-revolutionary decade (1980s) at a time when the influence of Islamic tenets on people's lives was considerably higher than in the previous and subsequent decades. Contributing to feminist geography and providing an understanding of a regional reality, the aim of this article is to elaborate on how the redefined identities and bodies of Iranian women, which were considered central to the representation of the Islamic national identity in Iran during the 1980s, influenced the design and usage patterns of houses at that time. The paper adopts Pierre Bourdieu's conceptual framework related to 'social space' and 'physical space', conceptualizing a house (physical space) as a translated form of social space. The article proposes the concept of the 'aesthetics of invisibility' to comprehend the identity of Iranian women and the domestic space in the 1980s. It uncovers the connection between the invisibility of the female body and domestic space through critical readings of contemporary printed and visual media, and also a study of 30 houses built in Tabriz during the 1980s. The paper reveals that for both Iranian women's bodies and domestic space, their invisibility and seclusion from the public world are equated with aesthetics, which is often interwoven with morality in Iranian society. It shows that the redefinition of the identity of women, their appearance, and the codes of conduct and dress came with modifications to the street façades of houses, and the design, organization and use of interior spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US Maximum Pressure campaign, a conglomeration of diplomatic, economic, and military sticks, was ostensibly designed to force Iran into renegotiating the 2015 nuclear deal; critics say the real aim is regime change. The auxiliary media efforts in support of the policy are part of an ongoing soft war. One dimension of these efforts is the export of a popular American media format, the outrage genre or cable news magazine, to Iran via Voice of America. Last Page (safhe-ye akhar) is an attempt, like much international propaganda, to reinforce rather than change opinions. This paper examines how the program attempts to reinforce anti-regime sentiment not by informing its audience but by providing a space of mediated belonging in which the host 'gets you,' feels the news with you, and feels for you. The paper concludes with a discussion about the potential uses and limitations of outrage media in international propaganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sunnis in Iran are among the Muslim minorities with a specific internal, political, and social structure and relations. They play a significant role in Iran's foreign and domestic policy. Many researchers have considered a link between the name of Iran and Shiism as well as the relations established by Shia groups in the Middle East. The paper aimed to examines and identify the internal relations and structure of Sunnis based on the characteristics of reform movements by focusing on Sunnis as a reformist social movement. This study identifying the internal structure and international interactions of the Sunnis in Iran based on two different political perspectives governing this minority. In addition, this paper considered the political orientation of the Sunni minority in Iran as an inclusive social movement and a social sub movement. As the Sunnis in Iran may represent an inclusive socio-religious movement with some radical tendencies, they can also be considered and analysed as a sub-movement related to the larger pro-democracy movement, due to their civic demands on the Shia regime ruling Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on daily violence as the main theme in novel The Smile Owner which was written by Fekriah Shahrah. It depicts the hegemony of Houthi militia in Yemen. It is an analytical study which interprets the novelist’s literary work The Smile Owner. Moreover, as an instrument of data collection an interview with the novelist has been conducted to shed more light on the novel. This study is based on critical analysis of the literary text, which interprets the real context of violence in Yemen. Violence is a global issue between good and evil, and war and love. Shahrah as many of Yemeni novelists depicted the consequences of violence in their literary platform. The novel represents the situation of Yemen in the ongoing war in Yemen. Hence, the war in Yemen, death, abduction, retaliation and social fragmentation are the main themes of written and spoken Yemeni literature. This paper exposes the horrible implications of the coup led by Houthi Militia backed by Iran against the legal government backed by coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Emirates. Therefore, Fekriah Shahrah in the literary platform portrayed violence in Yemeni society using the narrated text as a tool to convey the awful war consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper utilizes the theory of neoclassical realism as its theoretical foundation to understand the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). An insight is provided into defining Rouhani’s foreign policy discourse and slogan, primarily towards the GCC, while addressing the significant shifts in the region, which implicated Iran’s Rouhani stance towards the GCC and its members. The paper concludes with how the recent developments of the Iranian elections and Ebrahim Raisi will impact the future of Iran-GCC relations. From an analytical standpoint, it was found that Rouhani had difficulty engaging with the GCC countries due to impediments by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Similarly, the article highlights Rouhani’s era in Iran’s foreign behavior towards the GCC while exploring whether he achieved his foreign ambitions and provided a vision for the significant challenges awaiting the Raisi presidency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diasporas play a critical role in home‐country politics by supporting social, political, and economic change therein. Yet, regimes countermobilize against activists abroad by repressing their diasporas. This paper investigates a widespread but overlooked method in the transnational repression toolkit: that of 'proxy punishment', that is, the abuse of family members at home as a means to manipulate and subjugate dissidents abroad. Using 246 original interviews with diaspora activists from Syria, Iran, Egypt, and Libya, the analysis demonstrates that regimes deployed five tactics against diaspora members' non‐activist families at home: harm and confinement, threats and harassment, forced participation in regime propaganda and slander, resource deprivation, and travel bans. We then identify the mechanisms shaping how diaspora members responded to this repertoire. The paper concludes with implications for research on transnational diaspora activism, globalized authoritarianism, and collective dimensions of the repression‐dissent nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an unusual text from 17th century Iran: Āqā Raḍī's work, Qiblat al-āfāq. The treatise offers an insight into the making and use of terrestrial globes. The most interesting section of the text is a series of instructions for making terrestrial globes. The fact that no such instrument from the Ṣafavid period or earlier has survived adds to the text's significance. Another notable aspect of the text is that, unlike with other texts from earlier periods, which usually can be interpreted as depicting round or planar maps rather than globes, the Qiblat al-āfāq definitely describes a terrestrial globe, with clear instructions on its making and use. In this paper, I begin by reviewing the literature on early terrestrial globes known to the historians of Islamic cartography. I then introduce the author of the treatise, as he is described by his contemporary biographers. The treatise's structure is discussed afterwards, and I will present a visual reconstruction of the globe, step-by-step, using the instructions in the text. I elaborate on the purposes of the globe, and on the way in which the astronomer was expected to use it. Finally, I will trace the numerical data used in making the instrument. Furthermore this paper shows how the treatise develops our understanding of Ṣafavid maps and the instrument makers behind them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Daily use of public restrooms may have a significant impact on spreading infectious diseases. Human society could be affected by spreading of transitional infectious diseases through feces, urinary tract infection and poor personal hygiene. According to the World Health Organization reports, plenty of people's developed diseases caused by contaminated public restrooms that may result in severe health problems. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 7,482 samples that were collected randomly in 6 months (spring and summer 2019) in different regions of Tehran. The Data were obtained by analyzing 804 restroom's indoor and outdoor handles, 1062 toilet faucet, 826 washbasin taps, 1,062 toilet hoses, 804 flush tank levers, 643 soap dispenser bottoms, 643 liquid soaps, 99 bar soaps, 169 toilet papers and paper towels, and 50 hand dryer machines. Samples which were tested, based on bacteriology standard methods. Result: 7,482 samples were gathered of which 6,678 contaminated cases (89.25%) were observed and 804 cases (10.75%) were found non-contaminated. Escherichia coli with 28.48% and Pseudomonas with 0.39% were the most and the least common bacteria, respectively, in this study. Conclusion: The required tests to identify the bacteria that cause contamination through the use of public restrooms have been done. It is essential to inform the public of the mentioned items and teach how to prevent infectious diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs machine learning algorithms to detect tax evasion and analyzes tax data. With the development of commercial businesses, traditional algorithms are not appropriate for solving the tax evasion detection problem. Hence, other algorithms with acceptable speed, precision, analysis, and data decisions must be used. In the case of assets and tax assessment, the integration of machine learning models with meta-heuristic algorithms increases accuracy due to optimal parameters. In this paper, intelligent machine learning algorithms are used to solve tax evasion detection. This research uses an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm to improve the multilayer perceptron neural network by finding the optimal weight and improving support vector machine (SVM) classifiers with optimal parameters. The IPSO-MLP and IPSO-SVM models using the IPSO algorithm are used as new models for tax evasion detection. Our proposed system applies the dataset collected from the general administration of tax affairs of West Azerbaijan province of Iran with 1500 samples for the tax evasion detection problem. The evaluations show that the IPSO-MLP model has a higher accuracy rate than the IPSO-SVM model and logistic regression. Moreover, the IPSO-MLP model has higher accuracy than SVM, Naive Bayes, k-nearest neighbor, C5.0 decision tree, and AdaBoost. The accuracy of IPSO-MLP and IPSO-SVM models is 93.68% and 92.24%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benchmarking is a tool for evaluating organizational performance with a learning approach from others. The importance of benchmarking in every industry is clear for anyone. In the automotive industry, the performance of after-sales service agencies in Iran is evaluated every year by Iran Standard and Quality Inspection company. One of the ways to continuously improve in after-sales service agencies is benchmarking of successful and efficient examples in the network. In this paper, a benchmarking model is developed considering that the repair index and customer satisfaction are interdependent. To improve the accuracy and operationality of benchmarking, some constraints have been added to the model with the opinion of experts. Considering the dependent parameters, a data envelopment analysis model has been proposed and this model has been implemented to benchmark 20 after-sales service agencies of a car company. By solving the model and comparing it with the results of the original model, it was observed that the considered conditions changed the benchmarking and increased the accuracy. This paper discusses the concept of the impact and importance of dependent parameters in benchmarking, and with this concept, a benchmarking model for automotive after-sales service agencies is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial sanctions have become a major component of American foreign policy. Since 2015, the number of blacklisted actors has nearly tripled, coinciding with US financial campaigns against Iran, North Korea, and Russia. This paper centers an under-examined paradox of this proliferation: the complexity of lifting financial sanctions. Indeed, successful sanctions regimes necessitate both sticks (punitive sanctions) and carrots (economic incentives). Yet financial sanctions often limit the economic benefits promised to target states, as banks and other financial institutions risk hefty material and reputational costs if they are to cooperate with previously sanctioned actors. Thus, while financial sanctions are effective at producing negative market reactions against a target, they can be hugely damaging if market actors do not cooperate with the lifting of sanctions. To capture this dynamic, this paper leverages process-tracing to observe financial market reactions to sanctions relief in three key cases—Iran (2010–2015), North Korea (2002–2007), and Libya (1996–2008). It finds that in each case, the presence or absence of US Treasury blacklisting corresponds to the post-sanction willingness of financial actors to extend sanctions relief to targeted states. In doing so, this study identifies "reputational risk" as the primary causal mechanism limiting a target's reintegration into the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to underline the importance of historic public spaces as the deposits of collective memories, proposing the critical analysis, reinterpretation, and systematization of relevant informative historical layers as a counter model to the globalizing tendencies and their fast pace of transformation. Baharestanis a historic square located in the northeast of Tehran's Historic Center, and it is the home to Iran's Parliament and the Ministry of Culture. It makes the square significant at the national level, especially due to its location surrounded by several exquiste historical heritage buildings. However, following the decline of Tehran's historic center, Baharestan lost its socio-cultural vitality and spatial quality, hosting urban functions mainly heterogeneous to its identity, and eventually turning into a traffic node. Through the comparative study of numerous historical documents, and adapting the concept of "palimpsest", Baharestan Square has been interpreted as the assemblage of different city layers in relation to the environmental and socio-political narratives of the city. The shift from one layer to another intends to reflect some of the lost memories of Tehran and its collective identity in the transition from traditional to modern society. Later on, the paper argues how this palimpsest quality and co-evolution of those plural layers and narratives in Baharestan demonstrate this symbolic square as a "catalytic social infrastructure", giving Tehran an opportunity to overcome the challenge of "social amnesia" and promoting its civic culture and cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Relations (ir) norm studies have long been stuck to a narrow understanding of the concept of norm entrepreneurship, limiting it to actors from the Global North and their efforts to spread western norms. Building on recent studies that focus on non-western or 'authoritarian' norm entrepreneurs, this paper highlights the limitations of academic discourse itself, which seems to be wedded to a particular notion of what 'ideational commitment' means and from whom it must emanate. Such a prefabricated understanding risks lauding some forms of norm entrepreneurship as 'genuine', while dismissing other cases as strategically motivated. Instead, the paper argues for 'de-moralising' the concept. Decoupling it from normative biases does not only reveal the full repertoire of norm entrepreneurial action (from cooperative to confrontational). It also shifts attention to contestation as modus vivendi of norm entrepreneurship, and to the political nature of norm dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study aimed to explore Iranian women's life stories living with compulsive sexual behaviour. Data were collected between 2014 and 2016 in two cities. Forty‐four semi‐structured interviews were conducted by using theoretical sampling and constant comparative analysis. Four thematic categories were constructed from the data, including "scars left on the spirit and mind,"; "bizarre beliefs regarding sexuality and gender,"; "compensation for emptiness and the loss,"; and "difficulty in emotional regulation." This paper shows how abusive patterns of relationships in childhood could lead to sexual compulsivity. The paper results can direct our attention to the importance of health and social care and training to recognise abusive situations and support these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars have studied various sectoral innovation systems that are categorized as mass-produced goods, whereas there are only a few previous studies that have investigated complex product systems (CoPS). CoPS are defined as high-cost, engineering, and software-intensive goods, systems, networks, infrastructure, engineering constructs, and services. However, many differences between these two categories of industries have been reported by a large number of scholars. To address this shortcoming, this paper intends to study the evolution of Iran's gas turbine sectoral innovation system as a CoPS industry. To this end, a qualitative approach and a case study research design were employed. To do this, we conducted 17 in-depth interviews, participated in different conferences and conventions, as well as studied various documents as secondary data. Our findings suggest that: firstly, technological capabilities in Iranian gas turbine producers have evolved from assembling to manufacturing, and re-designing existing gas turbines; Secondly, diverse and dynamic governmental policies associated with the gas turbine industry over the last two decades have played a key role in encouraging domestic firms to acquire technological capabilities; and thirdly, the large and growing domestic market not only justified investing in R&D and building infrastructure by the government but also contributed to improved interaction and collaboration between domestic and overseas' companies. As the main policy implication, our paper suggests that the transition from product-using to product-manufacturing in CoPS industries is not an automatic process. It is important to design the corresponding policies and institutional arrangements following the evolving technological capabilities and demand conditions. Finally, this paper has contributed to sectoral innovation systems and CoPS literature by shedding light on the evolution of the gas turbine industry as CoPS in the context of Iran as a developing country with some restrictions in global technology collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a study of the Islamic Republic of Iran's 1st‐ to 12th‐grade textbooks. This paper examines issues of language, race, ethnicity and religious nationalism in textbooks to cast light on how the state in Iran has striven to Perso‐Shi'ify the polity through its education system. The official textbooks depict the sovereign community (Persians) as the sole agent of history. The state considers alternative (unofficial) narratives treasonous. This is an in‐depth study of how Iran's state‐sanctioned textbooks, their situatedness and the contextual knowledge gained from them offer revealing points of interpretation, illuminating the foundation of the existing structural ethnolinguistic dividing lines, and shows that Islamism, as the governing bounded logic implanted in textbooks, lends solidity to racial theories and historiographies. This study sporadically discusses the views and experiences of a number of Kurdish schoolteachers with whom we could conduct in‐depth interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper attempts to understand and analyze the concept of return of geopolitics. This contemporary world is referred to as the era of the return of geopolitics. The revisionist powers try to contain and challenge the unipolar structure and existing world order. This paper also aims to bring out the relevance of geography and territory, highlighted and explained, in the foreign policy agenda of the revisionist powers. This creates a dilemma for the US and its unipolar structure of power. Thus, the international system is transforming into a multipolar than unipolar one. In the present age, the economy is the driving force that ensures the applicability of Ratzel's Organic State Theory. The struggle for power and sustenance is visible at the systemic, regional, state, and institutional levels. Technological advancement and kinetic warfare have some ground relevance in the present age, but geography has never become obsolete in the state foreign policy agenda. China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Turkey and their authoritative leader's foreign policy choices illustrate their plan for territorial security and occupying the land force for their survival and hegemonic ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country, has a national organ donation law that was passed in 1999 and revised in 2018. The law allows living-related and brain-dead donor organ transplantation. There are no legal barriers to these two types of organ donations, but there is no legislation providing necessary costs and incentive measures associated with successful organ transplants. However, many governments across the globe provide different types of incentives for motivating living donors and families of deceased donors. This study assesses the merits and demerits of incentive measures already in use around the world and proposes ethical measures that can promote organ donation in Bangladesh. The primary focus of this paper is to present an ethical analysis of the comparison of incentive measures on organ donation between Bangladesh and the Islamic Republic of Iran as two Muslim countries that operate organ donation for transplantation practices according to Islamic principles. In this paper, I mainly argue that providing a fixed bare minimum financial incentive measure to distantly related living donors and families of deceased donors will encourage Bangladeshis to donate organs in a manner that is ethically justifiable, morally permissible, and socio-economically appropriate. The government of Bangladesh should revise the existing biomedical law to include a provision related to incentive measures and set a strict policy to properly regulate these measures as key stewardship that can ethically promote organ donation for transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to introduce necessity and possibility equality constraints in a real case, developing and improving fuzzy network DEA models by using proposed relations and creating a suitable and applicable framework for situations with uncertain and ambiguous data with multi-stage and network structure. Design/methodology/approach: First, the defuzzification relations of necessity equality constraints have been introduced. Then a new fuzzy network DEA model using proposed relations has been developed. After presenting the appropriate mathematical model and due to the infrastructural role of the electricity industry in the country's economy, electricity industry network structure, and uncertainty in some data of the electricity industry, the proposed fuzzy network DEA (FNDEA) has been used based on the possibility theory to evaluate all efficiency and sub-efficiency scores of Iran regional power companies. Findings: For evaluating the efficiency of the proposed FNDEA, the designed fuzzy network DEA has been used to calculate all efficiency and sub-efficiency scores of Iran's regional power companies. According to the results, the proposed research approach can be used as an efficient tool for performance evaluation in processes similar to network-fuzzy nature. Research limitations/implications: For future studies, FNDEA-SBM could be reformulated using a credibility measure which is considered as an average of the Pos/Nec measure, and a general fuzzy measure that is equal to the convex combination of Pos and Nec measures. Also, the adjustable fuzzy DEA model (AFDEA), which was proposed by Peykani could be adopted to equality constraints using Theorem 1. The novel fuzzy concepts such as Z-number, fuzzy type-2, and random fuzzy variables model (for more details see Azadeh & Kokabi (2016), Qin, Liu, Liu and Wang (2009), and Tavana, Shiraz, Hatami-Marbini, Agrell and Paryab (Tavana et al., 2013). In addition, further investigation into the evaluation and ranking of DMUs in different contexts and real-life case studies with fuzzy data can be carried out by applying the proposed model. Practical implications: The results of the proposed fuzzy network DEA model based on the possibility and necessity measures provided useful managerial implications for the efficiency and subefficiency evaluation of regional power companies. The study proved the usefulness of fuzzy network DEA as a decision-making tool in processes similar to network-fuzzy nature. Social implications: Due to the infrastructural role of the electricity industry in the country's economy, it is significant to evaluate the overall efficiency and sub-efficiencies of generation, transmission, and distribution centers of regional power companies. Allocating the optimal resources in the generation, transmission, and distribution centers of regional power companies based on the proper criteria increases the efficiency of the electricity industry and the quality of the level of welfare of the community. Originality/value: Concerning the necessity (Nec) measure, there is a lack of any procedure or formula to deal with equality chance constraints and this is one of the main challenges in possibility theory; therefore, in this paper and for the first time a solution has been provided to deal with such a challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of cities are turning to green infrastructure as a way to manage climate change, nature recovery and unsustainable development. Although such an approach has been at the centre of thinking about development in many cities in the global North, there have been few interventions in cities of the global South. Only recently have scholars paid attention to how uneven land-use regulations in greening approaches toward informal settlements can exacerbate inequalities and result in green gentrification, residents' displacement and the relocation of informal communities. Eviction policies and the relocation of informal settlements have been justified by planning authorities under the banner of ecological improvement and climate adaptation. However, the eviction and replacement policies are often resisted by the residents of informal settlements. This paper builds upon and extends this nascent bank of knowledge by mobilising the conflicting rationalities framework to illustrate how green interventions conventionally are framed as a 'win-win' can exacerbate inequitable urban redevelopments, leading to exclusion and conflict. The paper qualitatively examines a case of greening plans in an informal settlement in Tehran metropolitan area, Iran. Thus, it also provides knowledge on a context that has received comparatively scant coverage in the academic literature on urban greening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid growth in population and economic development in Iran and its neighboring countries has resulted in a dramatic increase in electricity demand over the past few years. A substantial amount of electricity must be produced to meet this growing demand in this region. By installing conventional fossil power plants, using renewable energy, and interconnecting with neighboring countries, this growing demand can be accomplished. The main aim of this research is to identify prospects and challenges in the electrical sector around Iran. To this end, this paper evaluates the existing and future state of the electrical sector in Iran and its neighboring countries. Despite the fact that there is still a long way to go in terms of renewable energy in this region, there are some promising targets for the future that will allow fossil fuels to be replaced effectively. Notwithstanding this, we should point out that a number of cross-border interconnection projects are being pursued by Iran and its neighbors in order to integrate their networks and supply this growing demand. Finally, this study presents an overview of the future prospects and challenges of electricity capacity expansion, cross-border interconnections, and electricity transmission corridors in this region. The review results provide comprehensive background knowledge to all the researchers in order to investigate further into the field. This paper assists energy policy makers regarding the development of sustainable energy planning. • •In addition to providing a general overview of the geographical location, population growth, and economic indicators of Iran and its neighboring countries, this paper presents the current state of the Iranian electricity sector and its neighboring countries in light of the trends in electricity production, energy mix, price, and exports and imports. • •This paper explores the existing and future states of electricity capacity expansion in the region, specifically focusing on renewable energy sources. • •The existing and future states of cross-border electricity interconnections are examined to present a comprehensive overview of the cross-border interconnections in this region. • •This region's potential electricity transmission corridors are proposed to create the opportunity to transmit electricity across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers some insights into Twitter as a political field, based on Bourdieu's field theory. Networked publics, as agents of this field, are competing overpower by performing networked practices. To investigate this field, we focused on two networked practices: networked framing and narrating. Persian Twitter in 2017 presidential election provides a good context to analyze how such a field is constituted. Combining a social-network analytic approach with discursive and textual interpretations, we analyzed a corpus of 2,596,284 tweets. We identified three main networked publics in the retweet network: reformists, conservatives, and diaspora users. Having identified the most influential users in each community based on PageRank metric, we thoroughly investigated all of their tweets. The results show that ordinary users constituted the major population of conservative and diaspora publics. The reformist community included mostly journalists and to a lesser extent media. Findings also confirm that all networked publics used the same strategies to gain more power in the field. They produced quite the same frames and narratives to compete with each other. Moreover, the battle was more about the routine and electoral debates, not the legitimacy or entity of regime. Hence, none of the networked publics challenged the hegemonic discourse in Iran significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]