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In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

This article maps the scientific production and the contents associated with the sustainable development goals and their integration with universities during the past 21 years. Although many of the topics related to sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been addressed in different studies for decades, it is since 2015 onwards that they gained greater prominence due to the inclusion of higher education as an important actor in the fulfillment of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations SDGs. For the purpose of this paper, a bibliometric analysis of 871 papers, 535 documents in Scopus, and 336 in Web of Science (WoS) from 1998 to 2019 was performed, and the Bibliometrix analysis tool was used. The objective of this mapping is to answer the following research question: Is the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universities a field of study? An analysis of the network of collaborators and trend topics in Scopus and WoS allows us to identify the concurrence and relationships of some keywords, such as sustainable development, sustainability and planning, and some background words, such as humans and global health. In another analysis, the word "higher education" is related to change. This article suggests that the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals in Universities is becoming a field of study under exploration, with a peak of production in 2016 and that has remained stable in the last three years, but thanks to the leading role assigned to Universities, intellectual production should increase in the following years.

This paper reports preliminary findings on students enrolled in a massive open online course, who were also assigned to work in groups. Part of a larger study on the effect of groups on retention and completion in MOOCs, the paper provides students' demographics (i.e., location, gender, education level, and employment status), and motivation for taking the course. Findings show that women outnumbered men and that students mostly enrolled into the course because of a friend. Indeed, research on MOOCs demonstrates that men outnumber women and that educational pursuit and professional development are the main motivators for taking MOOCs. Yet, this paper shows that when group work is included in a MOOC, women participate more. Furthermore, for students assigned to groups in a MOOC, friends are the principal incentive for enrolling into the course. These results are discussed in light of previous research, and implications for teaching and learning in online environments addressed.

Mathematics anxiety (MA) has a debilitating impact on learning, achievement, mental health, and the future career life of students. Though MA is a popular research theme, there is little agreement among researchers regarding the cross-cultural effect of gender. The purpose of this paper was to explore the perceived MA differences among males and females across cultures using the Anxiety Towards Math Scale (ATMS; Muñoz and Mato, 2007). Data were collected between October 2019 and September 2020) from students (N = 4,340) in 12 countries. Using univariate analysis of variance, the results indicate that gender has a significant main effect on MA with females recording higher mean scores than males, [71.816 > 68.118]. Examining the interaction effect of gender and location, significant differences in MA scores exist between males and females across all locations except for Egypt, Malaysia, and Nigeria (Enugu State). Conversely, females reported significantly higher MA scores than males in the rest of the locations, except Iran (Tehran and Qom) and Pakistan (Faisalabad). Gender-based ranking of the top-three locations with high MA scores indicates that females, starting from Malaysia, Thailand (Bangkok), and Nigeria (Enugu State) ranked the highest. Similarly, males beginning from Malaysia, Nigeria (Enugu State), and Thailand (Bangkok) ranked the top-three in MA. The implications are that mathematics teachers need to adopt different culturally-appropriate and gender-focused interventions to support students with MA challenges. Though interpreting the results from this survey need to de done with caution due to the smaller community and national online samples, the role of cross-cultural gender differences in MA cannot be overlooked.

Though vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) have drawn continuous attention in SLA research in the past three decades, there remain many unanswered questions, many unknown caveats and many unexplored regions. Quite a few historical reviews of vocabulary learning strategies have been undertaken by researchers over the past years, tracing its growth over the years. However, no research until now has captured the VLS profile of learners from diverse ESL/EFL backgrounds and presented an analysis from a geographical point of view. This study aims to capture the VLS profile of the diverse learners and takes up the task of the geographical review of vocabulary learning strategies landscaping the VLS research over many countries. For this purpose, the researcher has chosen specifically the research happening in the backdrop of ESL/EFL contexts. Fourteen papers have been selected for review belonging to Philippine, Turkey, Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, Congo, China, India, Sudan, Libya and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A detailed analysis reveals not only the juggling between the experiential and traditional modes of vocabulary learning but also the reasons behind the insufficient vocabulary size of the learners in myriad contexts.

The student engagement concept has been revolutionised so that students play an active role alongside staff members in determining their student learning experiences. Although the development of student--staff partnerships enhances student engagement and experience, empirical research on partnerships in Malaysia is scant. This paper contributes to the growing scholarly literature on such partnerships -- in particular, exploring postgraduate international students and staff members' partnership dimensions in extra-curricular activities at a research university in Malaysia. This qualitative study interviewed 33 postgraduate international students, 10 academic staff and 12 professional staff members. Based on the findings, the student-staff partnership model is well integrated into the extra-curricular activities: international students are invited to co-design and implement adjustment programmes for newly arrived international students. This paper also explores the multi-layered benefits of partnerships for postgraduate international students and for staff members. The implications of such partnerships for the university, international students and staff members are discussed.

One of the challenging issues that has gained much attention, and has in fact sparked much debate, within the emergence and acquisition of World Englishes, is the Native- Non-native accent, especially its relationship with teachers' and learners' identity and selection of an appropriate pedagogic model. This paper investigates the attitudes of 260 English teachers from India and Iran as members of Outer and Expanding Circles, respectively. Using a questionnaire, this study measures cognitive, affective and behavioral attitudes of teachers towards their own English accents in two circles which include the most users of English in the globalized world. The results show that teachers in the Expanding Circle (Kachru, 1992), compared to those in the Outer Circle, had an exonormative orientation, favoring native-speaker and mostly American English pronunciation. Indian teachers were in favor of endonormativity, highly valued their local forms of English while they were in favor of British English. Teachers' preferences will be discussed with consideration of the historical and political backgrounds of the two countries which might have influenced the construction of teachers' identity. The results of this study suggest that, together with encouraging and valuing different varieties of English, it is important to acknowledge and promote ways to raise awareness of teachers and learners towards global spread of English.

It is important to identify suitable parameters to measure and assess the quality of physical education. This paper aims to understand such measuring tool by focusing on professional perceptions and areas of concern of quality physical education (QPE). The research survey includes data gathered from 799 professionals in 11 cities in Asia. These professionals had experience working at primary schools (n = 155), secondary schools (n = 249), and universities (n = 395). To examine professional perceptions of quality physical education, at the preliminary stage of this study, 65 potential items were identified; of these, 48 items on 8 dimensions were retained, following an exploratory factor analysis. The 8 dimensions covered "skill development and bodily awareness" ([alpha] =0.935), "facilities and norms in PE" ([alpha] =0.932), "quality teaching of PE" ([alpha] =0.923), "plans for feasibility and accessibility of PE" ([alpha] =0.824), "social norms and cultural practice" ([alpha] =0.825), "governmental input for PE" ([alpha] =0.859), "cognitive skills development" ([alpha] =0.920), and "habituated behaviour in physical activities" ([alpha] =0.933). These factors indicated excellent internal consistency and model fit, enabling the construction of highly relevant statements to measure professional perceptions of QPE.

This study explored the factors of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the recommendations given by the researchers in seventy recruited research studies, which have been conducted for literature review of teachers' job satisfaction in developing countries. The recruited studies were conducted across 21 countries in Asia and Africa, but the majority of them were in Iran, India, Turkey, Pakistan, China and Malaysia. The main purpose of the study was to explore the various relevant factors and, based on them, give recommendations and solutions for the enhancement of the jobs of teachers who work in educational institutions in developing countries. Included in this study were 61 quantitative, two qualitative, and seven mixed research papers. Conducive working conditions, promotional opportunities, fair remuneration, support from headteachers, colleagues and the community, teacher empowerment, and friendships were found to be the major factors affecting the job satisfaction of teachers. An autocratic management style, mistrust, a non-transparent system, a work-life imbalance, an ineffective teaching/learning environment, and unavailability of resources were found to be the main factors affecting job dissatisfaction.

Background: Over the past few decades, higher education institutions worldwide have experienced substantial changes, including: massification, internationalisation and increasing demands for exceptional instructional quality and research quantity in environments that have also seen heightened competition for students, faculty and resources. Accordingly, these changes have contributed to a highly demanding academic employment climate that pose challenges for personal and professional development in post-secondary faculty (i.e. university or college research and teaching academics), as well as potential negative impacts on student learning and, ultimately, institutional productivity. Purpose: Given the emergent nature of scattered existing research on faculty burnout, the present paper attempts to synthesise and critically examine published empirical findings concerning the various correlates, antecedents and outcomes of faculty burnout as informed by the Job Demands-Resources model (Demerouti et al. 2001). Design and method: Existing empirical research on faculty burnout was identified through a rigorous search of English language, peer-reviewed articles across relevant databases (e.g. ERIC, Psycinfo, Scopus) resulting in 36 quantitative, cross-sectional studies, satisfying detailed a priori inclusion criteria. Results: The review revealed multiple themes across studies with respect to mixed effects of demographic background factors on burnout levels, as well as clear detrimental effects of adverse job demands (e.g. workload, task characteristics, value conflict) and lack of resources (e.g. social support, rewards, control) on faculty burnout. Additionally, both personal characteristics (e.g. motivation, optimism) and stressors outside the workplace (e.g. family stressors and lack of support) were found to contribute significantly to faculty burnout, with greater burnout, in turn, having consistent adverse consequences for performance and commitment (e.g. reduced work activities, turnover intentions) as well as psychological and physical health (e.g. ill health, depression) in faculty. Conclusions: The findings presented underscore the importance of faculty burnout and the challenges it presents in terms of faculty well-being as well as student development and institutional performance. Findings also provide further insight into the ways in which intervention efforts and resources targeting faculty burnout may prove effective.

Numerous studies have been published heralding the benefits of physical education in school education. Sport and physical activities form the major content in learning and the arrangement serves as the major source of development in students. This paper identifies "quality" as an internationally concerned issue and within the concept, the perceptual framework in learning is then placed with focus. To conduct this study, a sample of N = 799 ("11 Asian cities") physical education professionals working in different levels were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey with 37 items designed to forge the conceptualization of quality learning in physical education. Results from statistical analysis showed 24 items grouped in 3 subfactors being retained after EFA, of 37 items that were framed through content analysis to assess the quality physical education learning among the PE professionals. The retained three factors from the EFA were further assessed with robust confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The 3-factor model demonstrated a good fit with the data (CMIN/DF = 7.367, NFI = 0.888, CFI = 0.901, PCFI = 0.748, RMSEA = 0.089). In this sample, the QPEL demonstrated an acceptable three-factor structure, internal consistency and inter-factor correlation. These items were appropriate to provide the necessary understanding of the diversified practice in the learning of quality physical education.

International students have continued to be the focus of simplistic stereotyping in media discourse where they are frequently identified as one of the forces behind declining academic standards in Australian universities. Their English language skills, in particular, have continued to be the focus of debate both in the mainstream media and in higher education research and policy. It is argued in this paper, however, that such debates do not sufficiently acknowledge the moral and affective complexity of the so-called "English problem" amongst international students in Australian universities. Drawing from an analysis of small group interviews with international students, domestic students and university staff, the beliefs and experiences of various parties about the English language skills of international students are examined. A key finding from this analysis is that the English language skills of international students, and their concomitant interactions with others, can be the object of both complaints and troubles talk. These complaints or troubles can be either ratified or resisted by those participants. The difficulties international students may experience in using English thus have complex moral and affective consequences. The way in which the so-called English problem in Australian universities is generally couched as one of objective, measurable deficiency on the part of international students arguably neglects the moral and affective complexity of the difficulties facing international students. This neglect leads, in turn, to an impoverished understanding of the English language capabilities of international students.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the organizational commitment of teachers in India and Iran. It is an attempt to understand how these perceptions vary by demographic variables such as age and subject taught by teachers. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 721 high school teachers in Bangalore (India) and Sanandaj (Iran). They were asked to respond to the Meyer and Allen questionnaire. Data were analyzed via SPSS version 11.0. Findings: Results revealed that Indian teachers had better organizational commitment in the affective and normative components and Iranian teachers were found to have better organizational commitment in the continuance component. In both countries age groups and subject taught by teachers did not have any influence over their organizational commitment. Research limitations/implications: This research was limited by the relatively restricted sample of high school teachers in both countries. Future research should test initially confirmed associations in different school contexts with substantially dissimilar teacher demographics, and include consideration of dispositional antecedents that may affect teacher perceptions. Originality/value: This is the only study comparing Indian and Iranian organizational commitment in schools. The study provides an initial understanding of the possible effect of cultures on the organizational commitment of teachers in two different countries. (Contains 3 tables.)

This essay traces the development of the Zarathushtrian (Zoroastrian) priesthood from the time of the prophet Zarathushtra, through the Median priestly tribe as Magi, and the Macedonian and Arab invasions. This sets the stage for the separation of the Zarathushti priesthood between Iran and India and the generation of independent training methods. Centuries later dialogue between the two groups revealed some remarkable differences due to diverse cultural influences. From the eighteenth to the twentieth century there is a loss of respect for the priestly class and organization by the community of learning institutions to revamp the priestly training. The last portion of the paper discusses factors that affect the training of priests in North America. Some recommendations are put forward to adapt the training of the priesthood in the changing world society, and how these ideas can be brought to reality.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the respective risk perception toward the Covid-19 pandemic among the elderly in two developing countries and their lifestyle change and adaptation behavior as a result of that. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted among people aged 60 to 85 in Iran and India. The interview guideline was based on two constructs inspired by the study of Gerhold (2020) – risk perception of the pandemic and change in lifestyle and adaptation to the pandemic situation. Findings: The results showed that although the majority of the interviewees initially experienced fear and anxiety during the stay-at-home order and the pandemic situation at large, they quickly adapted to the new situation with behavioral and attitudinal changes in ways relevant to the new normal. The results confirmed the maturation hypothesis proposed by Knight et al. (2000). Originality/value: This paper is an original study of the researchers and among the first contributing to the literature of the elderly studies in developing countries. It contributes to the knowledge required for future behavioral studies concerning the Covid-19 pandemic by evaluating the experiences, risk perception and adaptation approaches of the older people in India and Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thomisid spider species, Thomisus unidentatus Dippenaar-Schoeman & van Harten, 2007 was previously reported from Yemen, Iraq and Iran. In this paper, we report male of this crab spider from India. A detailed taxonomic description of the male is provided here along with comments on taxonomic variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the blogosphere has expanded outside its original US context, it has changed from an extended community in which everyone shares a roughly similar set of suppositions and languages to a set of separate blogospheres characterized by different cultures and languages. Bridgebloggers—bloggers who seek to mediate between these cultures and languages—play an increasingly crucial role in connecting these disparate spheres of conversation and argument together. In this paper, I discuss the difficulties of quantifying the extent to which the blogosphere is characterized by different language communities and national communities. I employ qualitative evidence to examine blogospheres emerging in Asia, Southern Africa, the Arab-speaking world and elsewhere, and to assess the importance of bridgebloggers in drawing connections between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Copyright of Al Malweah for Archaeological & Historical Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper gives a brief introduction to the heritage collection in India and Iran andnotes the ongoing digital preservation in both countries. It investigates access and management of digital preservation of cultural heritage and some current projects in both nations. It discusses the problems faced by the libraries and museums in archiving and managing, preserving, and providing continuing access to these digital assets for their long-term management. And also discusses about technical, economic, language, technological issues in digital preservation with focus on both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Recruitment Industry has experienced significant growth in recent decades. This study investigates Recruitment Industry in three distinct national contexts in Asia. In comparison, as a developed country, Japan has the world's second-largest recruitment industry, India, as an emerging economy, has experienced dramatic growth in this industry over the last few decades. The emergent Recruitment Industry of Iran needs to study, analyze and exploit successful global experiences. This study includes history, structure, legal context, relevant institutions, and growth drivers of the recruitment industry of each country, providing a comparative study about recent developments of the Recruitment Industry and the increasing importance of recruitment agencies in three different social, economic and social contexts. It also contributes to filling the research gap of the recruitment industry in Iran. This study analyzes Iran's status in the international recruitment industry and offers recommendations to exploit the successful experiences of industry leaders to improve Iran's recruitment industry and labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In southern India, forming the Deccan Shiite governments (1098-895 AH / 1687-1489 AD), which was simultaneous with the Safavid reign in Iran, resulted in incremental Iranians’ immigration to this region. Among immigrants, Iranian Shiite physicians, due to their high medical knowledge and considerable skill, along with the support of the Shiite rulers, enhanced their status and settled in areas under the control of those governments, contributing to the festive medical production and developments there. The main objective of this research is to investigate the effect of the Iranian Shiite physicians, who migrated to the Deccan region, on the Shiite governments' medical advancements. The research hypothesis is that the Iranian physicians developed medicine by establishing Dar al-Shifa (medical schools and hospitals) and teaching and authoring medical books in Persian. Moreover, upon the invitation and support of the Adil Shahi, Nizam Shahi, and Qutb Shahi Shiite rulers, they were appointed as special physicians in the court, resulting in the flourishing and advancement of medical sciences in those areas. The research employed a descriptive-analytical research method and collected data by library resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional knowledge is a kind of science and experience that has been gained after many years of experience in indigenous and local communities in certain geographic regions. With the increasing expansion of trade exchanges in the international arena, the need to support this knowledge is felt more than ever. The efforts of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, which began in 2000 with the aim of drafting an international document for the protection of traditional knowledge, has continued, and various countries have, in parallel, taken actions in their domestic law to support traditional knowledge. In Iran, the Intellectual Property Policy Council is also preparing a draft law to support traditional knowledge. The result of this research is stated Since India has taken actions in supporting traditional knowledge from many years ago and has achieved some success both domestically and internationally given the historical, cultural, and legal affinities of India and Iran, its experiences can be useful in the field of legislation and more than that, the establishment of mechanisms for the collection and consolidation of information and protection of Iranian traditional knowledge as one of the richest sources in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arachnology Letters / Arachnologische Mitteilungen is the property of Arachnologische Gesellschaft e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background The outcome of breast cancer treatment largely depends on the timing of detection. The health promotion interventions have an immense contribution to early detection and improved survival. Therefore, this review aimed to provide evidence on the efficacy of the health promotion interventions to increase the uptake of breast cancer screening and to develop effective interventions targeting women. Methods Online databases (PubMed/MEDLINE/PubMed Central, Ovid/MEDILINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and Google Scholar) were searched for studies published between January 2005 and January 2017. A quality coding system was assessed using Cochrane checklists for randomized controlled trial (RCT) and Downs and Black checklists for non-RCT. The score was rated for the included articles by each researcher independently and the average score is given accordingly. This study was registered in PROSPERO as [PROSPERO 2017: CRD42017060488]. Results The review dovetailed 22 studies. Thirteen studies (59.10%) were conducted in the Unite States, 4 in Iran (18.18%), 2 in India (9.09%) and 1 each in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel. The interventions were classified as 'individual-based', 'community-based', 'group-based teachings and training' and 'behavioral model based'. The majority of the studies showed favorable outcomes after health promotion interventions, including improvements in women's view of breast screening, breast self-examination and knowledge of breast screening. Conclusion The review confirmed that most of the health promotion interventions targeting women boosted the breast screening in one or another way. However, the limited quality of the included studies showed that further research is needed to improve the trials in the next future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to detect the presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in 36 samples of spices from Iran and India that include chilli powder ( n = 12), black pepper powder ( n = 12) and whole black pepper ( n = 12). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was applied to analyse AFB1 in the samples. All the analyses were done twice. AFB1 was found in all the spices samples, the concentration of AFB1 in Iranian samples was ranged from 63.16 to 626.81 ng/kg and in Indian samples was ranged from 31.15 to 245.94 ng/kg. The mean of AFB1 concentration in the chilli powder was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) than the whole and powdered black pepper. However, none of the samples exceeded the maximum prescribed limit, that is 5000 ng/kg (5 µg/kg) of European Union regulations for AFB1. Although, the present research was not a comprehensive study; however, it provides valuable information on AFB1 levels in Iranian and Indian spices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Podothrips erami Minaei is a recently described species from Fars province of southern Iran. This is the first record of Podothrips erami from India after its original description. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iran, being a major player in the hydrocarbon sector, is both an opportunity and a challenge for India. While Iran's hydrocarbons could partly address India's growing appetite for oil and natural gas and contribute to its energy security, its willingness to transform its energy ties with Iran beyond purely commercial transactions coincided with its desire to negotiate a civil nuclear deal with the US. Moreover some of the energy deals between the two countries are stuck over price disputes and technology difficulties, while others have come under international pressure and scrutiny. While international sanctions against Iran undermine India's ability to pursue its energy ties with Iran, maintaining the status quo has some economic and political advantages. Hence, India is not yet ready to abandon Iran for the US. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article clarifies and evaluates the intellectual underpinnings of the respective military red lines that Western leaders have drawn against Iran's developing nuclear program: (1) the red line of “no Iranian nuclear weapon”—the stance that has been embraced by President Barack Obama— and (2) the red line of “no Iranian nuclear weapons capability”—the stance that has been embraced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many prominent American Iran hawks. We contend that the key intellectual divide between these stances is that the Netanyahu view implicitly assumes that a “significant quantity” (SQ) of highly enriched uranium is essentially equivalent to a bomb because an explosive nuclear test is technically unnecessary, whereas the Obama view implicitly assumes that if and when Iran gets to the point of being technically and psychologically ready to assemble a nuclear weapons arsenal, it will conduct a test. We show through theoretical and empirical analysis that the likelihood that Iran will choose an “Israeli-style” policy of creating an arsenal of untested but operational nuclear bombs is very low. Therefore, Obama's red line is more intellectually defensible than Netanyahu's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a comparative study that examines the role of librarians in providing health information to patients in the context of information therapy (Ix) services in India and Iran. The service involves providing supportive and evidence-based medical information to patients. It is stated that most hospitals in India and Iran do not have an organized library and serve as only a reading place. It was found that only a small percentage of responding librarians in India attended the ward rounds to provide patients and physicians with information and none of the librarians attended the ward rounds in Iran.

This article assesses the impact of the U.S.-led disarmament agenda on the disarmament diplomacy and policies of the three nuclear-capable states not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)—India, Israel, and Pakistan. These states, often referred to as “NPT holdouts,” undermine the application of the NPT obligations on all parties. Universality of the treaty framework has long been considered vital to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime and consolidate non-nuclear norms. But can new U.S.-led disarmament momentum create the necessary dynamics to encourage the holdouts to disarm, or is this wishful thinking? This article argues that sustained disarmament momentum from the Western NWS will not be enough—a more comprehensive approach to disarmament is needed, including a genuine commitment by all NWS to engage in transparency and reductions, and full nuclear compliance and cooperation by Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study derives ground-motion prediction equations for the horizontal elastic response spectral acceleration for 5% damping for application to the Indian Himalayas. The present equations include a consideration of site category (rock/soil) and style-of-faulting (strike-slip/reverse). Due to a lack of near-field data from India, additional strong-motion data have been included from the Zagros region of Iran, which has comparable seismotectonics to the Himalayas (continental compression). A set of 201 records from 16 earthquakes were used within the regression. The derived model predicts similar ground motions to previously published equations for the Himalayan region but with lower standard deviations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]