Search

Score equivalency of two Computer-Based Testing (henceforth CBT) and Paper-and-Pencil-Based Testing (henceforth PBT) versions has turned into a controversial issue during the last decade in Iran. The comparability of mean scores obtained from two CBT and PBT formats of test should be investigated to see if test takers' testing performance is influenced by the effects of testing administration mode. This research was conducted to examine score equivalency across modes as well as the relationship of gender, and testing mode preference with test takers' performance on computerized testing. The information on testing mode preference and attitudes towards CBT and its features was supported by a focus group interview. Findings indicated that the scores of test takers were not different in both modes and there was no statistically significant relationship between moderator above variables and CBT performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To achieve the highest possible level of health for individuals and societies involved in the crisis, a high level of individual and professional competency is needed in nurses for their active participation in the crisis. The acquisition of professional qualifications by nurses to provide care in the crisis is very important. The present study aimed to determine the effect of disaster and accident response training on the enhancement of professional competence of nurses in response to the crisis. Materials and Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test design. The statistical population consisted of all nurses working in Shahid Chamran Hospital in Saveh City, Iran, in 2017. In total, 80 nurses were selected through the convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received training through lectures and workshops for 16 hours in 4 days. The samples completed a professional nursing competency assessment questionnaire before and one month after the intervention. The obtained data were analyzed by the Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact-test, Independent samples t-test, and Paired samples t-test in SPSS. Results: The findings revealed no significant difference between the two groups concerning demographic variables. After the intervention, the average improvement of professional competence of nurses in their ability to manage the accident scene increased from 63.3 to 74.07, teamwork skill from 56.7 to 74, individual specific abilities from 61.4 to 70, ethical performance from 67.8 to 76.9, and professional skills from 54 to 60. The Mean±SD pretest score of professional competency of nurses in the intervention and control groups were 163.5±28.6 and 155.73±34, respectively. After the intervention, these scores increased to 185.13±28.8 and 158.48±33.3 in the intervention and the control groups, respectively. The difference was statistically significant in the intervention group (P<0.001). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that the competence of nurses to provide care in crises was not at a desirable level. Thus, assessing the competence of nurses and identifying the gaps in their knowledge and skills before attending crises is essential. Also, the incident and disaster education can dramatically increase nurses' professional competence in responding to the crisis. Therefore, we suggest the method used in this study as a feasible, simple, low cost and effective method in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The most crucial issue in the disaster and accidents is the health management of the affected community because accidents and disasters always have a significant impact on hygiene, general health, and the wellbeing of the stricken community. Considering the hospitals' function and their front line position in managing the victims of accidents and having to continue and even increase their activity at the time of accidents and disasters, they should have a program of coping with accidents. In this regard, the current study investigated the preparedness of hospitals in Ardabil Province, Iran, in response to unexpected events. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive, analytical, and cross-sectional study conducted in 15 hospitals in Ardabil Province in 2017. To collect study data, a two-part questionnaire was used. Its first part investigated the demographic data of the hospitals. The second part was the national tool to assess hospital preparedness in accidents and disasters with 91 questions in 9 areas of preparedness (command and control, communication, safety and security, triage, capacity increasing, continuity of essential services, workforce, resource management, and post-disaster recovery). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The findings of this study revealed that out of the 15 studied hospitals, only 4 were well prepared, 3 were poorly prepared, and 8 hospitals were moderately prepared for crisis management. On average, out of the 9 investigated aspects, triage, human resource management, and recovery after disasters had the lowest status. Conclusion: Considering the obtained results and the importance of preparing for unexpected events, it can be useful to plan and have an explicit instruction, and then implement and evaluate it to increase the preparedness to confront unexpected accidents in all hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Iran is a country with a high rate of natural disasters like earthquake. The environmental conditions slow down the delivery of health services, especially in the event of disasters. The modern technologies such as telemedicine are appropriate for facilitating disaster relief operations after an earthquake. This study aimed to develop a model for the implementation of telemedicine in an earthquake. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out using a mixed-methods research in three phases: 1. Review of the literature; 2. Qualitative study (modeling); and 3. Delphi method (validation of the model). Databases of Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed were searched from 1990 to 2019 with the keywords of "telemedicine" AND "disaster" OR "emergency" AND "earthquake". After screening of the retrieved records, 13 articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review study. Ten experts extracted all key elements of telemedicine in the disaster from the articles and categorized them in 6 themes with 38 subthemes. The model of telemedicine in the earthquake was finalized with 2 rounds of Delphi with groups of selected volunteer experts. Results: In the first phase of the study, 6 key themes (telecommunication infrastructure, technical infrastructure, financial infrastructure, health infrastructure, organizational infrastructure, social infrastructure, and cultural infrastructure) with 38 subthemes of telemedicine for implementing in the disaster were obtained. At the conclusion of the third phase of the study, 6 key themes with 33 subthemes contributed to the model of telemedicine in the earthquake. Telecommunication infrastructure with a maximum score of 9.24 earned the priority, and social and cultural infrastructure themes with the minimum score of 7.53 came in the end. Conclusion: The model derived from this study can be used as an applied telemedicine model in an earthquake. We suggest that the results of this study be implemented as a theoretical model, or in a pilot study in a region of the country, and to be evaluated by regarding mortality reduction. We also recommend that a comparative study for using telemedicine in other types of disasters be undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing the right title for a paper is essential attracting readers and receiving citations, and various studies have been done on this subject. This research sought those papers citation rate with the country name 'Iran' in their title published during 2010-2014 using Web of Science citation index. It tried to identify highly cited papers, disciplines, distribution of papers by type and geography of the paper with this feature. Moreover, it observed the relationship between Iranian and international authors in the production of such papers and their citation rate. Using scientometric method, 12,026 papers with the word 'Iran' in the titles were examined, and their Web of Science database citations were analyzed from 2010 to 2014. Citation rates of papers written by Iranian researchers and researchers from other countries were compared according to the research questions. The results showed that the majority of these papers were produced in Iran, and among foreign countries, the United States had the highest share in producing such papers. Most of these papers were in geology, occupational health, and environmental science. Moreover, it was revealed that citation rate for papers containing 'Iran' in the title has decreased over the years and the downward trend has been similar for national and international studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iranian Journal of Information Processing & Management is the property of Iranian Information & Documentation Center (IRANDOC) 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 aims to evaluate whether features of the public sphere are present in the activities of Iranian Twitter users. To achieve this objective, the paper provides a synthesis of computational social sciences, network analysis, and Habermas’s approach to the public sphere. The data comes from all Iranian users, including those who are actively engaged in political issues on Twitter. This method of data collection focuses on the computational aspects of the users. Added information on how they conducted networking and facilitated public opinion, which resulted in increased user interaction, would complete the datagathering process to align with the theoretical claims. It also indicates that Twitter was a platform on which Iranian users fulfilled the requirements of the public sphere. Some of the findings indicate that there were 48,076 users connected with 25,534,713 edges, and together, they formed three communities. While one of the communities focused solely on social issues, the other two engaged in a rival political challenge. It seems that this situation exemplified the main characteristic of the public sphere, namely, the freedom to express political views and the formation of diverse communities with competing ideas [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there have been many publications on the subject of CKM, particularly in recent years, not much research has been conducted on the performance analysis and science maps of these studies. To overcome this constraint, a bibliometric study of the current body of academic literature on CKM is conducted the study’s methodology involved conducting a bibliometric examination of publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus from 1992 to 2022. The search strategy employed for this review was guided by the PRISMA standards, resulting in 255 papers being located during the search procedure. To visualize and quantitatively analyze bibliometric networks the VOS viewer tool and the bibliometric R-package were utilized. The descriptive statistics reveal a significant increase in CKM studies since 2011, with the majority of publications occurring in 2021, 2019, and 2013, respectively. China, Iran, and the United States are the countries with the highest number of publications, respectively. The “JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT” is a core journal in this field, and “Hussin A” is the most prolific author in this scientific domain. The results of the thematic analysis indicate that “co-creation” has gained popularity in recent years, and over the past seven years, “knowledge sharing” and “customer knowledge development” have replaced “market orientation” and “customer relations”, respectively. Additionally, the co-word analysis of the author’s keywords identified six clusters, including “Knowledge Management and Market Orientation,” “Knowledge Sharing and Co-Creation,” “CKM and Customer Engagement,” “CKM, Tools and Technique,” “Knowledge Management and CRM,” and “CRM.”By identifying and deriving key CKM themes, this study makes a significant contribution to the CKM literature. Researchers can utilize the scientific analysis of a variety of sectors, such as customer knowledge management, to understand the scientific boundaries and gain a general understanding of the scientific method. Another goal is to identify research goals for policymakers in many scientific disciplines and modify them to meet future societal requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys and critically evaluates the literature on methods used in assessing the quality of financial services in the field of insurance coverage. The paper presents the methodological assumptions of SERVQUAL and fuzzy SERVQUAL methods. The usefulness of these methods for assessing the quality of services provided by entities from the insurance sector (taking into account the expectations of customers and service providers) was also demonstrated, on the example of insurers from Greece, Malaysia, Iran, Poland and India, using specialized software SPSS (versions 11.5 and 21), SmartPLS and LISREL 8.7 statistical package. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Culture & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly is the property of Turkish Cultur & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly 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 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]

Objectives: Nausea is one of the most important symptoms of patients undergoing chemotherapy. This study aims to determine the effects of aromatherapy with sour lemon on nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: A total of 50 patients undergoing chemotherapy were randomly assigned to experimental and placebo (control) groups. The two groups completed the visual analogue scale for nausea before and the first to the fourth week after starting the intervention. The intervention was performed during chemotherapy. Using a dropper, a paper towel was saturated with 3 drops of sour lemon essential oil; however, for the control group, 3 mL of water as a placebo was spread on a paper towel. The intervention in the experimental and control groups was performed once a week for 4 weeks during weekly chemotherapy sessions. Results: At the beginning of the study, no significant difference was observed between the mean score of nausea in the two groups (P>0.05). The first to the fourth week after starting the intervention, significant differences were observed between the mean score of nausea in the two groups (P<0.05). The results of the repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that the mean score of nausea changed over time in the experimental group, indicating a gradual decrease in the mean score of nausea (P<0.05). Discussion: Our findings indicated that aromatherapy with sour lemon can be effective in reducing nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherence and coordination among interdependent policy sectors are considered key for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Literature on policy coherence argues that a lack of coordination may lead to policy incoherence; however, literature on coordination also sometimes points to the reversed causality that incoherencies in policies or in governance functions (functional incoherence) may hinder coordinated policy outcomes; in fact, these assumptions have rarely been further theorized or tested empirically. In this paper, we hypothesize the higher functional or policy coherence, the higher coordination at process level and the higher the likelihood that coordination at process level is translated into coordination at outcome level. We test this hypothesis for cross-sectoral coordination challenges among different water using sectors in six different basins located in Germany, Iran, Mongolia, Spain, and South Africa. At first glance, four cases seem to confirm the first part of the hypothesis for functional coherence and three for policy coherence. It remains difficult to establish causality. Whether functional and policy coherence translate into coordination at process level seems to depend on a functioning coordination body. We further find that functional and policy incoherencies may either lead to coordination problems (in view of conflicts of interest) or even go along with a high level of coordination at the process level, possibly to compensate for incoherencies. Neither functional nor policy coherence change the relationship of coordination at process and outcome level. To explain coordination at the outcome level, other factors need to be considered. • The paper explores how (in)coherence in policies and responsibilities affects coordination at process and outcome level. • It presents a rigorous comparative study of cross-sectoral coordination in six river basins worldwide. • Coherence may be conducive towards coordination at process level, but it remains difficult to establish causality. • Incoherencies may both hinder or stimulate coordination at process level. • Coherence in policies and responsibilities does not change the relationship of coordination at process and outcome level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread distributions of saline soils in Iran cause a range of problems for road construction projects due to insufficient shear strength, salt solubility potential and swelling. This paper conducts experimental tests using different cement contents and a sort of petrochemical waste with two curing methods to stabilise saline soil samples. Strength, compressibility and chemical tests were conducted, X-ray diffraction analyses were performed, and scanning electron microscope pictures were prepared for basic materials and stabilised saline soil samples in this paper. The results indicate that both petrochemical soda ash waste and cement enhance the shear strength of saline soil, especially after 28 days of curing. However, the combination is more appropriate from the swelling and salt solubility potential viewpoint. The optimum combination of 2% cement and 5% of petrochemical soda ash waste, cured by method 2 for 28 days, results in the most significant shear strength enhancement (127%). Furthermore, a swelling quantity of the optimum combination is reasonably restricted. X-ray diffraction test results and scanning electron microscope pictures demonstrated that despite the presence of ettringite agents, the formation quantity of these minerals is negligible. The salt is well stabilised, and its solubility potential dramatically decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rudarsko-Geolosko-Naftni Zbornik is the property of Faculty of Mining, Geology & Petroleum Engineering 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.)

Purpose: Transitional entrepreneurship in distressed economies is a fairly new concept with respect to new ventures in such challenging economic environments. Formal institutional voids are sometimes held up as a reason for the difficulties present in distressed economies, along with exogenous shocks and other upheavals. In this research, the authors seek to contribute empirically and theoretically as to ways in which formal institutions voids can be filled by a culture developed by transitional entrepreneurs. Indeed, in transition economies, formal institutions need to be enhanced by informal institutions to control corruption and other misbehavior by authorities. Iranian economists emphasize these essential reforms to be able to manage current difficulties, yet top down policies cannot help transitional entrepreneurs benefit from the country's value-adding cultural heritage to informally address this. To study this, qualitative research methods were used to interpret transitional entrepreneurs' ideology and ethical routines as the ingredients of a commercial culture that can establish soft law that substitutes for formal institutions. This helps to reduce the disfunctionality of formal institutions in distressed economies. Design/methodology/approach: A thematic analysis interviewing key Iranian entrepreneurs and economists is conducted. Also based on an interpretive paradigm, a hermeneutic cycle has been carried out on selected texts. Results have been verified throughout related literature as to come up with a solid synthesized interpreted outcome. Findings: This paper contributes to theory from a new perspective by discussing transitional entrepreneurship and navigating a distressed economy; in which, ideology and ethics as the ingredients of soft law (Newman and Posner, 2018) are discussed as the base to further develop a commercial culture that fills voids of formal institutions. The formal–informal institutional cycle in distressed economies as the major difficulty entrepreneurs face (Peng and Luo, 2000) is important, because they try to increasingly enhance their move toward a market orientation (Bruton et al., 2008). The authors contribute as to how transitional entrepreneurs can complete this process of adaptation and also the fact that those informal institutions do actually respond to those adaptations. The other contribution is to enrich theories about institutions from the point of view of culture. Knowing these facts helps transitional entrepreneurs, because in distressed communities, formal institutions' function has an important effect on economic performance (Amorós, 2009). This research's contributions shed light to help government leaders understand the pros and cons of their actions forced on the industry. As it has been characterized in this research, it can turn in to new formal set of legitimacies (Ahlstrom et al., 2008) to root out corruption and help set the economy on a path to innovation and new venture creation. Originality/value: Transitional entrepreneurs can depend on the less formal cultural-cognitive aspect of ethics and ideology. These entrepreneurs can be working on the burgeoning private sector, who want to connect with the outside effectively to overcome an economy in distress. Transitional entrepreneurs may face governmental institutional intermediaries as a barrier. Formal intermediaries tend to benefit from inefficiencies caused by hierarchal orders and will improve informality in order to overcome difficulties. In this research, institutional theory from the third pillar of the cultural-cognitive sheds light on transitional entrepreneurship in distressed economies, where inquiry is to fill voids of formal institutions as a process of possible linking between new generated soft law derived by beliefs, ideology and professional morality in order to influence (old) legitimacies. The research's focus evolves on values transitional entrepreneurs utilize to build informal institutions and then impact further on formal institutions to handle distressed communities. This theoretical background expands on subsections to define conceptual building blocks for the study, essential aspects such as individuals as transitional entrepreneurs, the values they utilize to generate soft law, informal institutions and soft law, to manage voids in formal institutions and legitimacy building aspects in policy agenda setting for transitional entrepreneurship in distressed economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterologia is the property of Sociedad Hispano-Luso-Americana de Lepidopterologia 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.)

The political developments in Iran at the end of the 20th century, particularly the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war immediately after the revolution in Iran, had a deep influence on storytelling in general and movie-making in particular. This gave rise to new social definitions, including a unique form of masculinity. The war, with its masculine atmosphere and Shi'ite-rooted ideology, gave birth to a new definition of masculinity, which can be seen reflected in the Sacred Defense Cinema genre. Sacred Defense Cinema has played a significant role in defining gender with Islamic roots. This paper aims to shed light on Iranian cinema, specifically the Sacred Defense Cinema, through an analysis of Hatamikiya's film "Bodyguard". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of civic culture and democratization have tended to ignore stateless nations like the Kurds. This brings up the question of what civic culture looks like for these groups and whether the status of statelessness has in - fluenced the civic culture of Kurds in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. Analyzing the first merged large-N dataset including Kurds from Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, this paper shows that the last hundred years of Kurdish political movements have strongly influenced the civic culture of Kurds. Being Kurdish in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq has a significant effect on levels of political trust and support as well as the correlation of these indicators with levels of support for a democratic political system. Overall, this paper finds that being Kurdish has a strong positive effect on support for democracy versus autocracy in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to identify the ethical challenges of dissertations/theses supervision in Iran and to provide the codes of ethics for supervisors according to the challenges. The process of achieving this goal has consisted of four steps: determining ethical principles for supervision as a profession, identifying ethical challenges, examining the relationship between the challenges and the Iranian academic context, and codifying the ethical duties of supervisors. Accordingly, in the first step, a set of ethical principles that can be an ethical basis for research supervision as profession is justified. In the second step, research supervision challenges are extracted from the literature-researches as well as the regulations of various universities and institutes. In the third step, surveying a number of faculty members and graduated/graduate students we asked them how many of the challenges occur in the Iranian academic context, and also what other challenges can be added to our list of the challenges. The results of this step indicated the high relevance of the challenges to Iranian academic context. Due to the fact that both groups of supervisors and students participated in this research, it was possible to compare their ethical perspectives as well. In some cases, students and faculty members had divergent views on the importance and occurrence of some of the challenges. Finally, in the fourth step, based on the obtained challenges and in accordance to their instances, 36 independent codes were provided, and their relevance and comprehensiveness was evaluated in a focus group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Culture & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly is the property of Turkish Cultur & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly 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.)

With the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the globe and the transition of education to fully online teaching in Iran, high school English teachers who were accustomed to teaching offline had to face a lot of challenges during this shift. In this paper, we describe the major challenges or dilemmas the first author had to surmount during his online English teaching to a group of senior high school students in the 2020-2021 academic year, how he managed to resolve those dilemmas (e.g., in teaching reading) under the second author's expert guidance, and the opportunities afforded to him by this experience. The paper has implications for teachers who teach in similar English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts and who are confronted with similar challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Learning & Technology is the property of Canadian Network for Innovation in Education 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.)

Copyright of Rudarsko-Geolosko-Naftni Zbornik is the property of Faculty of Mining, Geology & Petroleum Engineering 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.)

Water governance systems have evolved around the exploitation of provisioning ecosystem services. The overexploitation of provisioning and the degradation of regulating services have led to a decline in the capacity of ecosystems to provide any services at all. Decisions affecting water-related ecosystem services are often not made in the water sector. Governance that does not take into account ecological interdependencies lead to unsustainable use of resources. In such situations, one can speak of a misfit between interdependencies of ecosystem services and coordination processes that would allow addressing them. The article introduces an approach to identify such misfits and potential solutions to overcome them and applies the approach to case studies in Germany, South Africa and Iran. The context-sensitive analyses highlight factors that contribute to or even determine prevailing practices in water management. The fit with the pattern of ecosystem service uses was found to be higher for governance processes in practice (formal and informal) than for formal coordination instruments on paper. Actors may not lack opportunities to exchange but these are not translated into tangible coordination outcomes. To reduce trade-offs between the uses of ecosystem service, improved synergies are needed between formal and informal institutional settings. Instruments need to be tailored to local circumstances. Scope and effectiveness of local action may be limited by higher governance levels. The analyses have demonstrated that the path from improving social-ecological fit to achieving sustainability is long. Addressing institutional deficits requires transformational change rather than short-term measures for addressing isolated problems or crisis situations. • New approach to identify misfits between ecosystem services uses and coordination and potential solutions to overcome them. • Results from case studies in Germany, South Africa and Iran. • Synergies needed between formal and informal institutional at local level to reduce trade-offs between ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: One of the prominent vital needs for implementing a community-based rehabilitation (CBR) program is correct perception and we know that CBR is linked to several challenges. The current study was performed to identify the challenges of implementing a CBR program in Iran based on the perceptions of the stakeholders. Methods: This study was qualitative conventional content analysis. In total, 25 participants who were staff of the Welfare Organization at different levels, managers, and experts working in the CBR project and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were selected according to purposive sampling. Data gathering was performed by semi-structured and in-depth interviews and continued until saturation. The interviews were performed in 2020. To test the trustworthiness of data, the Guba and Lincoln criteria (credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability) and MAXQDA were used for data analysis. Results: The challenges of implementing a CBR program were identified. Eight novel categories and 39 subcategories were generated as follows: neglecting the local conditions and role of provinces, poor policymaking, and planning, deviation from the main goals, lack of a comprehensive evaluation system, inefficient resource management, weakness in facilitation, ineffective communication, and the inefficiency of NGOs). Discussion: Policymakers, service providers, and managers must understand the challenges of implementing a CBR program. Also, they are expected to address to this issue. This paper showed evidence for all stakeholders. Paying attention to these challenges can lead to the program's tremendous success and ultimately, improved service provision and quality of life for people with disabilities and their families. The results support the need for policymakers and managers in the rehabilitation sector to change their vision and address the CBR as an essential part of the rehabilitation system. Also, the collected data could help to reinforce the CBR services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterologia is the property of Sociedad Hispano-Luso-Americana de Lepidopterologia 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.)

Air-gap eccentricity fault causes rotor–stator rub and consequently damage to Synchronous Generators (SGs). In this paper, a fault diagnosis approach to diagnose the eccentricity fault for SGs is presented. In this approach, the state matrix eigenvalues based on the subspace identification are estimated, and those are used for fault diagnosis. Two dq models of SGs in faulty and healthy conditions are employed to present the theoretical foundation of the method. As the main advantage, the introduced fault diagnosis method is working properly for either linear or nonlinear loads of SGs. The stator and field currents and voltages, and rotor rotational speed are required signals in the introduced approach. The method is validated using experimental data of SGs in Iran-Safir (ER24) diesel–electric locomotives. [Display omitted] • Air-gap eccentricity fault diagnosis in synchronous generators. • Fault diagnosis using the estimated eigenvalues of the state-space model of the synchronous generators based on the subspace identification. • The introduced fault diagnosis method works properly for linear and nonlinear loads. • The introduced fault diagnosis has been validated using experimental data of synchronous generators in Iran-Safir (ER24) diesel–electric locomotives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life narratives of the Iranian women in the diaspora, which have become very popular in recent years, have long served as a model for understanding Iran for western readers. This popularity is emanated from the curiosity and interest in the west that was raised after 9/11 and the ensuing political aftermath. Written to unveil the lives of Iranian women in the Islamic Republic, these diasporic narratives have been 'growingly commodified, circulated and consumed uncritically' in the west. Much ink has been spilled on the surge of diasporic Iranian women's life narratives, the politics of their reception and circulation in the west, and their liability to furthering imperialist ideologies. We have no intention of continuing the debate over how some of these life narratives facilitate and promote imperialistic agendas. Rather, we would like to embark on an untrodden path, a fascinating journey through the growing body of life narratives by and about Iranian women from inside the Islamic Republic, equipped with accounts that vitiate the orientalist assumptions and diasporic narratives' generalisations. This paper seeks to introduce and analyse these alternative narratives. By developing a theory of the 'insider within,' this paper exhibits how alternative narratives from within can serve as a better model for understanding Iran and Iranian women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper draws together the existing, but largely scattered, research findings on the policy of English language teaching (ELT) in post-Revolutionary Iran. It begins with a brief history of ELT in Iran, then it deals with the major policies adopted and their consequences. It is followed by how ELT policies came under reform in 2013, inspired by the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach. The rest of the paper examines the underlying reasons why the reform failed to work as expected. To this end, a critical analysis of the missing infrastructures prerequisite to the reform is presented. These include the low budget allotted at the planning and implementation levels; teachers’ unpreparedness to teach and assess based on the new approach, due to lack of educational, and economic empowerment; inefficiency of the newly-designed textbooks; the regime of school accountability; heterogeneous classes; inadequate time; extreme class sizes; and students’ demotivation to use English, due to the paucity of opportunities to use it. These all stem from the top-down approach taken to implement the reform, wherein the characteristics of the educational context are disregarded. Some recommendations are given at the end, which can be used by ELT policy makers, materials developers and other stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a Foucauldian perspective on power and resistance, this paper traces the history of oppositional movements founded by Iranian women to bring about fundamental social and political change during President Mohammad Khatami's second administration (2001-2005). Denied the political rights, freedoms and opportunities available to oppositional groups operating in Western democratic countries, these feminist movements adopted a radically new strategy for winning social and political rights grounded in an everyday politics of social negation and social subversion of the status quo played out in urban public spaces. Referred to here as "presence-asresistance," this strategy constituted an everyday mode of opposition involving the performance in public spaces of those life practices--singing, bicycling, participating in sports, etc.--that are normatively and governmentally reserved for the private sphere of the home and/or gendersegregated spaces. My purpose here lies in showing how these modes of resistance worked to compel the authorities to relax their iron grip on women in Iranian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rudarsko-Geolosko-Naftni Zbornik is the property of Faculty of Mining, Geology & Petroleum Engineering 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.)

Copyright of International Relations / Uluslararasi Iliskiler is the property of International Relations Council 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.)

Introduction Posterior cerebral artery (PCA) aneurysms are a rare group of intracranial aneurysms. Pediatric aneurysms account for approximately 4% of all aneurysms and are commonly associated with an underlying predisposing disorder, such as trauma. In contrast to traumatic aneurysms, spontaneous dissecting cases are pointed out as a rare cause of pediatric aneurysms. The current paper presented a spontaneous dissecting aneurysm in a 10-month-old female infant. Case Report The case was a 10-month-old female infant admitted to the Neurology Ward of Imam Hossein Hospital, Tehran, Iran, with a ruptured dissecting PCA aneurysm for a diagnostic brain angiography. Brain computerized tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging showed left occipital subarachnoidal and intraventricular hemorrhage, left periventricular intracranial hemorrhage, and PCA infarct. The endovascular embolization was performed for her, and the aneurysm and parent artery were obliterated with two coils. No clinical deficits and complications happened during and after the procedure. Dissecting PCA aneurysm is a rare condition, particularly in infants. Endovascular coiling and surgical clipping are two treatment options for cerebral aneurysms, one of which might be preferred according to the symptoms and age of the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iranian Journal of Information Processing & Management is the property of Iranian Information & Documentation Center (IRANDOC) 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.)

In this paper, three groups of quartz-rich sandstone were selected. These three groups include sandstones with low, medium and high quartz content. Three categories oftests including petrography tests, physical and engineering index property tests were performed on 26 samples of sandstones. Physical and engineering index property tests included porosity, density, P-wave velocity, and compressive and tensile strength tests. The purpose of the experiments/article was to find a relationship between different characteristics of the studied sandstone samples. Emphasis was placed on the effect of feldspar content and quartz content on the tensile and compressive strength of specimens. According to the results, significant relationships exist between the engineering index characteristics and the compressive and tensile strength of the samples as well as their elastic properties. The main finding of this research is that due to the presence of micro-mineral cracks in feldspar, increasing feldspar content reduces the compressive and tensile strength of the samples. Packing density, packing proximity, sub-angular and angular grains and quartz content are positively correlated with dry density and P-wave velocity and negatively correlated with porosity. Compressive and tensile strength and Young's modulus increase with increasing dry density, P-wave velocity, packing density, packing proximity, percent sub-angular and angular grains, and quartz content. Feldspar content has a positive correlation with porosity and a negative correlation with dry density and P-wave velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The water crisis at Lake Urmia (Iran) represents a severe socio-economic disaster. • In-depth interviews reveal the multicausality of immobility in times of crisis. • Individuals may aspire to migrate and stay simultaneously ('ambivalent immobility'). • The most vulnerable may have no (im)mobility aspirations ('precarious immobility'). • Generalizing about 'trapped populations' masks the full spectrum of immobility. Empirical research on the links between environmental change and human (im)mobility has made considerable progress in the last decade. However, most attention is given to migration rather than understanding immobility, where human-centered perspectives are scarce and various regions remain critically understudied. This paper seeks to address these deficits. Methodologically based on 75 qualitative in-depth interviews and 8 focus group sessions with rural residents around desiccating Lake Urmia (Iran), the study takes individual perceptions of environmental degradation and lived experiences of immobility as its fundamental starting point. It investigates what (in)tangible losses occur and analyses what matters most in shaping the aspirations and capabilities to migrate or stay. The findings provide unique empirical evidence of the multifaceted dimensions along the spectrum of immobility, moving beyond the prevailing binary views of voluntary immobility and trapped populations. A key finding of this study is the elucidation of 'ambivalent immobility', comprising individuals whose (im)mobility aspirations are complex and contradictory: they want to stay, but also leave, constantly weighing their growing local dissatisfaction against their attachments to place and the psychological/economic costs of migration. Another novel contribution concerns 'precarious immobility', expanding our knowledge of how individuals understand themselves as trapped. Grounded in capability constraints and emotional distress exacerbated by environmental change, individuals from this group did not voice any (im)mobility aspirations. This distinguished them from the involuntary or acquiescent immobile residents in the study, who despite capability constraints either aspired to migrate or expressed a preference to stay. Thus, this paper highlights the complexity of aspirations in contexts of environmental degradation and underscores the need for more qualitative research to complement quantitative efforts to foster a more nuanced understanding of the diverse causes, dimensions, and consequences of immobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a fractional-order SIRD mathematical model is presented with Caputo derivative for the transmission of COVID-19 between humans. We calculate the steady-states of the system and discuss their stability. We also discuss the existence and uniqueness of a non-negative solution for the system under study. Additionally, we obtain an approximate response by implementing the fractional Euler method. Next, we investigate the first and the second waves of the disease in Iran and Japan; then we give a prediction concerning the second wave of the disease. We display the numerical simulations for different derivative orders in order to evaluate the efficacy of the fractional concept on the system behaviors. We also calculate the optimal control of the system and display its numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directional Overcurrent Relays (DOCRs) are essential protective devices in distribution networks which are usually set without considering any contingencies. However, the current challenge in power systems is the existence of uncertainty and its unfavorable consequences. It sometimes appears that some elements simultaneously fail which makes other parts overloaded to the extent that it leads to cascading outages. Therefore, DOCRs may malfunction, which ends in unwanted trips when there is no fault, or they may not operate in case the fault is located within their reach. In such cases, the coordination setting needs complex programming with many related non-linear inequality constraints. In this paper, a novel hybrid method is proposed based on multi-objective optimization including new objective functions using Genetic Algorithm (GA). Also, the cascading outages are considered in the presented method based on network data analysis. This approach is performed on distribution part of the IEEE 14-bus meshed system and a real industrial radial feeder named TOSEE, located in Iran. The simulations were implemented in MATLAB and PowerFactory-DIgSILENT software packages in different models and the results are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a new method for annotating images in Persian scientific documents is suggested. Images in scientific documents contain valuable information. In many cases, by analyzing images one can understand the main idea and important results of the document. Due to explosive growth of image data, automatic image annotation has attracted extensive attention and become one of the growing subjects in the literature. Image annotation is the first step in image retrieval methods, in which descriptive tags are assigned to each image. Here, for image annotation the associated text is used. The caption and the part of the document that includes the reference to the image are considered. None phrases in the associated text are ranked based on five different methods: term frequency, inverse document frequency, term frequency–inverse document frequency, cosine similarity between word embedding of noun phrases in the text and the caption and using both term frequency–inverse document frequency and cosine similarity methods. Image tags in every method are the noun phrases with the highest rank. Suggested methods are evaluated on the test data from Iran scientific information database (Ganj), the main database of Persian scientific documents. Term frequency–inverse document frequency method gives the best results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of social networks is ever-increasing. Many available scientific publications evidence the interest of researchers in this area. Within a time span of eight years from 2011 to 2018, approximately 2600, 230, 150, and 110 scientific articles were published from the USA, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, respectively around this area of research. To comprehensively survey all the sub-fields and interests within this research area, the present paper proposes a novel density-based method for finding topic descriptors from academic articles. By employing a robust to noise fuzzy clustering algorithm, the terms are clustered, and by utilizing a modified Parzen window, k topic descriptors from each cluster are extracted. Besides, an optimization problem has been designed to detect the similarity between word pairs. By conducting the experiments, the research priorities for four countries within this time span have been found. Moreover, the closeness of the research in developing countries to the developed country have been measured. The experimental results show that for four years, the research topics in Turkey were close to the research topics in the USA on average, and the research topics in Saudi Arabia were close to the USA topics during the past two years. Additionally, the experimental comparison of the proposed method with two clustering baselines indicates the superiority of the proposed method in terms of precision, recall, and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the long-standing conflict over Kurdish self-determination as it played out in three cases of negotiations conducted between the governments of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, and the representatives of Kurdish movements from the 1970s onwards. Drawing on conflict and negotiations studies, the paper seeks to explain (a) why efforts at negotiating the conflict in question have not been successful and (b) what reasons account for this failure. To this end, the study first conceptualizes the Kurdish question as a constitutive conflict of self-determination grounded in a dynamic contest between direct rule and self-rule. Second, it systematically links the failure of negotiations to the absence of substantive commitments by the states involved, the lack of collective action on the part of the Kurdish actors, and negative third-party involvement. The objective is to provide a theoretically guided and empirically informed conceptual approach to the failed politics of negotiating the Kurdish self-determination conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In present study we aimed to investigate the literature in the form of systematic review to determinate the concentrations of some toxic metals (arsenic, lead, and cadmium) in widely consumed rice brands in Iran and their related health risks. International and Iranian national databases were searched carefully with appropriate keywords for papers on toxic metal contamination of rice from Agust-2000 to Agust-2018. Initially, 560 articles were found, of which only the 50 papers fit the inclusion criteria and were selected for further analysis. The Monte Carlo Simulation was applied to generate missing data (mean, standard deviation, data distribution and sample size) of toxic metal concentration in some papers. Then, statistical analysis, health risk assessment, and uncertainty and sensitivity analysis were performed. The results indicated that approximately 88% of rice consumed in Iran (including Iranian, Pakistani and Indian rice) do not meet the national standard and WHO/FAO guideline requirements and their related health risks are unacceptable. The risks of arsenic and lead in Indian rice and cadmium in Iranian rice were considerably higher than others. In conclusion, according to our findings, In conclusion, it is necessary to prevent toxic metals contamination of rice by modifying cultivation patterns and, also, prevent low-quality rice brands to be imported. Image 1 • We made a literature investigation on toxic metals in rice consumed in Iran. • The rice consumed in Iran can't meet national standard and WHO/FAO guideline. • Estimated health risk of widely-used rice in Iran is higher than acceptable level. • The arsenic and lead in Indian rice and cadmium in Iranian rice were remarkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persian medicine (PM), also known as Iranian traditional medicine, is a collection of ancient experience, knowledge and skills that has been long practiced by Iranian experts for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Given the importance of assessing scientific outputs and the rising popularity of traditional medicine, such as PM, we aimed to perform scientometric analysis and draw a scientific map of PM-related publications to present a research perspective in this field of science. This descriptive and analytical study was carried out with a scientometric approach on all PM-related scientific publications in the Web of Science (WoS) database until November 2018. The VOSviewer software was used for drawing the scientific maps. The results showed that until 18 November 2018, 1717 documents related to the field of PM have been indexed in the Web of Science. Average citation rate in the field of PM was 8.11 citations per document. H-index of these documents was 49. The amount of scientific productions in the field of PM has increased dramatically since 2013 (growth rate= 61.06%). Journal of Ethnopharmacology, which is specifically dedicated to integrative and complementary medicine, has published the greatest number of PM documents (4.834 %). Moreover, 92.02 Percent of the authors of the retrieved articles were from Iran. Kamalinejad M. with 63 documents was the most prolific author in the field of PM, and the Tehran University of Medical Sciences with 336 articles contributed the most to publication of papers on this field. Based on the findings, PM is not well known enough among international researchers, and Iranian researchers and organizations contribute the most to publication of papers on this field of science. Collaborative writing, international co-authorship and participation in international conferences and meetings could fill this gap and boost popularity of this field of science worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this study is to analyze Websites content quality in Iranian universities of technology. The method of this study is content analysis; one of the webometrics methods. Applied reaserch and content analysis method with analytical approach have been used in this paper. The research population is top ten Iranian technology universities selected according to their ISC latest version of university ranking. The required data for this paper was gathered based on keyword density and prominence, Meta tags, keyword & traffic organic, Text/HTML ratio, Unicode and duplicate content. All of these are indicators in content quality and used in this research for data extracting. Information of each website is extracted & analyzed on February 2018 by Webometrics tools and Excel software. The results showed that the content quality of Amir Kabir, Isfahan, Sharif University of Technology and University of Science and Technology are better than the other universities. Also, Malek Ashtar University of Technology and Kerman Graduate University of Advanced Technology have poor website content quality. The admins of Iranian university websites can use the results of this study for improving their websites’content quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract EIA in Iran was formally introduced in 1994, but to date little EIA-related research has been undertaken in the country. In this paper, the authors provide an evaluation of the Iranian EIA system, focusing on EIA legislation, administration and process. Data was collected on the basis of a literature review, document analysis and semi-structured interviews. This involved some translation from Persian into English. Evaluation of the findings indicate that Iran has adopted the democratic tools of EIA and SEA, which considering its political context is encouraging. However, currently the Iranian EIA system does suffer from weaknesses such as inadequate screening and scoping, lack of alternative consideration, public participation, EIA implementation and follow-up. The paper proposes some initial recommendations based on international experiences and sets out the direction for future research. Highlights • Iranian EIA legislation is a part of the National Development Plant (NDP). • The existing EIA legal basis is not strong enough for effective action against EIA offenders. • Iran's development of EIA is still at a low level in terms of understanding EIA procedure. • Capacity building is a premier factor to improve EIA in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telegram messenger, created by an exiled Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, brands itself as a non-mainstream and non-Western guarantor of privacy in messaging. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by the platform in Iran, with 59.5% of the population using its services, and in Russia, where Telegram is popular among the urban dissent. Both governments demanded access to the platform's encrypted content and, with Durov's refusal, took measures to ban it. Relying on the concept of surveillant assemblage (Haggerty and Ericson 2000), this paper portrays how authoritarian states disrupt, block, and police platforms that do not comply with their intrusive surveillance. Additionally, we consider the tools and actors that make up internet control assemblages as well as the resistance assemblages that take shape in response to such control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political leaders' discourse plays a significant role in directing the public opinion during crises. Hence, this study analyzed 71 speeches delivered by Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran (2013-2021), during the first and the second waves of COVID-19 pandemic (February 20 till August 30, 2020) as the most critical period of the pandemic attack. This study drew upon Lakoff & Johnson's (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory as its theoretical background, and the analysis of the speeches was comprised of metaphor identification using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) and metaphor interpretation. The findings of the study reveal employment of metaphorical representations of coronavirus as a discursive strategy to deal with the situation. The main metaphorical representation of coronavirus was framing public cooperation and national solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic as participating in a war. As argued in this paper, the employed metaphors not only remained loyal to general war features, but they also entailed a specific sociocultural image of war for the Iranian people based on their experience and memories of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. Finally, this study recommends for future studies to include the specific sociocultural context and historical background of the addressed audience. This provides further insight into what metaphors specifically mean to the addressed audience, which is beyond general metaphor use. This study is hoped to be a small step towards bringing into spotlight the significance of sociocultural aspects and historical background as necessary information to provide in-depth insights into what makes metaphors effective communicative tools to specific audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to shed light the would illustrate how much Iran has developed and promoted its cyber-war capabilities. The study has reached numerous findings, most notably the fact that soon after the provision of Internet in the capital Tehran in 1995, major Iranian universities started to play a key role in launching the nation's cyber security policy; teaching computer science students the basics of hacking, cyber security, and information security, which stimulated the Iranian National Security Council to form various Iranian institutions and external electronic agencies to act as Iranian offensive arms. Although Iran's cyber capabilities are weaker than those of Russia and China, it has become clear that Iran is an emerging cyber power that poses a real major threat to the United States and its allies. Iran's cyber-attacks primarily targeted Saudi Arabia, then they moved to Israel, and after that to the United States, Britain, Canada, and other Western countries. Later, Iran was subjected to fierce cyber-attacks by the United States and its allies, estimated at about 33 million attacks in 2019 alone. However, due to conflict of wills between Iran and the United States of America in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz on the one hand, and between Iran and Israel on the other -- on many regional files, most notably Iranian support for groups Israel classifies as terrorist organizations -- the study suggests that cyber warfare is most likely to escalate between these parties within the coming period, in light of the low strategic costs of such confrontations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iranian Journal of Information Processing & Management is the property of Iranian Information & Documentation Center (IRANDOC) 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.)