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Regional development policy based on the existing capacities of knowledge and innovation in the regions is one of the neglected issues in Iran's development policy. At present, there is no serious difference in providing solutions for different provinces, while the provinces of the country are different both in terms of the level of knowledge and innovation and its absorption capacity. In this research, based on the review of existing studies and new principles of measuring regional innovation capacity, a suitable framework for measuring innovation capacity is presented and accordingly, the innovation capacity of the country's provinces is measured. Results showed that in proportion to the decrease or increase in the level of development of regions, the innovation capacity of regions also increases or decreases. Innovation capacity has also decreased in proportion to the increasing geographical distance from the center of the country. Hence, Sistan and Baluchestan province has the lowest level of innovation capacity and provinces around Tehran such as Semnan, Karaj, Qazvin and Qom, have relatively high levels of innovation capacity. Nevertheless, Ilam and Bushehr provinces are in the first to fifth place among 31 provinces in terms of innovation capacity due to two important factors: 1. Small population and 2. Existence of oil and gas industries.

Background and Objectives: Since 2014, the "health system transformation plan" was designed and implemented in order to solve some of the problems in Iranian health system. One of the goals of this plan is to reduce direct payments by inpatients. This study aimed to compare the direct payments by inpatients, before and after implementing the transformation plan. Material and Methods: In this analytical-descriptive study, 1351 cases were selected (all cases). Direct costs paid by the inpatients were extracted from medical records and then analyzed using SPSS v.19 software and applying Uman-Whitney test. Results: The overall level of direct costs paid by inpatients before and after implementing the transformation plan has been decreased from 704 286 to 491815 Rials. A statistical relationship was observed between implementing the plan and the reduction of direct costs; but in detailed costs, there was no change. Conclusion: Health system transformation plan reduced the direct costs paid by inpatients; but in detailed costs, there was no reduction in some parts. Cooperation between hospitals is necessary to continue the plan.

Since the advent of bipolar transistor at Bell AT&T laboratories, the constant development of electronics industry over the past six decades have pushed the size of active semiconductor devices to its boundaries. The Moore's law which dictated doubling speed and halving physical dimensions every 18 months is now facing its end pretty soon. Current commercial technology is now being limited to the atomic spacing on one hand, and power density on the other hand. Solar power as well as quantum computing are also another relevant areas which would need certain physical implementations and materials. In short, the moving force and economic power behind this industry is enormous, however, technological bottlenecks are real and showing themselves very clearly now. Directions which may ultimately alleviate these restrictions are not too many, including two-dimensional nano-electronics, memristive networks, spintronics, compound semiconductor devices, optoelectronics interconnects, just to mention a few. This talk will address two important paradigms in this area 1) What are the real challenges in this technology? 2) What are the roots of retardation in our country and what can be done to merge into the international efforts? I will try to plant seeds to resolve some of the most basic misunderstandings in our academia and redirect the technology investments into a much more fruitful direction, with hopes that the next generation of our experts will have a much wider and relaxed atmosphere to excel and prosper.

Culture is one of the utmost important issues affecting behaviors in human communities. In most developing countries, the cultural development is taken into account as one of the main parameters of the development process. Thus to plan, and to allocate resources and funds between different regions, identifying the position of the region in the relevant sector and ranking the privilege of development benefits are essential. The present study aims to assess and analyze the level of cultural development and regional inequality among the towns of Kermanshah Province through Entropy-VIKOR model. A descriptive, quantitative and analytical research approach is used to describe the statistical population including 14 towns of Kermanshah Province. In this research project, 20 cultural indices have been used for ranking and positioning each town in four ranks including Developed (high -privileged), Developing (privileged), under developed (semi- privileged) and the least developed (not-privileged). The findings have revealed that only Islam Abad Qarb and Kermanshah (the capital of Kermanshah Province) are ranked first and among the developed towns; Sahneh is placed in the developing rank; Kangavar, Sonqor, Harsin, Paveh, Sarpol Zahab, Gilan Qarb, Qasre Shirin are among the under-developed towns, and Ravansar, Dalahou, Salas Babajani and Javanroud among the least developed ones. The results indicate that regional cultural inequalities are extremely high in the province and quite against the social equality, which significantly illustrates the necessity of equal distribution of cultural resources and services in terms of cultural development.