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Background: Not all manuscripts that are accepted and published in scientific journals have retained their status as published articles, and some of them are retracted after publication. There are various reasons for retraction that are usually grouped into a scientific error, such as statistical flaws, and research misconduct such as plagiarism. Nowadays the number of scientific publications are a source of career advancement and respect in the scientific community. To attain these, the focus of researchers is towards increasing the number of publications per year which sometimes compromises the quality of publications. Aim: The current study aimed to investigate the characteristics of retracted publications that were contributed by Turkish authors to scientific databases. Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The search strategies were based on a combination of MeSH terms relevant to "retracted publication" and "Turkey." The databases were searched on 23rd October 2021, without any restrictions on the search period. The inclusion criteria were: (i) retracted publication and, (ii) any authors of the study having affiliation with an institution in Turkey. The titles, authors' affiliations, and abstracts of the search results were screened and bibliographic information was extracted. Results: After removing duplicates and irrelevant studies, our search retrieved a total of 147 publications. The oldest retracted article was published in 1996; thereafter an increasing trend of retracted publications was evident. Regarding access to full-text status, 106 (72.1%) of full-texts were available. Overall 127 scientific journals have published these articles. Biochemical Genetics was the most frequent publisher with five publications. From the institutional point of view, Hacettepe University was the main university, contributing seven papers. The most common reason for retractions was duplication = 50 (34%), and most retracted notices have been issued by the editor-in-chief = 63 (42.9% of papers). The majority of publications were from Medical Science = 93 (63.3% of papers). Among the Medical Science publications, the highest number, 44, were from surgery and allied fields. Turkish authors had international collaborations with 20 countries. Sixteen papers have international collaborations with researchers from Iran. Only 10 of the retracted publications have received funding. Five of the first authors have submitted more than one retracted publication. Citation analysis indicates that the median number of citations received by retracted publications was two (IQR 0-7). The minimum time lag between publication and retraction was less than one year and the maximum was 13 years. Conclusion: The publish or perish pressure in academia sometimes leads to intentional and unintentional research misconduct. Although the number of retracted publications is fewer, their trend is increasing. To overcome the problem, it can be suggested that research methodology and research ethics training are essential in the under- and post-graduate curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Frontline language teachers have experienced anxiety, vulnerability, and emotional burnout as a result of the sudden transition to online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study extracted Language Teacher Emotions (LTE) literature from the Scopus database during the period 2000-2022. During the first round of data extraction, 169 relevant documents written in English were identified. Furthermore, the researchers conducted a scientometric analysis using the literature analysis tool, CiteSpace (v.5.8.R3), and employed co-citation techniques involving visualization and text mining. Our results indicate the following: (1) The first LTE publication was released in 2004, followed by a growing number of publications in the first decade. Nevertheless, more studies were published during 2020-2022; (2) The five countries with the highest number of publications were the USA, China, Iran, the UK, and Turkey; (3) According to Author Co-citation Analysis (ACA), the majority of researchers had expertise in language education, teaching methods, educational assessment, teacher education, and applied psychology; (4) Based on the Document Co-citation Analysis (DCA), emotional labour, emotional burden, and vulnerability were the primary topics of interest; (5) Cluster analysis of keywords indicates that the LTE research trajectory was inevitably affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the first scientometric review of LTE research, this study calls for a greater understanding of the impact of online and blended teaching during the post-pandemic period. It will be of interest to inter-domain researchers and frontline teachers in terms of identifying influential scholars, publications, and research trends, as well as considering future research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-Cold War period ended in 2008. Since then, the world started going back to old fears residing in nation states, as trust in globalisation, with all its past promises, diminishes. Old continental powers like Russia, China but also Iran or Turkey have started making their voice heard globally, while the US seeks to diminish its role (and expenditure) in global affairs. All this appears to make the question of nation states' interests more stringent today than several decades ago. In fact, the nation states interests were there while the world was thinking about globalisation as a phenomenon to save the world from all negative effects there are, conflict included. What happens now is that reality became more visible to all: the subject of national interest never went away, as globalisation never went for a dilution of states. This reality however, because it is now more visible than before - also to the regular citizens, who seek to assure their own security, is driving a renewed discussion on strategy. Grand strategy has been determined mostly by geography. But, considering the socio-economic changes, geography is, in a sense, also changing - and for sure operational strategies need to adapt to the changing environment. Understanding the drivers behind those changes that affect the citizens daily lives get us to consider how strategy, at operational level, is changing - or how it is supposed to change. This article considers the main elements influencing strategic thinking after World War II, focusing on the challenges highlighted in such evolution. The paper concludes on the challenges the next stage of strategic planning is likely to face, considering current issues, posed by what 'is new' post-2008. More, as strategy depends on analysis, challenges in analytical method point to those for strategic planning. So, methodologically, this paper takes analysis and modelling as the foundational framework for considering strategic planning. It concludes by pointing out several key tendencies that, based on past lessons, may shape strategic processes and analytical method both, in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview, Dr. Ozen Guven talks to Dr. Mary Mendenhall, Sonia Gomez, and Emily Varni about their research on teachers and teaching practices in contexts of forced displacement. Mendenhall, Gomez, and Varni recently authored "Teaching Amidst Conflict and Displacement: Persistent Challenges and Promising Practices for Refugee, Internally Displaced, and National Teachers," a background paper for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report on the challenges and opportunities available to teachers working in forced displacement settings. Drawing from their paper, which includes case studies from countries as diverse as Germany, Kenya, Chad, and Iraq, the authors discuss such topics as education planning, teacher professional development, teacher well-being and motivation, and teacher agency. Throughout the discussion, they highlight practices and policies that could be leveraged to strengthen support for teachers working in displacement contexts. Mendenhall, Gomez, and Varni are scholar-practitioners whose work focuses on the challenges faced by teachers in crisis contexts, and on the policies and practices that provide these teachers with comprehensive support. Guven's work examines teaching practices among Syrian refugees in Turkey.

The various possibilities that social media offers to language learners and teachers have long been recognized by researchers within the field of language instruction, and many studies have been carried out in an attempt to address and unpack its potential contributions. This paper aims to review such research on the use of mainstream social media in language teaching and learning published in "Computer Assisted Language Learning," a top tier (i.e., Q1) journal indexed in major citation index systems (e.g., Arts & Humanities Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index and Scopus), between the years 2016-2020 inclusive. For the purposes of the study, a total of 23 articles that meet the selection criteria is reviewed and presented in five sections. The first section deals with the majority of the articles, which are found to be on the use of social networking in language teaching and learning. In the following sections, studies on the use of videoconferencing, wikis, blogging and forums are discussed. Collectively, the studies reviewed in this paper outline a critical role for the use of social media in language instruction and the study aims to provide valuable insights for researchers, teachers and learners.

Due to its geographical location, Central Asia is a "gateway" strategically important to the Eurasian continent. Tendency of maintaining an intraregional collaboration is an important asset in neutralizing the negative effects of events in Central Asia, especially on the danger of including the states in the region in the sphere of influence of great powers, which have regional or global ambitions. Overcoming the isolation geography and the attempt to turn the region into a transit corridor for interstate and intercivilizational communication should become the main priority of all states in Central Asia. The aim of the paper is to present, in a concise manner, some of the main elements that have created instability in the Central Asian area, focusing on two very strong countries: Turkey and Iran. In fact, the present work presents the policies of Iran and Turkey towards countries of Central Asia, fact which inevitably has led to conflicts between them, sometimes hidden other times for all to see, the more so as they are part of alliances that are directly opposite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stachys kurdica, well adapted to live in sloping limestone crevices and steep screes, is distributed across particular routes in Southeast Turkey and North Iraq and also extends to Iran. This species belongs to the section Fragilicaulis and contains the following infraspecific taxa; var. kurdica and var. brevidens. These taxa share partly the same habitats and are distinguished by the calyx characters. Micromorphological studies of trichomes on the epidermal surface and nutlet surface by Tabletop Scanning Electron Microscopy and Light Microscopy have revealed non-glandular and glandular trichomes on the taxa. The nutlets were coloured from light to dark-brown, usually obovate, ventral sides flat, rooflike with rib, apex rounded, faintly granulate, wrinkly, glabrous and reticulate. Karyotypes of the taxa have been introduced for the first time to the scientific community and were obtained by the Image Analysis System. The karyotype analysis showed the taxa as diploid, with chromosome numbers of 2n = 34. In addition to these morphological characters, chromosomal and micromorphological differences further serve to distinguish the taxa. Therefore, this paper is the first study discussing together the morphological, micromorphological and karyotype structures of S. kurdica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we revise the Merodon aberrans species group of the genus Merodon Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Syrphidae), providing morphological diagnoses and descriptions, molecular data for three species, as well as an illustrated key and a discussion of the different taxonomic characters used. We also discuss distribution patterns for this species group. The results revealed that the M. aberrans group is composed of five described species (M. aberrans Egger, 1860, M. brevis Paramonov, 1926, M. flavitibius Paramonov, 1926, M. hamifer Sack, 1913, and M. warnckei Hurkmans, 1993) and three new ones, namely M. hermonensis Vujić, Radenković et Likov sp. nov., M. petiolatus Vujić, Radenković et Rojo sp. nov., and M. retectus Vujić, Radenković et Likov sp. nov. Following a detailed study of the type material in different entomological collections, the status of several species is revised, one new synonym is proposed (subspecies M. aberrans isperensis Hurkmans, 1993 as junior synonym of M. flavitibius), lectotypes are designated for M. kneri Mik, 1867 and M. flavitibius, and paralectotypes are designated for M. hamifer and M. flavitibius. Seven out of eight species from the M. aberrans group are distributed in the Asian continent, namely all Caucasian countries, Turkey and Iran, confirming the notion about high diversity of Merodon species in these regions, but also highlighting the need for a systematic faunistic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Involving the global issues as listed in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education is necessarily done in the education process, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. Exposure to global issues is known to improve students' understanding, awareness, and ability to solve urgent issues faced by global society. This paper aims to find out the trend of research on the coverage of SDGs in students' learning process. This systematic literature analysis was done by applying Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Method. A total of 25 studies were recognized through a systematic search by using Sustainability, SDGs, and EFL as keywords. The result shows that the trend of associating SDGs with EFL settings was done mostly in Indonesia. In the recent year 2022, it reached the highest number of studies in the particular matter with 7 total of research. It was also found that the study involving SDGs on EFL learning was mostly done in the tertiary setting, compared with K-12, junior high school, secondary, high school, and other educational institutions. It was also discovered that the specific area of study enhances EFL students' learning achievement, environmental awareness, global citizen values, as well as students' levels of self-norms, beliefs, and self-value.

In this paper, the Lie symmetry analysis method is performed for a Bogoyavlenskii equation. The symmetries and exact invariant solutions for the equation are retrieved for the first time. The conservation laws of the Bogoyavlenskii equation are constructed using the conservation laws theorem introduced by Ibragimov. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives. This paper seeks to identify the prevalence of Phenylketonuria (PKU) in Arab countries, Turkey, and Iran. The study reviewed the existence of comprehensive national newborn screening programs and reported consanguinity rates. Methods. A computer based literature search was conducted using relevant keywords to retrieve studies conducted on PKU. A total of 34 articles were included. Prevalence was categorized based on the type of screening method used for PKU diagnoses. Results. The prevalence of classical PKU diagnosed through a comprehensive national newborn screening program ranged from 0.005% to 0.0167%. The highest prevalence was reported in Turkey at 0.0167%, whereas the lowest prevalence was reported in the UAE, 0.005%. Conclusion. The findings of this review emphasize the need for the establishment of more efficient reporting systems in these countries that would help measure Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) in order to estimate the overall societal burden of PKU. [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]

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.)

Trichomonas gallinae is a flagellated protozoan parasite that affects numerous avian species worldwide, causing a range of diseases collectively termed trichomonosis. This review study aimed to present a comprehensive analysis of the prevalence of T. gallinae in birds of Iran, along with an exploration of its associated pathological findings. Through an extensive search of published studies, scientific databases, and relevant literature, we identified several studies conducted in Iran that focused on the prevalence of T. gallinae in different bird populations and their pathological effect. These studies utilized a variety of techniques, including direct microscopic examination, culture methods, and molecular tools to detect and identify the presence of this parasite. This review study indicates that T. gallinae infections are prevalent among various bird species in Iran, including Domestic pigeons, Zebra Finches, and Turkey. The reported prevalence rates showed significant differences among various regions and bird species, ranging from as low as 2.5% in zebra finches to as high as 70% in pigeons. The clinical signs of infected birds varied from no clinical signs to visible yellowish-white masses of caseous necrotic material, hyperplasia of mucous cells, and significant congestion of the lung. These findings underline the importance of T. gallinae as a significant pathogen affecting avian populations in Iran. Using at least two techniques, such as culture or PCR, in addition to direct smear is recommended for better diagnosis of infection. The present study highlights the need for further epidemiological studies to better understand the risk factors associated with T. gallinae transmission and to develop effective prevention and control strategies. [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 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.

Ensuring international transport corridors' safety is essential for countries along the routes. For the sustainable development of international transport channels, this paper discusses how to evaluate the operational risks and how to alleviate the adverse effects caused by emergencies. First, an indicator system of international transport corridors' operational risks was constructed, which consists of 30 indicators from five dimensions of politics, economy, society, safety, and technology. Secondly, a comprehensive scoring approach combined with a network analysis method was applied to examine the effects caused by operational hazards. On this basis, the quantitative method and rigorous statistical analysis were used to evaluate the China-Pakistan-Iran-Turkey International Transport Corridor in the south line of the Silk Road Economic Belt, whose operational risks from 2010 to 2019 were analyzed. Finally, the operational risk index was discussed in detail. Results demonstrate the following. (1) During the China-Pakistan-Iran-Turkey International Transport Corridor, the Pakistan section has the highest operational risk index, and the next culprit is Turkey, followed by Iran. The Chinese section has the lowest operational risk index. (2) Pakistan has been trapped in severe political risks and security risks in recent years. Turkey suffers from severe security risks due to the Kurdish problem. Iran ranks first in terms of economic risk and social risk. Special attention should be paid to the natural risks for China. (3) Pakistan's operational risks will exhibit consistently high in the future, while China appears downwards in long-term trend. The operational risk index in Iran is on the rise. Turkey shows a flattening of and then a slight decline in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Irano-Turanian region is one of the largest floristic regions in the world and harbors a high percentage of endemics, including cushion-like and dwarf-shrubby taxa. Onobrychis cornuta is an important cushion-forming element of the subalpine/alpine flora of the Irano-Turanian floristic region. To specify the genetic diversity among the populations of this species (including individuals of O. elymaitica), we employed nrDNA ITS and two noncoding regions of plastid DNA (rpl32-trnL(UAG) and trnT(UGU)-trnL(UAA)). The most striking feature of O. cornuta assemblages was the unexpectedly high nucleotide diversity in both the nDNA and cpDNA dataset. In the analyses of nuclear and plastid regions, 25 ribotypes and 42 haplotypes were found among 77 and 59 accessions, respectively, from Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan. Network analysis of the datasets demonstrated geographic differentiation within the species. Phylogenetic analyses of all dataset retrieved O. cornuta as a non-monophyletic species due to the inclusion of O. elymaitica, comprising four distinct lineages. In addition, our analyses showed cytonuclear discordance between both nuclear and plastid topologies regarding the position of some O. cornuta individuals. The underlying causes of this inconsistency remain unclear. However, we speculate that chloroplast capture, incomplete lineage sorting, and introgression were the main reasons for this event. Furthermore, molecular dating analysis indicated that O. cornuta originated in the early Pliocene (around 4.8 Mya) and started to diversify throughout the Pliocene and in particular the Pleistocene. Moreover, O. elymaitica was reduced to a subspecific rank within the species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a parasitic disease caused by the larval stages of Echinococcus and is considered a neglected disease of public health worldwide. CE primarily affects the liver and demonstrates distinctive radiological findings in computed tomography (CT) and ultrasonography (US). Surgery is considered the mainstay of CE treatment. The patient was a 17-year-old man admitted to the Emergency Department of Shahid Faghihi Hospital affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences with dull right upper quadrant abdominal pain, loss of appetite, abdominal distention, and fullness. An abdominal CT scan revealed a giant hepatic cyst measuring about 24x20x15 cm in the right hepatic lobe (RHL) with a pressure effect on the right kidney, pancreas, and bowel loops. Semi-chevron incision was done and the patient underwent partial precystectomy with capitonnage and omentoplasty. The surgical outcome was uneventful and the patient was discharged on the eighth day after the surgery with the oral Albendazole. Reviewing the literature, our case was the 5th rank according to the size of the recorded published cases. The most common countries where the largest liver hydatid cysts were reported were Greece and Turkey. The most common surgery was the open surgery and the most common incisions were Kocher and then Chevron incisions. When dealing with a huge liver cyst, a high index of suspicion for echinococcal etiology becomes important in endemic areas such as Iran. The choice of treatment for giant hepatic cysts substantially seems to be radical surgery by surgical ablation in general to mitigate the mortality and morbidity rate, because they are at risk of rupture, anaphylaxis, and so forth. (The abstract is too long for a case report [260 words], it should be around 100 words. The part I highlighted can be deleted.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex industrial processes demand high performance control characteristics. Fractional order controller is more robust than the classical controllers generally used in industry. This paper presents an analysis of research trends in this ever-growing domain. Firstly, a corpus of 200 research articles published during 2014-19 was collected from selected journals. Latent Dirichlet Allocation methodology was applied on this literature data set for topic modeling. Optimal number of topics, average topic weights and topic prevalence per year were obtained. Distributions of topic proportions were generated for the selected journals and with respect to the author nationalities. In addition, continent and country-wise distribution of documents were also depicted. Primary results indicate that the topics of fractional order controller design and stability of fractional order system have been researched most in past years, but are on a declining trend. Fractional sliding control system and applications of fractional order systems are upward trending topics. Other topics like optimization of fractional order systems need more attention. In addition, journals publishing in the upward trending topics were identified. Journals publishing in a wide range of topics were also determined. It was found that almost 75% of all fractional controller publications during 2014-19 have Asian first authors, followed by European and African first authors. The majority of first authors belong to China (31%), India (19%), Iran(13%)and Turkey (8%). With regards to topic diversity, the Chinese and Indian authors have worked on the widest range of fractional controller topics, followed by the authors from Algeria, Iran, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Researchers from other nations have focused on fewer topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient safety in primary care is an emerging field of research with a growing evidence base in western countries but little has been explored in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC) including the Sultanate of Oman. This study aimed to review the literature on the safety culture and patient safety measures used globally to inform the development of safety culture among health care workers in primary care with a particular focus on the Middle East. Methods: A systematic review of the literature. Searches were undertaken using Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Scopus from the year 2000 to 2014. Terms defining safety culture were combined with terms identifying patient safety and primary care. Results: The database searches identified 3072 papers that were screened for inclusion in the review. After the screening and verification, data were extracted from 28 papers that described safety culture in primary care. The global distribution of the articles is as follows: the Netherlands (7), the United States (5), Germany (4), the United Kingdom (1), Australia, Canada and Brazil (two for each country), and with one each from Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The characteristics of the included studies were grouped under the following themes: safety culture in primary care, incident reporting, safety climate and adverse events. The most common theme from 2011 onwards was the assessment of safety culture in primary care (13 studies, 46%). The most commonly used safety culture assessment tool is the Hospital survey on patient safety culture (HSOPSC) which has been used in developing countries in the Middle East. Conclusions: This systematic review reveals that the most important first step is the assessment of safety culture in primary care which will provide a basic understanding to safety-related perceptions of health care providers. The HSOPSC has been commonly used in Kuwait, Turkey, and Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex industrial processes demand high performance control characteristics. Fractional order controller is more robust than the classical controllers generally used in industry. This paper presents an analysis of research trends in this ever-growing domain. Firstly, a corpus of 200 research articles published during 2014-19 was collected from selected journals. Latent Dirichlet Allocation methodology was applied on this literature data set for topic modeling. Optimal number of topics, average topic weights and topic prevalence per year were obtained. Distributions of topic proportions were generated for the selected journals and with respect to the author nationalities. In addition, continent and country-wise distribution of documents were also depicted. Primary results indicate that the topics of fractional order controller design and stability of fractional order system have been researched most in past years, but are on a declining trend. Fractional sliding control system and applications of fractional order systems are upward trending topics. Other topics like optimization of fractional order systems need more attention. In addition, journals publishing in the upward trending topics were identified. Journals publishing in a wide range of topics were also determined. It was found that almost 75% of all fractional controller publications during 2014-19 have Asian first authors, followed by European and African first authors. The majority of first authors belong to China (31%), India (19%), Iran(13%)and Turkey (8%). With regards to topic diversity, the Chinese and Indian authors have worked on the widest range of fractional controller topics, followed by the authors from Algeria, Iran, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Researchers from other nations have focused on fewer topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the literature suggests that forced migration negatively affects mental health, fewer studies focus on the mental health of refugee claimants waiting to be granted asylum. In addition, despite the high numbers of refugee claimants in the Global South, fewer studies compare refugee experiences globally. This study attempts to fill these gaps by addressing the mental health of refugee claimants from Iran during the asylum waiting process. Focusing on the Turkish and Canadian contexts, this study asks the following questions: How does the waiting process affect Iranian refugees' mental health and wellbeing? How do their lived experiences of mental health and wellbeing differ based on the country of temporary asylum? In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 Iranian refugees. Nine of them spent their waiting process in Türkiye, and six others spent it in Canada. The analysis results showed that the waiting process is characterized by a sense of temporariness, lack of belonging, precarity, and uncertainty of the future, which lead to adverse mental health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: The comparative cross-sectional study examines the strategic supply chain management's mediating effect on the sustainable operations through environmental and social sustainability within the businesses operating in Canada, Iran and Turkey to attain global perspective. Methodology: Over 200 small businesses in each country are included through combining purposive sampling, referrals, networking, and connections. For quantitative data analysis, the Smart partial least square structural equation modeling (SmartPLS-SEM) is employed. Results: Results showed that there is statistically significant positive mediating role of strategic supply chain on the sustainable operations (environmental and social sustainable) performances in all three selected economies. Findings further confirmed that within the multinational perspective, the SCM factors have higher significant positive impact within Canada in contrast to Iran and Turkey. Conclusion: This study offers a new theoretical contribution by examining the mediating role of strategic supply chain from multinational perspective to enhance existing body of knowledge. Furthermore, it offers a practical contribution by providing the strategic research framework to facilitate managers in improving the small businesses' performance in sustaining operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand the cultural diversity among the first modern human populations in the Iranian Zagros and the implications of this diversity for evolutionary and ecological models of human dispersal through Eurasia. We use quantitative data and technotypological attributes combined with physiogeographic information to assess if the Zagros Upper Paleolithic (UP) developed locally from the Middle Paleolithic (MP), as well as to contextualize the variation in lithics from four UP sites of Warwasi, Yafteh, Pasangar, and Ghār-e Boof. Our results demonstrate (1) that the Zagros UP industries are intrusive to the region, and (2) that there is significant cultural diversity in the early UP across different Zagros habitat areas, and that this diversity clusters in at least three groups. We interpret this variation as parallel developments after the initial occupation of the region shaped by the relative geotopographical isolation of different areas of the Zagros, which would have favored different ecological adaptations. The greater similarity of lithic traditions and modes of production observed in the later phases of the UP across all sites indicates a marked increase in inter-group contact throughout the West-Central Zagros mountain chain. Based on the chronological and geographical patterns of Zagros UP variability, we propose a model of an initial colonization phase leading to the emergence of distinct local traditions, followed by a long phase of limited contact among these first UP groups. This has important implications for the origins of biological and cultural diversity in the early phases of modern human colonization of Eurasia. We suggest that the mountainous arc that extends from Anatolia to the Southern Zagros preserves the archaeological record of different population trajectories. Among them, by 40 ka, some would have been transient, whereas others would have left no living descendants. However, some would have led to longer term local traditions, including groups who share ancestry with modern Europeans and modern East/Southeast Asians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bitlis-Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt is one of the world's largest deformation zones, extending from the Eastern Mediterranean in southern Turkey to in the south of Iran. This deformation zone is partitioned between different structures; however, little is known about the relative activities of these different structures and their effects on topography. An area located in the northern part of Bitlis-Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt, just south of the Eastern Anatolian Plateau was studied in detail to analyze the effect of active tectonism on topographic development. The effects of active deformation structures such as Hakkâri and Şirvan Fault Segments on the topographic evolution of Kato Folds and Sinebel Valley were investigated to understand the fold and thrust fault activity. Geomorphic indices were used, such as HC, HI, SR, Ksn together with rose analysis based on bedding measurements. Investigation of folding in the region indicates the effective stress regime in the precollision zone was in NW-SE compression direction. The deformation structures, effective in the postcollision zone developed due to N-S directional compression, and are shown here to have different effects on topography of the region. This study has shown the relative uplift rate is highest in the areas where Hakkâri and Şirvan Segments are pure thrust faults (0.4 mm year-1), and lower in the transfer zone (0.2 to 0.4 mm year-1) between the segments. As a result of this study, it is concluded that the main deformation structures controlling the topography in the region are not only thrust faults, but also structures that develop in the area of transfer zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Because of the increasing number of people with disabilities and the lack of awareness of disability prevention methods in developing countries, creating a proper rehabilitation structure and providing appropriate services are among the important goals of every health system. Conducting comparative studies is one of the research methods for reviewing the structure of the rehabilitation system in the country's health system. This study aimed to compare the rehabilitation structure in Iran with 5 other countries. Materials & Methods This research is a comparative study conducted in 2022. In this study, sampling was purposeful. Five countries of Germany, Japan, Canada, Turkey, and South Africa were compared in terms of organizational and health management, financial and legal components, and social policy components with Iran. Reliable databases and related resources in the rehabilitation structure were used to collect data. In this study, the obtained data were analyzed using the Bereday model containing four stages: Description, interpretation, proximity, and comparison. The findings were evaluated in a comparative table. Results The findings indicated that in terms of organization and health management, the Ministry of Health should be responsible for health management and rehabilitation, but in Iran, in addition to the Ministry of Health, the Red Crescent, the Martyr Foundation, and Exceptional Education Organization are also involved in the management of rehabilitation. Financial issues and problems are significant barriers for people with disabilities to access rehabilitation services in these countries. In Iran, a large part of these costs is paid from the pockets of families. Regarding legal components in Iran, as in other countries, specific rules exist to provide services to people with disabilities. But sometimes, these rules are not properly implemented. From the sociodemographic perspective, Iran has an aging population, welcomes immigrants, and holds diverse cultures. The access of all people in need of rehabilitation in this diverse population to the services needed is limited. In terms of policy components, regulating national health policy requires review and, if necessary, changes in existing health system policies. Conclusion The existence of a specific position for rehabilitation in the Iranian health system, provision of services, and management of rehabilitation affairs by a single organization such as the Ministry of Health, as well as proper implementation of laws and policies, can lead to structural improvement and management of the health system and rehabilitation. Financial obstacles and problems to rehabilitation services should be reduced, and government and insurance must cover most of the costs of rehabilitation services. Also, a review of national health policies and legislation in the country should be done to improve the access of all people with disabilities to health and rehabilitation services. Therefore, it is necessary to fundamentally review and reform the structure, value, and process of providing rehabilitation services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The Irano‐Anatolian biodiversity hotspot is among the least‐known biodiversity hotspots on earth. In this study, we aim to map the richness and genetic divergence of lizards in the biodiversity hotspot and its surrounding areas and identify the most important determinants of the richness and genetic divergence patterns. Location: Iran and Turkey (Irano‐Anatolian biodiversity hotspot). Methods: Here, we mapped the distribution of 211 lizard species in Iran and Turkey using existing occurrence data and generated the first genetic divergence pattern map of the lizard species in the two countries to identify areas of high species diversity and genetic divergence in the Irano‐Anatolian biodiversity hotspot. We also identified determinants of lizard richness and genetic divergence patterns. Results: Results showed that the Zagros Mountains, Central Iranian Plateau and the northern Persian Gulf have the highest lizard richness. The Zagros Mountains, Central Iranian Plateau, the northern Persian Gulf and the regions around the Lut Desert and Jazmourian Plain have the highest total genetic divergence in Iran. Alborz and Kopet Dag mountains and south western parts of Turkey have the highest average genetic divergence. The annual temperature was the most important predictor of lizard richness, and temperature change velocity was the most influential determinant of genetic divergence pattern. Much to our surprise, species diversity and most areas with high genetic divergence are located outside of Irano‐Anatolian biodiversity hotspot. Main conclusions: This study showed that lizard richness and genetic divergence patterns are associated with current and past climate. In particular, this study highlights the legacy of past climate changes on lizard genetic divergence distribution patterns. We showed that most of the species‐rich and genetically diverse regions are located outside of the biodiversity hotspot. So conservation efforts that are concentrated inside the biodiversity hotspot may not benefit lizard biodiversity conservation. Thus, future studies and conservation programs on the biodiversity hotspot should also consider its surrounding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the flow’s lack from Turkey and Iran, the Tigris River has recently been suffering from a decrease in water elevations and the emergence of dry areas in some parts of the river. This drought impacts the water levels needed by the liquefaction station and agricultural area, making it a research problem. Therefore, the Tigris River needs to find an effective technical means to increase its water level to a level that does not cause dry areas to appear in any part of the river and does not lead to water flooding in neighboring areas, to be considered a research objective. The research followed the simulation methodology, in which a hydraulic model was built to simulate the river's water levels to detect critical levels. Another hydraulic model was designed and gated weirs were proposed that increased the water level to reach the required levels. The most important finding is that the design of a weir with dimensions of 10 * 3 m of the gated Inline type and in the shape of the Ogee Spillway Crest downstream of the river can contribute to raising the water level in times of scarcity by 1.92 m from its original level. In times of flood, the design of a 5-gate weir of dimensions of 10 * 4 m will maintain a water level between 26.8- 35.2 m along the course of the river and will contribute to raising the water level by 2.23 m from its original level in the estuary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genera Triticum and Aegilops have been considered as the main gene pool of wheat due to their features, such as tolerance of all types of abiotic and biotic stresses. This study was conducted to evaluate the cytogenetic analyses in 115 native and wild populations from eleven Aegilops species using their nuclear DNA quantification. Mean 2C nuclear DNA contents of different ploidy levels in the wild wheat of Turkey and Iran were measured using the flow cytometry technique. The obtained results showed that the mean nuclear DNA content in diploid species varied from 10.09 pg/2C (Ae. umbellulata) to 10.95 pg/2C (Ae. speltoides var. ligustica) in Turkey. In Iranian diploids, the mean nuclear DNA content varied from 10.20 pg/2C (Ae. taushii) to 11.56 pg/2C (Ae. speltoides var. ligustica). This index in the tetraploid species of Turkey varied from 18.09 pg/2C (Ae. cylindrica) to 21.65 pg/2C (Ae. triaristata), and in Iranian species, it was from 18.61 pg/2C (Ae. cylindrica) to 21.75 pg/2C (Ae. columnaris). On the other hand, in the hexaploid species of Turkey, this index varied from 31.59 pg/2C (Ae. crassa) to 31.81 pg/2C (Ae. cylindrica); in the Iranian species, it varied from 32.58 pg/2C (Ae. cylindrica) to 33.97 pg/2C (Ae. crassa). There was a significant difference in the DNA content of Turkey and Iran diploid as well as tetraploid species; however, in hexaploid species, the difference was not significant. It was concluded that the variation in intraspecific genome size was very low in diploid and tetraploid populations; this means that the low variation is not dependent on geographic and climatic parameters. On the other hand, the interspecific variation is significant at the diploid and tetraploid populations. It is generally very difficult to distinguish Aegilops species from each other in natural conditions; meanwhile, in this study, all species could be, easily, quickly and unambiguously, distinguished and separated using the FCM technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is classified into seven genotypes and more than 100 subtypes. The treatment regimen, duration and efficacy of HCV therapy may vary according to the HCV genotype. Therefore, the HCV genotype should be determined prior to antiviral therapy. The objective of the current study was to review systematically all studies reporting the distribution of HCV genotypes in the countries that make up the Middle East. Evidence Acquisition: Articles were identified by searching electronic databases, including Scopus, PubMed and Google scholar, with timeline limits (articles published between 1995 and 2016). We carried out a systematic search regarding the distribution of HCV genotypes in Middle Eastern countries. Results: A total of 579 studies were identified by the electronic search. Of these, a total of 187 were identified as eligible papers including 60,319 patients who were meta-analyzed for pooled distribution of HCV genotypes. In Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, and Iran, genotype 1 was the most prevalent HCV genotype with rates of 82% (95% CI, 82%-83%), 68% (95% CI, 67%-69%), 68% (95% CI, 59%-77%), and 55% (95% CI, 54%-55%), respectively. In Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, HCV genotype 4 was the most common genotype with rates of 86% (95% CI, 85%-88%), 60% (95% CI, 56%-64%), 56% (95% CI, 54%-55%), and 57% (95% CI, 54%-61%), respectively. On the basis of adjusted data, HCV genotype 4 was the most prevalent genotype in the Middle East region, with a rate of 74.7% (95% CI, 73.4%-76%), followed by genotype 1 at 15.1% (95% CI, 14.1%-16%). Conclusions: Our results showed that HCV genotype 4 is the most prevalent genotype in the Middle East region. However, HCV genotype 1 is the most prevalent among non-Arab countries in the region including Turkey, Iran, Cyprus, and Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on education. The closure of schools and the cessation of face-to-face classrooms have affected schools and students worldwide. The current need is to transform the traditional classroom to adapt to the new social and educational background. The flipped classroom is usually defined as a strategy to subvert the conventional academic environment; that is, the information transmission part of the traditional face-to-face lecture is removed from the classroom time for online self-learning. The flipped classroom is a highly flexible classroom mode, which has brought significant changes to education. Therefore, this study aims to examine the studies' research trends, advantages, and challenges concerning the flipped classroom for EFL courses during the COVID-19 epidemic. For this purpose, databases including the web of Science (WOS) and Scopus were reviewed, and 15 articles were analyzed. A systematic review was used as the research methodology. The study's findings revealed the effectiveness of flipped classrooms for EFL courses during the pandemic. Based on the review, this paper puts forward suggestions for future research and points out the future development direction.

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.

Water availability in lakes must be studied in order to better manage ecosystems within lake basins and meet economic development needs. Despite being Iran's largest lake, Lake Urmia's water level and surface area have declined dramatically over the past two decades. During the same period, Lake Van in Turkey maintained a relatively stable water level and surface area. As a result, comparing factors related to water level and surface area in these lakes, which have similar geographical and climate conditions but different management policies, can be an appropriate way to identify the causes of water declines in Lake Urmia. Comparing these variables may help explain observed differences in lake behavior between 2000 and 2016. Hydrometric and climatic parameters, as well as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), were used to achieve this goal. Changes in precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration in both lakes show essentially identical trends, but this is not a convincing explanation for Lake Urmia's water surface changes. The results revealed that dam construction and water diversion projects, the expansion of irrigated agriculture, and the lake's shallow depth in most parts were the primary causes of Lake Urmia's shrinkage compared to Lake Van. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of information on the rhizosphere of nut-bearing trees where microbial populations can benefit roots and tree growth. The current research aimed at discovering plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the rhizosphere of soil samples from around the root zone of six walnut trees, each of which was considered as a genotype, i.e. 'TT1', 'TT2', 'SS2', 'ZM1', 'Chandler' and 'Haward'. The trees grew in different arid and semiarid regions of Iran and Turkey. The strains were isolated and identified based on different morphological and biochemical markers. Drought-stress tolerance was assessed in the case of each isolate through their transfer to culture medium, containing polyethylene glycol (PEG6000) at 0 and 373.80 g L−1. Resilient strains were analyzed for measuring their ability to produce siderophore, hydrogen cyanide (HCN), Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and Gibberellic acid (GA3). In sum, 211 isolates were identified, of which a large number belonged to the Bacillus genus and, specifically, 78% of the strains were able to grow under drought stress conditions. The genus Arthrobacter was only detected in the rhizosphere of 'ZM1', 'Haward' and 'TT1' genotypes. In 4% of the strains, IAA production exceeded 53 mg L−1, while a high level of phosphorus solubility was verified in 6% of the strains. No strain was found to have the capability of producing HCN. The strains were screened for drought-tolerance, which resulted in the discovery of two promising strains, i.e. ZM39 and Cha43. Based on molecular identification through amplification and sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene, these two strains seemed to belong to Bacillus velezensis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, respectively. The discovery of new PGPR strains could probably assist walnut trees in improving their mechanisms of adaptation to drought stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments and accomplishments of the newly founded Republic of Turkey in the first half of the 20th century had long been the focus of Reza Khan, the Pahlavi ruler of Iran. He considered Atatürk and his actions to be a good model for modern life. After ascending the throne, in parallel with the implementation of Western models, he applied the dominant thinking of Turkey about people's way of life. Emphasis on the role of women, believing that the backwardness of social organization is the reason for the humiliation of women in the society, was closely pursued by Reza Shah as an important policy and as an ideology of his governance. Among special features and components of women's issues are their presence in the social fields, clothing, health, work and financial independence, and their education, which are addressed comparatively. The main question of this article is that despite the policies of Reza Shah's government regarding women, following the example of Atatürk, what similar achievement was made? If not, what were the reasons for this? The present article tries to identify different aspects of Iran and Turkey by using archival documents, newspapers, written sources, historical researches, and descriptive-analytical methods in examining instances of modernization by imitating Turkey. The result confirms the main point that it is not correct to equate the social modernization activities of Reza Shah and Atatürk. The personality structure, the level of knowledge and awareness, and how the two came to power had a different process, and finally, the society's approach to their position in power was also different. Reza Shah's perspective with Atatürk on women's issues and the actions taken by each of them to change the position of women followed different conditions, reactions, and consequences, which in this article is highlighted using a grounded theory and a background study on issues and finally an appropriate analysis is made based on the author's perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Healthcare system and intersectoral public health policies play a crucial role in improving population health and reducing health inequalities. This study aimed to quantify their impact, operationalized as avoidable deaths, on the gap in life expectancy (LE) and lifespan inequality (LI) between Iran and three neighbour countries viz., Turkey, Qatar, and Kuwait in 2015–2016. Methods: Annual data on population and causes of deaths by age and sex for Iran and three neighbour countries were obtained from the World Health Organization mortality database for the period 2015–2016. A recently developed list by the OECD/Eurostat was used to identify avoidable causes of death (with an upper age limit of 75). The cross-country gaps in LE and LI (measured by standard deviation) were decomposed by age and cause of death using a continuous-change model. Results: Iranian males and females had the second lowest and lowest LE, respectively, compared with their counterparts in the neighbour countries. On the other hand, the highest LIs in both sexes (by 2.3 to 4.5 years in males and 1.1 to 3.3 years in females) were observed in Iran. Avoidable causes contributed substantially to the LE and LI gap in both sexes with injuries and maternal/infant mortality represented the greatest contributions to the disadvantages in Iranian males and females, respectively. Conclusions: Higher mortality rates in young Iranians led to a double burden of inequality –shorter LE and greater uncertainty at timing of death. Strengthening intersectoral public health policies and healthcare quality targeted at averting premature deaths, especially from injuries among younger people, can mitigate this double burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to compare the levels of self-esteem of pre-service teachers studying in the physical education and sports teaching department in Turkey and Iran. 80 Turkish and 111 Iranian students constituted the participant group of the study designed using the cross-cultural comparative research method. The Cooper smith Self-Esteem Inventory, the validity and reliability studies of which were conducted in both countries, was used as a data collection tool in the study. Two-way analysis of variance (was used to analyze the data. When pre-service teachers' self-esteem scores were analyzed, it was observed that pre-service teachers both in Turkey and in Iran were above the moderate level. However, in terms of mean self-esteem scores, although it appeared that the mean scores of preservice teachers in Turkey were higher than the mean scores of pre-service teachers in Iran, it can be said that pre-service teachers' levels of self-esteem did not differ according to the culture they live in, in other words, they were at similar levels. According to the results of the study, it was determined that self-esteem scores were not significantly different according to both gender, grade level, perceived level of academic achievement and culture variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archives of Industrial Hygiene & Toxicology / Arhiv za Higijenu Rada I Toksikologiju is the property of Sciendo 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.)

Global change impacts including climate change, increased CO2 and nitrogen deposition can be determined through a more precise characterisation of Land Surface Phenology (LSP) parameters. In addition, accurate estimation of LSP dates is being increasingly used in applications such as mapping vegetation types, yield forecasting, and irrigation management. However, there has not been any attempt to characterise Middle East vegetation phenology at the fine spatial resolution appropriate for such applications. Remote-sensing based approaches have proved to be a useful tool in such regions since access is restricted in some areas due to security issues and their inter-annual vegetation phenology parameters vary considerably because of high uncertainty in rainfall. This study aims to establish for the first time a comprehensive characterisation of the vegetation phenological characteristics of the major vegetation types in the Middle East at a fine spatial resolution of 30 m using Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series data over a temporal range of 20 years (2000–2020). Overall, a progressive pattern in phenophases was observed from low to high latitude. The earliest start of the season was concentrated in the central and east of the region associated mainly with grassland and cultivated land, while the significantly delayed end of the season was mainly distributed in northern Turkey and Iran corresponding to the forest, resulting in the prolonged length of the season in the study area. There was a significant positive correlation between LSP parameters and latitude, which indicates a delay in the start of the season of 4.83 days (R2 = 0.86, p < 0.001) and a delay in the end of the season of 6.54 days (R2 = 0.83, p < 0.001) per degree of latitude increase. In addition, we have discussed the advantages of fine resolution LSP parameters over the available coarse datasets and showed how such outputs can improve many applications in the region. This study shows the potential of Landsat data to quantify the LSP of major land cover types in heterogeneous landscapes of the Middle East which enhances our understanding of the spatial-temporal dynamics of vegetation dynamics in arid and semi-arid settings in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Public Health is the property of Turkish Journal of Public Health 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 sandstones of Upper Miocene Injana Formation were studied petrographically and geochemically in the Hemrin South Mountain area, northern Iraq. The sandstones vary between arkose and lithic arkose in composition (Q50F24L26) and are compositionally and texturally immature; meanwhile, the Log(Fe2O3/K2O)–Log(SiO2/Al2O3) diagram shows that they are divided between arkose, litharenite and wacke. These sandstones contain a wide spectrum of heavy minerals ranging from the most resistant ultrastable minerals (zircon, rutile and tourmaline), to the least resistant non‐stable minerals (amphiboles and pyroxenes). The provenance indicator diagrams QmFLt and QtFL indicate multi‐sources for these sandstones ranging from transitional craton, arc and recycled sediments. The major element provenance discriminant function plot shows that they are derived mostly from intermediate igneous provenance. All these suggest that the probable source of these sandstones is the igneous‐metamorphic rocks including the ophiolites of the Suture Zone, the imbricate zone, the Shalair‐Sanandaj‐Sirjan Terrane and the complimentary rock units in Turkey and Iran. The presence of glaucophane as the provenance indicator mineral for subduction zones is a further proof of the ophiolites having acted as the source rocks. Geochemically, the sandstones are enriched in Ca, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Mo, Sn and Sb and depleted in all othe major, trace and rare earth elements (REE) relative to upper continental crust (UCC). The chondrite‐normalized REE pattern shows a distinct negative slope for the LREEs and a slight negative slope for the HREEs with an enrichment of LREE/HREE of 8.11–10.90 and a negative Eu anomaly of 0.70–0.83. The most probable source of REEs is the heavy minerals detected in the sandstones. Tectonically, the studied rocks were derived from collision rifting arc–related settings. The Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA), Plagioclase Index of Alteration (PIA) and Index of Composition Variation (ICV) values of the Injana sandstones suggest that they are compositionally immature and suffered from very weak weathering indicating the proximity of their source rocks and their deposition under dry continental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most frequent functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the different aspects of IBS among Middle Eastern residents. METHODS: During the study period, patients attending gastroenterology clinics of nine tertiary referral centers in four Middle Eastern couturiers (Iran, Egypt, Kuwait, and Turkey) were evaluated by Rome IV diagnostic criteria, and those who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of IBS were asked to fill in a questionnaire covering different demographics and clinical aspects. RESULTS: Overall, during a 6-month period, 509 patients with IBS were included. 41.3% of the participants were male (210 patients), and 37.4% of them had academic education. 50% of the participants were Caucasian, and 34% were Arab, and originally, they were citizens of 18 countries. 77.4% of the participants were residents of subtropical areas, while 22.2% were living in temperate regions. The average age of the participants during the first presentation in subtropical and temperate areas were 38.4 ± 12.19 and 38.06 ± 12.18 years, respectively (P = 0.726). The most common subtypes of IBS in subtropical areas were unclassified (IBS-U, 44.4%), constipation dominant (IBS-C, 27.6%), mixed pattern (IBS-M, 21%), and diarrhea dominant (IBS-D, 6.8%) in descending order while in temperate areas the most common subtypes were IBS-U (43.3%), and IBS-D (22.1%), respectively (P < 0.001). Besides abdominal pain, the most common symptom of patients in each region was bloating (62.2% and 68.1%, respectively, P = 0.246). The rate of depression and anxiety were significantly higher among the residents of temperate areas in comparison with subtropical regions (41.6% vs. 16.5% and 80.5% vs. 58.4%, respectively, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Although the average age of IBS presentation is the same in subtropical and temperate areas, it seems that in temperate areas, the rate of IBS-D is more prevalent than in subtropical regions. The rate of anxiety and depression are significantly higher among those who searched social media and the internet to get information about their problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research has been performed for the temporal-spatial reconstruction of an extreme cold episode (temperature anomaly − 15 °C) occurring over the northwest part of Iran for a 142-year period (1871–2012). In carrying out the following investigation, the NOAA Twentieth Century (V20) reanalysis data including mid-level and sea-surface-level data were used. In order to achieve the research goals and extract the sea-surface and mid-troposphere patterns, the methods of hierarchical clustering and factor analysis were utilized. The results showed that during the 142-year period, a total of 791 days were identified in which temperature of − 15 °C or lower occurred. For the synoptic analysis, 183 of these days during which the temperature anomaly was widely observed across the study area were used. The results demonstrated that for most of these days, a surface high pressure system over Asia Minor and northwest Iran contributed to extreme low temperature. These high-pressure systems, whether individually or as part of an extended episode of occurrences, affected the study area. Furthermore, the upper air level study demonstrated that the occurrence of atmospheric blocking or high latitude troughs located to the northwest of Iran (or upstream) and extending into the study area were the main causes for these low temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Middle Eastern Studies / Türkiye Ortadoğu Çalışmaları Dergisi is the property of Sakarya University, Middle East Institute 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 consumption of fossil fuels has risen to be the main source of energy generation in most countries since the start of the industrial revolution around the world. The greenhouse gases generated from this use produce significant negative effects on the environment and human health. As a result of these disadvantages, the world needs to search for alternative energy sources that are low in carbon. The article focused on the amount of renewable energy generation in Turkey, Iran and Iraq from the collection of statistical data for the period from 2010-2020. Turkey occupied the clear progress to benefit from renewable energy sources, followed by Iran and Iraq. Where the percentage of annual growth of power generation based on hydropower in Turkey, Iran and Iraq (71.4%, 28.5% and 0.1%) respectively. With regard to other sources of renewable energy, Turkey had the largest share in generating energy from wind and solar energy, with an annual growth rate of (88.03%, 98.22%), respectively. Finally, renewable energy can be considered as a promising source of energy for future generations when correct planning policies are determined by countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]