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Abstract Crude oil is made up of very complex compounds, which are found in polar organic substances especially organic acid compounds in the majority. Although organic acid content in crude oil is low, the presence of organic acids affects the interfacial tension (IFT) in oil reservoirs thereby altering the enhancement of oil recovery using nitrogen gas (N2) injection. Therefore, in this study, the effects of pressure (1 to 35 bar), the percentage of aromatic compounds (0.0 to 100 vol%) in the aliphatic hydrocarbon samples and the organic acid (benzoic acid) content (0.0 to 0.8 g.L− 1) on IFT between a mixture of gasoline/diesel fuel and N2 were investigated at a temperature of 298 K. IFT does not necessarily decrease as pressure increases for the sake of existence of aromatic compounds. IFT alteration for gasoline was more (about 8 dyne.cm− 1) than for diesel fuel (approximately 4 dyne.cm− 1) during pressure increased from 1 to 35 bar due to the replacement of heavy long chain aliphatic compounds instead of light aromatic matters. The effect of IFT alteration between N2 and diesel fuel during increasing the organic acid content was little (approximately 1.5 dyne.cm− 1), in contrast, this effect was more noticeable for N2/gasoline (about 8 dyne.cm− 1). In addition, a reduced cubic model for estimating IFT between N2 and petroleum fractions in terms of pressure, petroleum fraction composition and organic acid content was proposed with an average relative error of less than 2.6%.

The era of AI-generated content has introduced a profound transformation in the realms of creativity, authorship, and intellectual property rights. This study examined two research aspects. Firstly, it explored the impact of AI- English language-generated content on the traditional boundaries of authorship, creativity, and intellectual property rights. Secondly, it investigated the ethical and legal challenges associated with AI's influence on TEFL content generation and how the academic communities address these concerns. The research team employed a mixed-methods approach. Twenty-Eight individuals, organizations, and professionals made up the target population of the current study. The researchers interviewed experts in the fields of AI, law, and English language material development. The researchers analyzed real-world cases of AI-TEFL generated content usage, particularly within academic settings. The findings revealed that AI-generated content challenges conventional notions of authorship and creativity by introducing autonomous AI creators while also augmenting human creativity. The ambiguous landscape of intellectual property rights necessitates adaptive legal frameworks. While AI challenges established norms, it also offers opportunities for collaboration and inspiration. To address these issues, collaborative frameworks, ethical guidelines, and transparency were proposed as integral solutions. Respondents emphasize collaborative efforts to address the ethical and legal concerns associated with AI's influence on content generation within the academic communities. The implications extend to various sectors, including academia, creative industries, and legal systems. This study underscores the pressing need for a delicate balance between AI's creative potential and the preservation of ethical and legal standards in the evolving landscape of content creation.

Virtual Reality technology has garnered increasing attention and utilization within language education. The research explored the multifaceted challenges and opportunities L2 educators encounter in Iran when integrating VR technology into language instruction and when focusing on educators' perceptions of VR technology and the training gaps they identify. The researchers adopted a qualitative case study design. The selection of cases involved purposive sampling. The study included a total number of 23 L2 educators from language institutions in Iran. In the current study the researchers administered a qualitative case study design, focusing on the experiences of educators in real-world settings where VR technology was being used or considered for language instruction. Research findings reveal that educators encounter significant training gaps related to VR technology, emphasizing the critical need for comprehensive training programs. The implications of this study underscore the importance of equipping educators with the knowledge and skills required to harness VR's potential for enhancing language instruction. Training programs should encompass technical proficiency, pedagogical competence, administrative navigation, collaborative learning, alignment with learning goals, and ongoing professional development. By addressing these multifaceted needs, institutions and organizations can empower educators to leverage VR effectively, fostering engaging and effective language learning experiences for students.

This study explores the impact of "EngVid" YouTube channel on improving Iranian EFL Learners' speaking abilities. The program employed in this study provided the learners with video clips for Improving their speaking skills. The participants were forty-eight advanced EFL learners studying English at a private institute in Esfahan. The participants were assigned to experimental and control groups. The YouTube channel "EngVid" is used in this project as a technological tool to enhance students' speaking abilities in the experimental group. The pair-work method was employed in the experimental class. On the other hand, the control group should present at the class and received help from the researcher through the conventional method. After six sessions, a post test was given to experimental and control groups. The application of an independent t-test and paired sample t-test indicated that the performance of the participants exposed to video clips from "EngVid" YouTube channel was significantly superior to that of the control group. The present study offers valuable insights for CALL material designers in selecting the optimal combination of video clips from platforms like YouTube to facilitate L2 speaking skills.

The fourth industrial revolution has changed our lives by enabling everyone to be interconnected virtually. A trustworthy system is required to secure large volume of stored data in IoT-based devices. Blockchain technology has led to transfer and to save data in a safe way. With this in mind, the blockchain-based cryptocurrencies have gained quite a bit of popularity because of their potential for financial transactions. In this regard, monitoring transactions network is very fruitful to find users’ abnormal behaviors. In this research, a novel procedure is used to monitor blockchain cryptocurrency transactions network. To do so, a random, binary graph model is used to simulate the transactions between users, and a SCAN method is used to detect the abnormal behaviors in the simulated model. Also, a multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart is used to monitor centrality measures. The probability of signal is used to assess the performance of the SCAN method and that of the MEWMA control chart in distinguishing abnormalities. Then, the procedure is adopted to a Bitcoin transactions dataset.

Gas dehydration plays a critical role in gas refining processes due to the potential problems caused by the presence of water vapor. The inclusion of water vapor can lead to issues such as hydrate formation, pressure drop, and pipeline corrosion. In this research, a deep eutectic solvent (DES) absorbent was employed to absorb water vapor and subsequently, its absorption performance was compared with the absorption of tri-ethylene glycol (TEG) and lithium chloride, the most commonly used absorbents in water vapor separation processes. To do so, the influence of several effective parameters, including the inlet air flow rate, different ratios of choline chloride to urea (ChCl:Urea), the weight percentage of liquid water in the absorbent, and the viscosity of DES were investigated. The results demonstrated that DES is highly efficient for water vapor separation, outperforming both TEG and aqueous lithium chloride solutions. Moreover, increasing the inlet air flow rate was found to decrease absorption recovery due to reduced residence time. Additionally, a ChCl ratio of 1:2 yielded the highest absorption efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Regarding the many advices, tips and teachings that he has expressed in Golestan anecdotes, Saadi states that "he has threaded the pearls of healing sermons, and amalgamated the bitter medicine of advice with the honey of elegance, that their [readers'] dejected nature would not be deprived of the fortune of acceptance." (Saadi, 1374) Being a teacher by nature, Saadi's goal is to build an ideal society and amend the flawed body of an undesirable society." Since he is an educator who is knowledgeable and mature, Saadi himself also advises humankind in many cases regarding ethics, which is meant to guide people. He is a bright and knowledgeable artist and a well-wishing reformer. He is fascinated with authentic human values and is a supporter of people as well as an unapologetic defender of everything related to their world." (Maboudi, 2015) Saadi tries to educate his audience as much as possible, in the simplest terms, so that as an individuals, by correcting their behavior and personality, they can be victorious in correcting the structure of the whole society. "Saadi's method of preaching and spreading the simple and necessary truth is not strengthening the soothing certainty arising from a simple and simplistic view; on the contrary, his work is more about enumerating different aspects and shades and even the contrasts of each complex point." Although Saadi is a traditional social reformer, in many cases, his understanding of the issues and problems of his society is modern. "Only by reading all his writings can one understand the relativity and complexity and difference of the truth he expresses. Saadi portrayed the relativity of truth in a narrative and epigrammatic texture which, on the surface, seems repetitive and simplistic in view. Saadi avoided preaching and considered preachers to be hypocrites; to hin preaching is re-telling of weak-founded certainties and unquestionable commandments. Saadi considered the proclaimers of such certainties to be deceitful and brainless. More importantly, he valued action as much as knowledge. Saadi was a capable sociologist as well. He was able to present a suitable picture of the ideal behavior for people in the society, resulting from the great influence he earned from his travels, experiences, and lessons of the past." 2. Methodology In this article, 14 anecdotes from Golestan Saadi dealing with the issue of "social dilemma", have been analyzed based on the analytical-descriptive method and with the sociological approach of individualists.. Discussion Golestan Saadi contains a total of 161 teachings, of which 146 are individual teachings (about 90 percent), and out of these 146, 14 are related to the issue of "social dilemma". The teachings of Golestan directly address the "individual" and this means that Saadi hoped for the reformation of the individual for the overall reform of the society; throughout his Golestan - except for a few cases - it is always this "individual" who is advised by him and expects the person to listen to his advice and apply it so that the reformation of each individual leads to the reformation of the society; however, during these completely individual teachings, an important issue can also be reached, and that is the issue of "social dilemma". The following list contains some of Golestan's individual teachings: advising to socialize with competent people; advising to be grateful for the moments of life; advising to speak properly; advising to think before speaking; advising to behave according to the situation; advising to understand the expediency and conditions before acting; advising not to judge based on appearance; advising to be grateful in times of peace and patience; advising to strive for awareness and escape from ignorance; advising to observe and be fair in the time of strength and power; advising to support subordinates; advising loyalty and patience against oppression; advising selfrestraint; advising punishment to the extent of fairness; advising to do righteous deeds and to be careful about the reward of deeds; advising to have self-esteem; advising contentment; advising to avoid suspicion; advising to respect personal space of others, etc. Conclusion Individualism is a very new and complex concept in today's society, in the sense that the choice of individual interest by each member of the society can become a collective benefit for the whole society. One of the individualistic tendencies is the issue of social dilemma. Social dilemma refers to a specific type of conflict between individual and collective profitability, in a way where the individual benefit is very impressive. Saadi, in Golestan, relies on the influence of individual teachings and reforming the individual in the direction of reforming the society. Among the 146 individual teachings of Golestan, 14 are related to the issue of social dilemma. In dealing with the issue of social dilemma, Saadi addresses three main groups of people in society: the ruling class, the financially or spiritually powerful, and the ordinary people of society. The teachings were categorized and analyzed according to the conten, the type of direct or indirect presentation, and Saadi's method of expression. In other words, Saadi has addressed the ruling class, the financially and spiritually powerful, and the ordinary people of the society, and expects them to act in the best interest of the community over social dilemmas in determining the overall destiny and benefit of the whole. Society should play its role well for a long-term collective benefit. As a traditional social reformer, Saadi has only had access to the power of words to reform people in the society, and by resorting to various methods and addressing various people, unknowingly has taken advantage of individualistic theories such as social dilemma, which is unprecedented for a traditional social reformer living several centuries ago and reflects another measure of the Sheikh's genius. It is very important that Saadi, as a traditional social reformer, had such a view of the influence of powerful people in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical monitoring of dynamic networks is a major topic of interest in complex social systems. Many researches have been conducted on modeling and monitoring dynamic social networks. This article proposes a new methodology for modeling and monitoring dynamic social networks for quick detection of temporal anomalies in network structures using latent variables. The key idea behind our proposed methodology is to determine the importance of latent variables in creating edges between nodes as well as observed covariates. First, latent space model (LSM) is used to model dynamic networks. Vector of parameters in LSM model are monitored through multivariate control charts in order to detect changes in different network sizes. Experiments on simulated social network monitoring demonstrate that our surveillance monitoring strategy can effectively detect abrupt changes between actors in dynamic networks using latent variables.

Plagiarism in ESL and EFL learning contexts has become a topic engaging many researchers in a hot debate in recent years. Comparisons of student-generated texts with their source texts have shown that students rely amply on source texts in their writings, using copying as a major strategy. The students themselves relate these problems to their confusion of how to cite. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on what constitutes effective citation practices in student writing. The present study aims at measuring the effects of teaching anti-plagiarism strategy of proper citation on 19 postgraduate and 34 graduate students' use of multiple sources in their writings. The instructional treatment conducted in 30 min per week for seven sessions, aimed at teaching correct quotation rules and different functions of citation (i.e., presenting the literature in the field, comparing the existing views, supporting the writer's view, etc.), while emphasizing the recognition of these rules at work. The writing samples of the students were three citation tests and source-based writing tasks assigned before, during, and after the treatment. Then the effective citation strategies of the students were analyzed according to their use of standard citation in APA (American Psychological Association) style. The results of the assigned tasks and one survey question demonstrated students' perceived growing confidence and significant improvements in their citation skills in their source-based writings. The results can yield insightful implications for writing course designers to treat significant problems of the students in their academic writings.

This study investigates diglossic patterns of language use by speakers of Zoroastrian Dari in the city of Yazd, where most of Zoroastrian population of Iran lives. Efforts have been made to find out how, when and why the spoken language of Dari is favoured by Zoroastrian community members. For this reason, the evaluation by the informants of their abilities in the majority language, i.e. Persian, their different mother tongue behaviours, motivational factors for their use of their mother tongue and domains of their mother tongue use were specifically investigated. The participants were male/female students/teachers of Zoroastrian schools and members of charitable establishments for older Zoroastrians, hence from a wide range of age groups. Information about linguistic behaviours of the target group was obtained qualitatively through interviews, diaries and participant observations in specific settings, and quantitatively through written questionnaires based on Kouzmin's work (1998), as well as several other studies analysing domains of language use in bilingual and diglossic settings. Moreover, the effects of education, sex and age in the perceptions, attitudes and speech behaviours of Zoroastrian community and the significance of differences were explored. The results indicate different sociocultural factors at work in determining the participants' choice of linguistic codes.

The era of AI-generated content has introduced a profound transformation in the realms of creativity, authorship, and intellectual property rights. This study examined two research aspects. Firstly, it explored the impact of AI-English language-generated content on the traditional boundaries of authorship, creativity, and intellectual property rights. Secondly, it investigated the ethical and legal challenges associated with AI's influence on TEFL content generation and how the academic communities address these concerns. The research team employed a mixedmethods approach. Twenty-Eight individuals, organizations, and professionals made up the target population of the current study. The researchers interviewed experts in the fields of AI, law, and English language material development. The researchers analyzed real-world cases of AI-TEFL generated content usage, particularly within academic settings. The findings revealed that AI-generated content challenges conventional notions of authorship and creativity by introducing autonomous AI creators while also augmenting human creativity. The ambiguous landscape of intellectual property rights necessitates adaptive legal frameworks. While AI challenges established norms, it also offers opportunities for collaboration and inspiration. To address these issues, collaborative frameworks, ethical guidelines, and transparency were proposed as integral solutions. Respondents emphasize collaborative efforts to address the ethical and legal concerns associated with AI's influence on content generation within the academic communities. The implications extend to various sectors, including academia, creative industries, and legal systems. This study underscores the pressing need for a delicate balance between AI's creative potential and the preservation of ethical and legal standards in the evolving landscape of content creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dichlorvos or 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate (DDVP) (C 4 H 7 C l 2 O 4 P) is a chlorinated organophosphorus pesticide, which is frequently detected in agricultural wastewater. Herein, a batch reactor was used to carry out the supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) of a synthetic wastewater containing dichlorvos as a very hazardous agricultural pollutant. To do so, the impact of four operating parameters including dichlorvos concentration (100–500 ppm), oxidant coefficient (0.7–2), temperature (300–500°C) and time (0–100 s) on dichlorvos removal was optimized by the response surface method (RSM). According to the obtained results, at optimal conditions (i.e. initial concentration of dichlorvos 107.5 ppm, oxidation ratio 1.9234, temperature 419.9°C and time 79.94 s), as an index for dichlorvos removal, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was found to be about 96.34%. Also, the results of high-performance liquid chromatography test showed that dichloroacetaldehyde (C2CL2H2O) and dichloroacetic acid (C2CL2H2O2) were created as intermediate substances during the dichlorvos degradation. Further, the molecular dynamics simulation was performed using ReaxFF force field to show the reaction path and products obtained in each step of the dichlorvos removal. Finally, as an indication, the simulation results indicated a good coordination with the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the lack of paralinguistic information, politeness gains a considerable significance in telephone conversations (TCs). The use of politeness strategies can help interlocutors promote and/or maintain social harmony in telephone interactions. Using the Rapport Management Model proposed by Spencer-Oatey (2008), this study intended to primarily investigate the fundamental closing structures of TCs in Persian and English. Furthermore, it examined the effect of two contextual variables and time availability on the closing patterns and length of TCs. To this aim, 30 English natives, 30 Persian natives, and 30 Persian EFL learners were selected. A Discourse Completion Test (DCT) of 12 scenarios was developed considering contextual variables and time limitation. The obtained results demonstrated that the CPT (closing implicative environment + preclosing + terminal components) closing pattern may not be applicable in every context. Furthermore, telephone conversers change the pattern and length of TC closing part to maintain their rapport based on the aforementioned variables. The findings of the present study can guide the researcher to follow more complete and perfect politeness models.

In the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, potential patients that suffer from different symptoms can be diagnosed with COVID-19. At the early stages of the pandemic, patients were mainly diagnosed with fever and respiratory symptoms. Recently, patients with new symptoms, such as gastrointestinal or loss of senses, are also diagnosed with COVID-19. Monitoring these symptoms can help the healthcare system to be aware of new symptoms that can be related to the COVID-19 coronavirus. This article focuses on monitoring the behavior of COVID-19 symptoms over time. In this regard, a Latent space model (LSM) and a Generalized linear model (GLM) are introduced to model the networks of symptoms. We apply Hotelling's T2 control chart to the estimated parameters of the LSM and GLM, to identify significant changes and detect anomalies in the networks. The performance of the proposed methods is evaluated using simulation and calculating average run length (ARL). Then, dynamic networks are generated from a COVID-19 epidemic survey dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impact of "EngVid" YouTube channel on improving Iranian EFL Learners' speaking abilities. The program employed in this study provided the learners with video clips for Improving their speaking skills. The participants were forty-eight advanced EFL learners studying English at a private institute in Esfahan. The participants were assigned to experimental and control groups. The YouTube channel "EngVid" is used in this project as a technological tool to enhance students' speaking abilities in the experimental group. The pair-work method was employed in the experimental class. On the other hand, the control group should present at the class and received help from the researcher through the conventional method. After six sessions, a post test was given to experimental and control groups. The application of an independent t-test and paired sample t-test indicated that the performance of the participants exposed to video clips from "EngVid" YouTube channel was significantly superior to that of the control group. The present study offers valuable insights for CALL material designers in selecting the optimal combination of video clips from platforms like YouTube to facilitate L2 speaking skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A completely new economic system is required for the era of Industry 4.0. Blockchain technology and blockchain cryptocurrencies are the best means to confront this new trustless economy. Millions of smart devices are able to complete transparent financial transactions via blockchain technology and its related cryptocurrencies. However, via blockchain technology, internet-connected devices may be hacked to mine cryptocurrencies. In this regard, monitoring the network of these blockchain-based transactions can be very useful to detect the abnormal behavior of users of these cryptocurrencies. Therefore, the trustworthiness of the transactions can be assured. In this paper, a novel procedure is proposed to monitor the network of blockchain cryptocurrency transactions. To do so, a hidden Markov multi-linear tensor model (HMTM) is utilized to model the transactions among nodes of the blockchain network. Then, a multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart is applied to the monitoring of the latent effects. Average run length (ARL) is used to evaluate the performance of the MEWMA control chart in detecting blockchain network anomalies. The proposed procedure is applied to a real dataset of Bitcoin transactions.

Plagiarism in ESL and EFL learning contexts has become a topic engaging many researchers in a hot debate in recent years. Comparisons of student-generated texts with their source texts have shown that students rely amply on source texts in their writings, using copying as a major strategy. The students themselves relate these problems to their confusion of how to cite. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on what constitutes effective citation practices in student writing. The present study aims at measuring the effects of teaching anti-plagiarism strategy of proper citation on 19 postgraduate and 34 graduate students’ use of multiple sources in their writings. The instructional treatment conducted in 30 min per week for seven sessions, aimed at teaching correct quotation rules and different functions of citation (i.e., presenting the literature in the field, comparing the existing views, supporting the writer’s view, etc.), while emphasizing the recognition of these rules at work. The writing samples of the students were three citation tests and source-based writing tasks assigned before, during, and after the treatment. Then the effective citation strategies of the students were analyzed according to their use of standard citation in APA (American Psychological Association) style. The results of the assigned tasks and one survey question demonstrated students’ perceived growing confidence and significant improvements in their citation skills in their source-based writings. The results can yield insightful implications for writing course designers to treat significant problems of the students in their academic writings.

An indispensable part of any curriculum design in an educational setting is the analysis of the needs of the learners involved in the context. The needs can be addressed from different perspectives. Among them, the learners' needs in terms of their perceptions toward what constitute learning/teaching and testing processes are of prominent values. If there is a match between how they view these processes and what the course designers assume them to be, more achievement is likely to happen. In this regard, no one-to-one correspondence exists between what the learners think and what really should be; however, any modifications made to set the ideas closer to one another are of great value. In this study, an attempt is made to study the learners' as well as their teachers' attitudes toward learning, teaching and testing processes in their own educational settings. 213 learners and 38 English language teachers who have been selected from state/non-state schools and two English language private institutes with different comparable curricula have been questioned. The items of the different questionnaires designed for the learners and the teachers constituted the measuring instruments of the study. The types of the questions included in the questionnaires can to form four patterns of the responses. These patterns can show the preference of learners/teachers over: 1- text based or fun task-based teaching materials 2- form-focused or meaning focused instruction 3- formative or summative testing procedures. The implications of the study can benefit both learners/teachers as well as course designers to reconsider the issues which are of great challenges to any educational curriculum in different educational settings. (Contains 8 tables and 3 figures.)