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This article presents the engineering design and preliminary testing of the AfariTM mobility device and the integrated IntracTM activity tracking system. The patented Afari design is a three-wheeled device that assists users of any age with mobility impairments with outdoor exercise and movement in various environments and surfaces. We devised methods for testing of the Afari to ensure safe and flexible mobility assistance and demonstrated a high level of stability and structural integrity suitable for vigorous outdoor exercise. A smartphone-based sensing system, the Intrac, was designed for and integrated with the Afari to monitor the user's interaction forces and important gait parameters. The Intrac offers a graphical user interface for displaying and sharing measurements with users and providers, and the accuracy of its measurements was validated by testing its individual components. A preliminary subject study showed that the participants could use the Afari for various levels of weight compensation during walking, while the Intrac enabled the measurement of interactive forces on their arms and key gait parameters. The results demonstrate the potential of the Afari and Intrac to provide a safe walking experience in a variety of terrains and continuously monitor users' gait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to construct and validate a questionnaire of social and cultural capital in the foreign language context of Iran. To this end, a questionnaire was designed by picking up the most frequently-used indicators of social and cultural capital. The Factorability of the intercorrelation matrix was measured by two tests: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity. The results obtained from the two tests revealed that the factor model was appropriate. To validate the questionnaire, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed. The application of the Principle Component Analysis to the participants' responses resulted in 14 extracted factors accounting for 69% of the variance. The results obtained from the Scree Test indicated that a five-factor solution might provide a more parsimonious grouping of the items in the questionnaire. The rotated component matrix indicated the variables loaded on each factor so that the researchers came up with the new factors, i.e., social competence, social solidarity, literacy, cultural competence, and extraversion. Finally, statistical results were discussed and suggestions were made for future research.

The aim of this study was to find out the relationship between EFL students' social as well as cultural capital and their foreign language achievement, using Bourdieu's theories in the sociology of education as frames of reference. To this end, the Social and Cultural Capital Questionnaire (SCCQ) was administered to 128 EFL learners majoring in English language. The Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was performed to analyze the data. Social and cultural capital data were matched with university students' academic records in language proficiency courses. Results indicated that cultural competence was the best predictor of the listening skill, whereas speaking, reading, writing, grammar, and the total GPA were mostly predicted by students' diploma GPA and literacy, the two factors which are related to cultural capital. Finally, statistical results were discussed, and implications were provided in the context of English language teaching.

Introduction This research took an interdisciplinary approach to the literature on sanctions. It examined the reasons for sanctions, as well as the effects and consequences of sanctions in general with a focus on anti-Iranian sanctions. The research aimed to represent and analyze the behaviors of the components within the digital network of sanctions. Iranian Twitter users were the target community for this article. However, the digital social reality of sanctions on Twitter was the result of all users who thought about, acted on, and were concerned with Iran sanctions. As a widely used social network where political news and interactions were frequently expressed and trending, Twitter was the most important community for investigating Iran sanctions. This was because those who imposed sanctions, as well as their defenders and opponents, were all present on this platform. As a result, a debate was unfolding on Twitter. Users on Twitter reproduced and redefined sanctions as an intertextual phenomenon, reintroducing it into the cycle of social reality production in the form of informal but impactful propositions. In general, the researchers in this study were aiming to conduct a big data analysis of the reactions and responses of activists within the Twitter space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illegal bird hunting in and around the Fereydunkenar International Wetland in Iran has a long history but one with serious ecological consequences. Such hunting has involved the mass killing of critically endangered species – such as Siberian cranes, white-headed ducks, geese, lapwings and wintering raptors – and has caused damage to regional ecosystems. The outcome has been described by conservationists and regional news commentators as a "bird genocide." This study addresses some of the significant problems created by the illegal bird market of Fereydunkenar and explores the reasons for both the actors' participation and the market's resilience. The paper draws on original fieldwork – data from qualitative, in-depth interviews with 21 participants actively involved in this bird market. Actors provided various justifications and explanations for their activities, such as food and income, the ineffectiveness of formal controls alongside the supportiveness of informal social norms, and the ability to create an enterprise and attract capital based on simple commodification of nature. The case study illuminates how a traditional practice and a narrowly-focused set of behaviors persist despite the impact of related cascade effects causing harm to ecosystems that push some species to the edge of extinction. The paper therefore serves as an interdisciplinary contribution to green criminology and conservation criminology, as well as to ecological sciences, more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fereydunkenar county hosts millions of migratory birds in the southern parts of the Caspian Sea in the second half of every year. Despite the global prevalence of environmental crime, there is still a dearth of large-scale, empirical analyses of environmental crime in the Middle East. This study compared two well-established criminological frameworks rooted in social learning (neutralization theory and differential association theory) to compare four environmental crimes in Iran: illegal bird hunting, fishing without a license, water pollution, and soil pollution. We surveyed male villagers (N = 400) in the county of Fereydunkenar, which is located in the Mazandaran Province of Iran and hosts millions of migratory birds every year. Variables from neutralization theory (condemnation of the condemners, denial of victim and injury, and appeal to higher loyalty) and differential association theory (frequency of differential association with family and friends, and intensity of differential association) were measured. Approximately 75% of respondents had engaged in illegal bird hunting and nearly 53% of respondents had engaged in fishing without a license. However, water and soil pollution behaviors among the respondents were at low levels. The independent variables explained ∼53, 20, and 18% of the variance in the variables of water/soil pollution, illegal bird hunting, and illegal fishing, respectively. The frequency of differential association with family and intensity of differential association had the largest influences on illegal bird hunting and illegal fishing. The intensity of differential association, appeal to higher loyalty, and condemnation of the condemners had significant positive effects on water and soil pollution behaviors. Based on our models, we concluded that, compared to neutralization variables, differential association variables had greater effects on numerous environmental crimes in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, to explain illegal fishing, Agnew's Criminology of Climate Change Theory was adopted as the theoretical framework. The study was conducted using a survey methodology, and a questionnaire was used for collecting the data. The population of the study consisted of the villagers of Fereydonkenar, an Iranian city in Mazandaran province, from whom 400 people were selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. The results of the study showed that about 53% (212) of the respondents had been fishing using illegal methods. The results of the structural equation modeling revealed that climate change perception and general strain had the greatest influence on illegal fishing. Also, climate change perception was found to influence illegal fishing by positively influencing the general strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the socio-political changes in the views and attitudes of religious leaders of Shia Islam in Iran. Particular focus is given to the historical period of the Constitutional Movement in 1906 and the National Movement in 1952. The views of the religious leaders about governmental modernization during the two periods are compared.

This paper presents the design and validation of a proof-of-concept prototype for a wearable rehabilitation device to incorporate arm swing during gait rehabilitation. Unlike current stationary exoskeletons used for rehabilitation of upper limbs' function, assisting arm swing during gait requires inducing faster arm flexion/extension movements while maintaining the users' arms unconstrained in other directions. We developed a portable and underactuated system with features such as a large workspace and backdrivability to induce arm swing. Its wide workspace allowed the wearers to easily move their arms in different directions without any constraints. A modified double parallelogram linkage (mDPL) is proposed to allow the device to mimic the natural workspace of an arm. Additionally, a pulley drive and weight compensation system were created to place the motor on the users' back reducing the hindering weight of the actuators on their arms. Our experiments demonstrated this arm-swing rehabilitator could successfully induce arm movements at different arm configurations with low (0.67 Hz) and high (1.1 Hz) frequencies corresponding to slow and fast walking.