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Before teachers can transform the reality and promote a liberating education within mainstream educational contexts, they must first gain a thorough understanding of how learners perceive the world. In an attempt to gauge EFL learners’ perceptions, the present study set out to conceptualize the construct of Critical Digital Pedagogy (CDP) by developing and validating a questionnaire for use in online EFL settings. The researchers distributed a preliminary questionnaire with 65 items to 380 adult Iranian EFL learners and used Exploratory Factor Analysis as well as Confirmatory Factor Analysis (EFA, CFA) to analyze the results. After removing 9 items, the final questionnaire consisted of 56 items on a five-point Likert scale. The analysis revealed that CDP consists of 10 factors, namely “consciousness raising,” “community and collaboration,” “empowerment and agency,” “inclusivity,” “dialogism,” “co-creation of materials,” “praxis,” “problem-posing education,” “teachers as transformative intellectuals,” and “critical thinking and reflection.” Additionally, the convergent validity as well as the reliability of the questionnaire to measure the intended construct was statistically confirmed. These findings have important implications for EFL teachers, curriculum developers, course designers, and language researchers as they increase awareness of CDP and its underlying components.

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Background: low back pain is a common health problem that has many consequences, including disability and absence from work. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Low Back Pain among women referred to Quds clinic in Tehran, Iran. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on women referred to Quds clinic, in East of Tehran. A total of 100 patients were studied over a period of one month. Two questionnaires were used for this study. The first one contains general information such as age, height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), education level, smoking and physical activity. Also the participants were asked whether over the past two weeks had LBP or not and if yes their pain severity was measured through Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The second questionnaire was Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RDQ) that was only available to persons that expressed a report of pain over the past two weeks. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results: 52 patients (52%) of the samples reported LBP. Also significant relationship between LBP and functional disability was shown (P < 0.05). More than 48% of patients who had LBP were physically low performance. Age, weight, body mass index, physical activity hours, number of pregnancy and parity and level of education were significantly associated with the severity of LBP (P < 0.05) whereas height, employment status and cigarette smoking were not significantly associated with LBP (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed individual suffering from LBP were more likely to suffer from disability.

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Throughout the history, women writers, regardless of geographical, historical and cultural variations, have always been faced with the same concerns and challenges. Women's literature depicts a world based on the masculine priorities and logic concerns. So, due to disturbing laws written by men, women writers have tried to use "feminine aesthetic" and find a proper language to express their concerns and aspirations. In this way, they were capable to represent a clear picture of the woman as it should be.  In Iranian and Italian contemporary literature, many women authors have created works based on women's issues. Among these works, we can mention the works of Zoya Pirzad and Alba Deses Pedes who narrate, in a specific manner, the same story about women's challenges and concerns. This paper applies "Theory of the Gynesis in Women Writing" to these two novels formed in two different geographical and cultural origins, and aims to answer the question of how the common characteristics of feminine writing engender fundamental similarities in plot, narrative and characterization? What we can say with certainty is that the characteristics and common factors in both text and meta-text of these two feminine writings engender a realistic and measured image of "women situation" in these two societies

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The oldness of religiousness and literature, and their co-relation ascribe to the first steps of human being toward the reflections and inner contemplations. The contemporary literature is also involved in the representation of themes referring to belief, faith and ontological questions that create man’s point of view. The present article performs a comparative study of Kiss the Beautiful Face of God and Jean Barios. The man’s fundamental questions like faith, religion, unbelief, skepticism, existence of God, love, life and death are represented in a communal manner in two novels. Furthermore, the representation of anxiety, solitude, loneliness and homeless are included in the “religious situation” of the two stories that get to doubt, denial and at last to creed. Moreover, in spite of their different origins and their literary value, these two novels are really successful in representation of a theme like return to the significant as well as agreeable and meaningful roots of spiritual life. The likeable and symbolic end of these novels is among the pleasant themes of comparative literature that displays man’s common experiences, visions and points of view.

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Background: Cryptosporidiosis is one of the most important parasitic diseases infecting a broad variety of animals and humans. In the present study, Nested PCR-RFLP-based assay was applied for genotyping of‏ ‏‏sheep cryptosporidiosis. The target of amplification was the 18S rRNA gene ‎‎used to identify Cryptosporidium species
‎Materials and Methods: In the first step, 1300 faecal samples were collected from sheep in Tehran province, then the samples were examined for the presence of ‎Cryptosporidium using modified acid fast staining. In the second step, DNA was extracted from the ‎positive samples. Next, 18S rRNA gene was amplified by ‎Nested-PCR in order to differentiate between the species. The PCR product was digested by Ssp1 restriction enzyme. ‎
Results: Twenty two positive ‎sheep samples were detected by modified acid fast method. The results were confirmed by molecular techniques. The 845 bp fragment of 18S rRNA was digested ‎by restriction enzymes. Twenty samples showed ‎a similar band on 2.5% agarose gel whereas 2 samples demonstrated different pattern. The sequences of two patterns indicated two species of C. andersoni and C. parvum.
Conclusion:  In spite of other studies results introducing C. parvum as the major agent of ‎cryptosporidiosis in sheep, in our study, C. andersoni was found to be dominant. 

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In the modern highly competitive banking era, ability of collecting financial resources has become one of the main prerequisite of effective performance and survival of the banks. Hence, banks have turned to strategies such as electronic banking development to develop their capabilities. This research shows that how and to what extent of applying various electronic banking systems can develop the banks capabilities in collecting financial resources by motivating people to invest in these banks. The research method is of descriptive and solidarity type. The population consists of the customers of Ansar bank branches in Tehran province that are taken by random sampling, and 440 were selected. The results of the research indicate that all 13 studied electronic banking systems have meaningful and positive relationship with the bank capabilities in collecting financial resources, and among them 3 systems of point of sale (POS) and PAYA system (financial resources barter) and Telephone bank system have the greatest positive relation with collecting of financial bank resources. These results show that the electronic banking development is an effective factor in motivating people to invest in studied banks. On this basis, practical and theoretical recommendations are provided for managers and researchers.    

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By emphasizing on the correspondences of linguistics and psychoanalysis, Julia Kristeva has presented new theories about the analysis of literary texts. “The Theory of Abjection”, which is derived of her post-structuralism researches, considers the author as a speaking subject who, through a poetic and semantic language, moves away from the ravages of his around. Kristeva has examined the applicative possibility of this theory in European literature. In this paper we focus on a contemporary Persian poem ("I am concerned for the garden" by Forough Farokhzad) for demonstrateing an application of the analytic approach of  the “Theory of Abjection”. Hence, we aim two principal purposes: firstly, we try to represent an exhaustive panorama of the analytic approach of the Theory of Abjection, and secondly,  we examine the possibility of creative interpretations of this poem According. Finally we try to examine the possibility of application of analytic approaches of this theory for the contemporary Persian poetry.

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For the first time, Julia Kristeva, while exploring Bakhtine's ideas such as "dialogical logic" and their application to literary texts, introduced the term of "intertextuality". She considered intertextual relations and considerations as rationales in freeing the literary text from a limited semantic system. From then on, Kristeva and other post-structuralists such as Roland Barthes extended many of the ideas associated with "dialogism" and they approved that every literary text have a continuous and solid link with other texts. From this perspective, none of the text is lone and novel rather and emerged and derived from different and plural cultural origins. In this paper, for applying the intertextuality theory to the contemporary Iranian poetry, we have chosen poems of Qeysar Aminpour and believe that intertextual relations and considerations in his poetry have institutionalized a remarkable essence of dialogism and have substantially led to complete the meaning of his text. In other words, we believe that the intertextual considerations and relations in Aminpour's poetry fulfill two principal functions: "create the character of dialogism" and "help complete the basic implications of meaning". In this paper, apart from explaining the results which are obtained in the light of intertextual reading of Aminpour's poetry, it aims to examine the possibility of applying this theory to other poetry especially the contemporary Iranian poetry.

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Aims: Toxoplasmosis is a cosmopolitan zoonotic disease caused by an obligate apicomplexan intracellular parasite known as Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). Recently, toxoplasmosis has been suggested as a risk factor for diabetes. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the association between T. gondii infection and two types of diabetes in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
Materials & Methods: In the current cross-sectional study, 98, 95, and 94 blood samples were collected from Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic and nondiabetic individuals, referring to Imam Sajad hospital from February to August 2018, respectively. Anti-T. gondii specific IgG and IgM antibodies were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Moreover, a structured demographic questionnaire was completed for each person.
Results: IgG antibody was found to be positive in 16.32 (16 of 98) and 57.89% (55 of 95) of patients with diabetes Type 1 and Type 2 and 17.02% (16 of 94) of nondiabetic individuals as controls, respectively. However, the prevalence of positive IgM antibody in these groups was determined as 2.04 (2 of 98), 6.32 (6 of 95), and 17.02 % (16 of 94), respectively.
Conclusion: This finding revealed that toxoplasmosis could be considered as a possible risk factor for diabetes Type 2, while no statistically significant association was found between T. gondii infection and diabetes Type 1.  More research is required to be conducted in the future in order to better understand this association.

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Competency oriented approach to human resources development is considered as one of important empowering strategies in successful organizations. In recent years, emotional and social managers’ competencies and relational competencies have been demonstrated by several research studies. The purpose of current study was to examine the impact of Emotional and Social Managers’ Competencies on improving the technical, contextual and behavioral employees’ competencies. Research method was descriptive – correlation and Employees of Fars gas organization was the research population from which 162 employees were selected based on cluster sampling method. Data was collected through two standard questionnaires, Emotional and Social Competencies (ESC) inventory by Boyatzis (2007) and employees Competencies with Based on the Eye Competency Model of the International Project Management Association (2010). Structural equation modeling (SEM) used to analyze the gathered data. Results show that that emotional and social managers’ Competencies predicts the technical, contextual and behavioral employees’ competencies.

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Yuri Lotmn (1993-1922) is the founder of the Moscow-Tartu school. He has a distinguished role in introducing and developing the “Theory of Intercultural Semiotics”. In Lotman’s opinion, cultural semiotics considers each text as a cultural totality. The existing signs in the text could indicate the way in which the significances are produced to achieve a certain specific meanings in a culture. Hence, cultural semiotics can choose many texts that belong to a social and historical ambiance for recognizing the cultural and social infrastructures of that period. In fact, it could be an analytic approach, which envisages the cultural productions of a particular section and the survey of intertextual relations, interactions and dynamic relationships between them.  In this article, we rely on the movie The Private Life of Mr. and Mrs. M. (2011) directed by Ruhollah Hejazi as a cultural product of a particular period. The analysis of this text's themes and its dynamic relationship with other texts shows a considerable part of the cultural phenomenon in this period. Finally, this study aims to reveal common themes and processes in the meaning interdependency between these texts

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The present study tries to compare differential effects of two types of written corrective feedback, that is, direct corrective feedback and metalinguistic explanation, on Iranian EFL learner acquisition of English conditional sentences and indefinite articles. During both types of feedback, all learners were given sufficient time to revise their writings in the first time. They were not given such a chance in the second time. Then, their accuracy and precision in writing were assessed. It was found that the all types of feedback were effective in their precision and accuracy in writing conditional sentences. It was further confirmed that the effect of direct corrective feedback was more effective that meta-linguistic explanations. Also, giving the learners more chances to revise and rewrite their texts enhanced the effect of the feedback. The results revealed that if the written feedback is given to multiple syntactic structures at the same time, the learners would most probably concentrate on the one which more meaning focused than form focused. As to complex syntactic structures, direct correction of the learners' errors will produce better results than metalinguistic explanations. 

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In this paper, the authors have tried to describe the rituals, customs, and rituals of mourning mentioned in two books of Galin-Khanum and Jawami ul-Hikayat tales, which contain the stories on the theme of death in folk tales, and how the ancient people are  dealing with their grieves when disappearing one of their close relatives. Galin Khanum tales book contains 110 Persian tales and the book Jawami ul-Hikayat consists of 46 narrations, both of which are written in the folk tales. The result of this research which is based on bibliographic and descriptive-analytic resources, suggests that our ancestors, based on what has been mentioned in the works, have reacted to this inevitable event. The latter has been associated with ritualistic and cultural concepts of the community. These traditions are totally relevant and deserve to analysis. Behaviors like taking a black handkerchief in hand, tying a narrow black armpit to arm, blacken the royal palace etc. are among the rituals which are In some way, the expression of the continuation of life after death, the demand for forgiveness , mercy for decease and the creation of hope and motivation for the survivors.
 

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Politeness phenomenon is one of the subjects which have been observed by researchers of different domains , e.g. psychology, sociology and anthropology. Politeness has also been investigated in the area of pragmatics. One of the concepts following politeness is linguistic impoliteness. Different people such as Goffman (1967), Brown and Levinson (1987), Bousfield (2008), Culpeper (1996;2003;2011) and  Rudanko (1996) have worked on (im)politeness phenomenon. . In spite of the large amount of investigation on western culture, less research has been worked out on this notion in Persian. So, the aim of this study is investigating the function of this notion through describing it in  Sayyadan drama of  Ruye Sahneye Abi series written by Akbar Radi. The data was investigated through the five strategies proposed  by Jonathan Culpeper (1996; 2003) on linguistic impoliteness and the notions, e.g context, social norms and emotions, he added later in 2011. The most frequently  used strategy was positive impoliteness and the least used one was mock impoliteness. The synthetic ones were at the second level and negative impoliteness was at the fourth level. There was no withhold politeness among the‌ data. Finally, new cases were introduced.                                                                                                                     

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Sadegh Salimi Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Azad University  Transnational organized crime is one of the most problematic matters for international community in 21 st century. These crimes are committed by organized criminal groups consisting of three or more persons, a unique leadership and strict discipline with cruel sanctions in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit. Illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms is one of the most dangerous activities of these groups. The United Nations, acting on behalf of international community, elaborated an international document named "United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime" with two protocols. These documents were opened for signature of states in 2000. The third protocol named "Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime" was approved by the General Assembly in 2001. The protocol is analyzed as the most comprehensive international document in the matter. Under the protocol, states parties are obliged to consider trafficking in firearms as a crime, to assist technically and educationally, to exchange information, to keep records of and mark firearms, to supervise on brokering of firearms and confiscation of unlawful firearms. The purpose of this protocol is coordination of states national laws and encouragement of states to cooperation. It is based on preventive measures. Since its ratification would create good opportunities to Iran in combating this organized crime, it is recommendable to Iran.

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Purpose: In the present work, clinical symptoms, serum immunoglobuline alteration and eosinophil count were investigated in the patients infected with Giardia lamblia. Materials and Methods: In this regard, 50 persons infected with Giardia and 50 healthy individuals were selected as the study and control groups respectively in Tehran. Sera of the groups were tested for IgG, IgE, IgA levels and their blood for the percentage of eosinophil. To measure IgA and IgG levels the SRID technique and to measure IgE level the ELISA technique were applied. Results: Results indicated that, 78%, 74%, 60%, 58% and 12% of the patients showed diarrhea, abdominal pain, weight loss, flatulence and visual disorder respectively, while no aforementioned symptoms were observed in non-infected individuals. In addition, the mean of eosinophil percentage as well as IgA, IgG and IgE levels in the infected group were found to be higher than that of the non infected group significantly (P<0.05). Meanwhile, no elevation was observed in the eosinophil percentage or immunoglobuline levels of the control group. Conclusion: In conclusion, Giardia lamblia can induce eosinophila and increase the level of IgE in the infected patients significantly.