---

This current and interdisciplinary research in the fields of cognitive science, clinical linguistics, neurobiology of language, and language pathology tries to solve language-related problems and disorders. The present research aims to provide a comparison of the effect of stimulating mirror neuron system through music induction and intentional movement imitation on the increase in the average number of verbs in a sentence in free speech of autistic children. For this purpose, first, two pilot studies were performed in 12 sessions on 2 autistic girls aged 6 and 7 for four weeks in Iran University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences. After observing the positive and effective results of these two methods, other samples, i.e. 6 autistic monolingual Farsi speaking girls aged 5-8 were selected by convenience sampling, and underwent 42 sessions (i.e. three 20-30 minute session) of training over 14 weeks. The samples divided to two groups; during training intentional movement imitation in the first group including 3 subjects, no music was played in the class, while instrumental music (wordless music) was played in the class for the second group including 3 subjects during training intentional movement imitation. To evaluate the index of average number of verbs in a sentence, speech of the subjects, after and before intervention, was recorded during the play and everyday conversation. Then, the average number of verbs in their sentence was measured. The research findings were examined using SPSS software (version 20) by Paired-samples t-test and ANCOVA test. The obtained results indicate that the average number of verbs in the sentence significantly increased after the training course in both groups. In addition to the significant changes in all the subjects, the average number of verbs in the sentence in the subjects of the second group showed a significant difference compared to the first group. Based on the research findings, it can be said that stimulation of mirror neuron systems through music induction and intentional movement imitation positively affects the increase in the average number of verbs in the sentence in autistic children. However, it should be mentioned that audio-visual-motor stimulation of the neuron system has a greater impact on verbal skill development of autistic children.

---

Fertility is known as a biological phenomenon. The diversity and proliferation of the popular belief suggest the importance of this issue in popular culture discourse. In different periods, the reflection of the hidden aspect of fertility has been disputed with respect to the culture of society in most cases. In this study, it has been tried to identify and study the ceremonies and rituals associated with birth in Bushehr province considering multi - ethnic groups. The characteristics of child sex, sexual preference, infertility solutions, and the mother – child relationship during and after birth and other interactions between women and childbearing are particularly focused. Following other ethnographic studies, the field method was borrowed as the research method, and in order to eliminate the defects and possible shortcomings from the combination of methods, the direct observation and interviews with women and local midwives were to analyze the ethnological structural and normative explanation. Moreover, the religious attitudes and cultural foundations of rites of passage and fertility rituals were investigated based on sympathetic magic theories, the survival of the fittest, rites of passage, Social contagion and stigmatization. The results show that the representation of rituals is necessary in order to know the cultural past of the regions and its structural and normative explanation regarding the development process and the high migration potential of the province.
 

---

The nature of metaphor, metaphoric understanding, and its functions have been recognized as three main issues in research and theoretical formulations on metaphor and metaphor processing. In general, metaphor is defined as understanding and experiencing one thing based on another. Metaphor can also be considered as an expression that has two conceptual domains in which one of the domains is experienced and understood according to the other. These two conceptual domains are known as target domain and source domain. In this study, we examine the relationship between conceptual metaphor and formation of a schema in short texts regarding target and source domains.
    The main tools of the study were the texts written in fluent Persian and divided into two categories of metaphorical texts and their equivalent non-metaphorical versions. Both texts have had a shared schema. Furthermore, the number of words were equal in both texts. For this purpose, 3 metaphorical and 3 equivalent non-metaphorical short texts were designed in Psychopy software in 2 visual and auditory versions and 47 people were exposed to the short-term recognition after reading/listening to it. There were eight texts including 3 metaphorical and 3 non-metaphorical ones plus 2 texts that were used as filler texts which were excluded from the final analyses. The texts were organized in such a manner that the metaphorical text played before its corresponding non-metaphorical text with an interval. At the next round, the non-metaphorical text was played before its metaphorical version.
    The sample was selected through convenience sampling which included 80 twenty to twenty-five-year-old students of Foreign Languages School and Management School of Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran. Since variations in memory capacity can affect the test results, they were given a Persian word recognition test to ensure relative consistency among all participants' memory capacity.
     The test processes in the visual and auditory tests were the same except in the method of presenting the texts on the screen or playing through the headphone.
    In this study, descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used for analyzing the data and providing tentative answers to the research questions. All the analyses were implemented SPSS V.23 software. To analyse the data in each of the visual and auditory tasks separately, Friedman non-parameter test was used. For comparing the data of the visual and auditory tasks, Mann-Whitney test was used.
    Results indicated that in metaphorical texts, there are traces of the non-metaphorical text`s main schema. This finding brings us closer to the assumption that it is source domain`s schema that projects on target domain in metaphors and makes it more understandable.
 
 

---

The velocity of shear wave, which is utilized in evaluation of the stiffness and strength of subsurface layers, the geotechnical site effects of earthquakes, and determination of the profile of subsurface layers is one of the most prominent and essential parameters in geotechnical studies. The profile of shear wave velocity of soil layer is usually discerned in the site by means of prevalent direct seismic and geophysical methods such as reflection, refraction like SASW and MASW, and borehole ways or indirectly, by geotechnical methods such as conducting CPT or SPT sounding and employing experimental relations among Vs and CPT or SPT quantities. As far as these methods need to dig boreholes, it is obvious that deploying borehole geophysical methods or geotechnical ones to certify the profile of shear wave velocity is expensive and time-consuming. As an economical and practical alternative, the measurements of microtremors which can be easily implemented on the ground surface at a single station. Firstly, the method registers ambient vibrations; then, the spectral proportion of the average of horizontal components to vertical component of microtremors (H/V) are determined. At the end, shear wave velocity profile of the site are discerned by inversion of the H/V spectrum in a reversal algorithm. The analyses are easily performed by means Dinver program of useful package of Geopsy software. In this study, single station microtremor measurements are done at six points along Kermanshah Urban Railroad project. In order to determine shear wave velocity profile from inversion of H/V spectrum, four shear wave models with 3,5,7,and 10 layers are initially suggested for all mentioned six points. All initial models were similar in parameters like thickness of layers and range of shear wave velocity in each layer, so that final conclusions and interpretations can be made for future studies. The best of achieved shear wave velocity profiles in terms of minimum misfit error of inversion of horizontal to vertical spectral peak are compared with the result of field Vs measurements that were performed by down-hole experiments. The most outstanding point is that, the procedure is utilized to find shear wave velocity profile without considering the results of down-hole tests for thickness and velocity limits. The comparison showed that there are significant compatibility between shear wave velocity profiles achieved by inversion method and the results of field down-hole tests. Generally, this compatibility increases with increasing the number of layers from three to ten layers of initial models. Furthermore, the depth of exploration grows with increasing the number of layers as well as the accuracy of profiles, so the initial model with 10 layers has more consistency with the results of borehole experiments of all six points in relation to other models. However, it is obvious that the time for analyzing initial model with 10 layers is more than other ones and a tradeoff between accuracy and time of analyses must determine the acceptable results. In conclusion, inversion of H/V spectrum method shows the ability to appropriately estimate shear wave velocity profile even in deeper sediments in relation to down-hole tests.

---

Seismic wave propagation in surficial stratified soil and deep rock is studied in many engineering fields like Geotechnical earthquake engineering, Geophysics and seismology. Seismic waves might be generated by a significant seismic event, volume collapse in earth’s mantle, chemical or nuclear explosions and surface impact sources. Although the seismic waves’ path in soil layers may be shorter than their path in bedrock, they are influenced significantly by the mechanical properties of surficial soil layers. Soil layers may be saturated or not fully-saturated by a single fluid, which is known as unsaturated soil. Seismic waves generated at the source are known to be body waves of two categories (a) compressional wave (P-wave), (b) shear wave (S-wave).In spite of the abundance and deepness of theoretical analyses, experimental results on measuring the compressional waves in unsaturated soils and rocks are inadequate and mainly have focused on the relation between first compressional wave velocity and degree of saturation instead of suction. Furthermore, the experiments focus on the specimens of sandy soils and rocks with a series of repeated experiments in various degree of saturation conditions. This paper presents the results of three series of ultrasonic tests carried out on fine grained soils.The soils chosen for experimental study are three commercial kaolin named ZK1, ZK2, and ZK3, from Zenoz mine in northwest Iran. These materials have plasticity index (IP) of 9%, 15%, and 19%, and classified as lean clay (CL), silt (ML), and elastic silt (MH) respectively according to Unified Soil Classification System. 15 specimens were compacted at different initial water contents and void ratios and subsequently allowed to dry gradually until air-dry. cylindrical samples, 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm high, were prepared in a mold by compacting a soil – distilled water mixture at proctor optimum dry density and another four points of standard proctor compaction curves; two at 0.5 kN/m3 less than optimum dry density in both dry and wet side of optimum water content point and two at 1 kN/m3 less than optimum dry density in dry and wet side of optimum water content point. All samples were compacted in seven layers using the under-compaction technique to ensure specimen homogeneity along the height. Measurements of compressional wave velocity (Vp) (using ultrasonic) and matrix suction (using the filter paper technique), together with water content, were made at various stages during the drying process (4 times for each specimens; at the time of making the sample and after 4, 8, and 16 hours). The results of the tests suggest that, as a soil dries, its compressional wave velocity increases with increasing in suction. The results imply that in prediction of compressional wave velocity the effectiveness of void ratio must be considered as well as the suction effects. Both compressional wave velocity (Vp) and the corresponding suction (s), have been shown to vary in consist and predictable manner as a function of the initial void ratio at compaction state (ecomp), the suction and the soil’s plasticity index (PI). Thus, an empirical expression was developed which permits estimation of the value of compressional wave velocity, Vp of compacted fine grained soils subject to drying at the suction and material properties expected in prototype conditions.