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Critical Thinking (CT) which has been defined as the employment of cognitive skills or strategies for obtaining sound conclusions (Halpern, 2013) has been the subject of different Second Language (L2) studies at national and international levels. The aim of the present study was to provide a meta-analysis on the (quasi) experimental studies of critical thinking in second language education in Iran. To this end, from a total of 168 studies published between 2011 and 2020, 24 studies were selected based on the inclusion-exclusion criteria. The included studies were coded to calculate the mean effect size of the studies. The results show that 1) L2 teaching was positively effective for the CT development in Iran; 2) the most beneficial aspects of L2 teaching on CT promotion were related to teaching L2 speaking and L2 rhetorical strategies; 3) concerning L2 proficiency level, L2 instruction was most advantageous for advanced students’ CT developments; 4) regarding the age groups, L2 teaching contributed the most growth in CT levels for learners in the age group of 10-14 years, and 5) L2 teaching was most effective for the undergraduate students compared to other educational levels. The findings can be beneficial for pursuing the next moves in L2 research, education, and planning educational policies in Iran.

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Otters at the top of the food chain and feeding largely on fish are likely to be especially vulnerable to the effects of bioaccumulating pollutants. This research reports the first data on mercury levels found in hairs of river otters (Lutra lutra) from Iran. Between June and December 2007, we collected museum and recent collections of river otter hair. These samples were collected from several provinces of three major regions of Iran. The mean of mercury concentration for all samples (recent and museum) was 5.819±1.557 mg/kg with 95% confidence interval for the mean. The concentrations of Total Hg (THg) in hair ranged from 0.293 to 12.382 mg/kg. No significant variation among the sample regions existed. A comparison of THg concentrations between two decades (1986-1996 and 1996-2006) showed that these differences were significant (p

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Imagery is one of the basic subjects in the domain of aesthetics of text, which has been noticed by the men of literary taste and art from the past.  The poets have regarded imagery as the integral part of their poetry and the critics have analyzed and investigated the literary works from this perspective. Imagery criticism, especially in the temporary era, has been attended to by the men of literature. Furthermore, Ashurai poetry, as an enormous portion of the nationally committed literary heritage, has always represented Ashura. This literary art has always been after beautiful and obvious depicting in form and content of the events and causes of this enormous movement.      Clarifying this part of the literary beauties in the contemporary Ashurai poetry is the aim of the present study using an analytic-descriptive methodology and based on the American school principles of the comparative literature. For this purpose, we investigated the poems composed by over 40 poets in the last century of the two nations. To this end, after extracting metaphorical images from the selected poems of the two cited languages, with equal number of these poems, the researchers applied tables and figures to provide the reader with a suitable statistical view of the issue. The results revealed the width and variety of the images in Persian poetry, the innovation and presentation of the new images in Persian more that English, the outstanding presence of the romantic and mystical elements in Persian Ashurai poetry, and the variety and vastness of the elements composing these images in Persian poetry.

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Considering the vast changes in different aspects of life and various ways of earning livelihood, flexibility in contemporary housing design can be regarded as an appropriate solution in order to prevent from discreteness in interactions within the society and environment and among people. That is because a residence must be designed according to the changing needs of modern human. Traditional houses in Iran have already contained this concept, in modern era however, such viewpoint towards housing cannot be seen so often. Flexibility refers to the idea of adaptation throughout the time. Therefore it can be said that a flexible settlement is a house that can be adapted with the needs of the users and will lead to understanding the users’ expected demands with their own cooperation. Peoples’ cooperation in this process will increase the possibility of adaptation of housing with their needs which will eventually increase the general satisfaction of the housing. This research discusses the issue of flexibility and the related concepts in the field of housing with emphasis on some residential projects. Every settlement is depended on its user and the ground for its adaptation. Therefore, in terms of general design, we can say that settlement is dependent on both the environment and the user. Since human beings normally demand variety and  monotonous environmental conditions make human beings unsatisfied and bored; they usually have a favorable and positive view towards changes in their living environment. These varieties can range from some minor changes up to basic ones such as a change in the residential house itself. Flexibility in architectural design indicates variety. Such variety includes the possibility of adjustment and compatibility of a residential unit throughout time. It will eventually lead the building to show new varieties of its own. In order to demonstrate flexibility, the architects have to put the probable needs of the users into consideration in the process of designing. In other words, a “long-term thought” is required in designing.Flexibility in housing can be investigated from two points of views: first, from users’ point of view and secondly the innovative construction. Designing consists of four main issues: (1) structural system; (2) servicing spaces; (3) architectural design; and (4) facilities for environmental flexibility. The present study tries to express the concept of flexibility as a “new form of challenging architecture”. This is done using some examples and instances. From such viewpoint, the goal this study tries to attain is to survey the limitations and boundaries of flexible designing. This is done by analyzing the selected items. This way, the architect can turn flexibility into an opportunity and produce creative options in his/her work and design. The present study was conducted using library-based method and case study with the aim of studying and discussing the conceptual and operational grounds of housing design in different countries. The structure and main framework of the present study stands on the idea that flexibility can be used for  housing development in all eras and periods as a general concept and includes different types itself.

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The Semantic Script Theory of Humor is the first complete linguistic theory on humor. This theory, that was in fact a radical departure from the traditionally taxonomic approach of puns and humor, was first introduced by Victor Raskin. He was the first linguist that analyzed the structures of humor from the semantic view point, and could identify the structure of joke. In Raskin’s view, a semantic theory must include two abstract concepts: a set of the whole scripts available to the speakers and a set of compositional rules. The purpose of this article is to introduce this theory and to answer this question that which objections on the basis of Persian data may be made to this theory. For this purpose, we studied a number of Persian jokes published in Iranian Humor Press, and by the analysis of these texts, we could show some weaknesses of the theory. The results of this study showed that the way of analysis in Raskin’s Semantic Scripts theory, which is based on listing all of the scripts involved in the words used in the humorous text, has some weaknesses in analyzing Persian Jokes; such as not being compatible with the linguistic processing realities and for having time-consuming redundant complexities, it is not applicable on long Persian jokes.

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Garden city idea as an important idea had emerged on 19 century. Creating sustainable complexes and having more relationship with natural environment were the main goals which had been defined for this idea. This idea was established in urbanism literature by Howards' research about creating a balance between city and village living; whereas in east, Garden City as a pure idea has had a metaphysic meaning which is used to create earthy paradise since 16th century. Respect and reverence for water and trees is institutionalized in ancient civilizations of Iran. Iranian people respect trees and water, both separately and in composite forms as gardens, which have been a well-known cultural value both before and after Islam. The oldest Persian garden that have been discovered dates back to the Achaemenid Empire and the quadripartite gardens (charbagh) of Pasargadae. By studying about existent historic gardens, Persian Gardens are divided into different types. The way people use special physical and functional features could also be used as a scale of this division. In Persian Garden category, Garden City has been defined as a well-known model for designing particular gardens in city scale. According to this model, gardens have used sacred and soft spaces as a combination of hard and heavenly, for defining body structure and the development of the city textures. In advanced (pre- designed) samples, the entire city has been formed as a big garden; composed of a set of small gardens with many symbolic features, such as pavilions and water ponds, as seen in the Persian Charbagh Garden. During Safavid dynasty, Isfahan, as the largest Persian garden city, had been supported by a green major axis; which is the so called Charbagh that has been remained as a green heritage so far. Gardens and trees were the most important natural and architectural elements in Isfahan's cityscape at that period. These elements usually have been considered as the traditional identity of the garden city; hence their sustainability had a key role in preserving the structures. Therefore, Designers manufactured particular urban infrastructures to provide useful irrigation system. They had to construct the channels that branched off from the central river of Isfahan (Zayandehrood) and made the water accessible all around the city. First section of this paper is about Safavid Garden City origin. This subject was studied from the politics and governance points of views. In the following, Howard's Garden City origin has been studied. It has formed according to the special Utopias, which had relationships with that time's believes. In addition, some principles of Safavid Garden City have been compared to Howard's. The special study has been done about Intellectual origins which have influenced these Garden Cities creation. In conclusion, the comparison of Howard and Safavid Garden Cities shows that these ideas had been developed based on the worldview and vision of creative Iranians during Safavid dynasty and in 19th century. Moreover, the special methods of plantation, the quality of social relationships and economic similarities were the main differences between these two Garden Cities.

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The objectives for this study were first to understand and estimate energy consumption in each stage of production and processing of milk using regional data and second, suggesting improvement opportunities. A cradle to gate assessment of market milk was performed by separating the system into three stages: agronomy, animal farm and processing plant. Data were collected from multiple sources e.g. questionnaire, published papers, national and international databases, and the processing plant database. Throughout the study, ISO framework and International Dairy Federation guideline on life cycle assessment were used. The functional unit (FU) was one liter of pasteurized milk packaged in plastic pouch at the processing plant gate. The average energy demand for producing 1 kg of fat-protein corrected milk at farm-gate was 10.8 MJ, although for the final packaged milk, it was 12.5MJ. Main stages in overall energy use of FU were agronomy 68 %, animal farm 19 % and processing plant 13%. The average energy use for raw milk production was 2-5 times higher than previous European reports. To enhance efficiency in this sector, we need to assess other regions’ potentials for feed and milk production and then to focus on agronomy stage for lower energy use by optimization of irrigation, or even importing energy intensive feed such as barley and alfalfa from other countries.

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In a comparative study, this paper by using a descriptive analytical method seeks to examine the similarities and differences of the two drfferent cultuers and languages in terms of the type of the image ot the characters.
Depiction of the revolutionary and epic dimensions of image's personality,the extraordinary perspective of the two poets upon image, the link with the present time and society, the tendency towards complexity, and the avoidance of straightforwardness in the commonalities in the poetry book , and the diversity and broadness of aspects of the character, as well as combination of image of some of the characers with concepts of melancholy and grief are characteristics of the Arabic poetry book.
 

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Background:Knee osteoarthritis is a common disease that causes pain and impairment of normal performance. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of the three combined training methods on pain and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Methods and Materials:This study is a semi-experimental research, and it makes use of pretest and posttest methods in which 30 male patients were selected and randomly assigned into three groups, namely the experimental group 1, the experimental group 2 and the experimental group 3. The groups underwent an 8-week period of training. Pain severity and functions were measured via Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and function through Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) questionnaires before and after exercise. Data were analyzed using variance analysis (ANOVA) (P < 0.05).
Results: The ANOVA demonstrated a significant difference between groups about pain (F(2, 27) = 35.12, (P < 0.01) and function (F(2, 27) = 32.7, (P < 0.01)). Post hoc analysis revealed significant differences between experimental groups 1 and 2 (P < 0.05) and experimental groups 1 and 3 (P < 0.01) regarding pain and function, but there was no significant difference between experimental group 2 and 3 for pain and function (P > 0.05).
Conclusion:Following the intervention, three groups showed a reduction in pain and improvement in function. The rate of recovery in the first experimental group was higher than other groups, and that a new approach in the treatment of patients suffering from severe pains was introduced in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome.

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Background: Gram-negative organisms producing Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) are presented as a global problem. Klebsiella pneumoniae is considered as one of the most important microorganism of this group. The prevalence rate of K. pneumoniae species is increasing, and this increase is higher in the ESBL group, indicating the increase in antibiotic resistance. We must have sufficient knowledge about regional antibiotics resistance in order to monitor the prevalence rate and antimicrobial resistance among the isolates by appropriate treatment. In this regard, the objective of our study was to evaluate antimicrobial susceptibility among K. pneumoniae isolates by E-test method in Khatam ol Anbia hospital during 2015.
Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out during 2015.  All clinical samples were collected from intensive care unit (ICU) and general wards of Khatam ol Anbia hospital. All of the K. pneumoniae strains were detected by biochemical and microscopic tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were determined by disk diffusion and E-test methods. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data.
Results: About 62 K.  pneumoniae strains were isolated from clinical samples of ICU and general wards during one year. Of these, 38 (61.3%) isolates were isolated from intensive care unit, and 24 (38.7%) isolates were isolated from the general wards. In this review, the least resistance was related to colistin (4.8%) and Amikacin (14.5%), respectively, and the most resistance was observed to the antibiotics of ciprofloxacin (66.1%), ceftriaxone (62.9%) and gentamicin (59.7%), respectively. Resistance to imipenem was observed in 38.7% of the isolates.
Conclusion: The current study demonstrates that antibiotic resistance pattern is changing, and resistance to imipenem and colistin is rising, so this should be considered as a serious risk for admitted patients in hospital.  

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TheChah Nimeh reservoirs of Sistan is as one of the main water sources of Zabol City used for drinking, agriculture, industry and livestock purposes. This study aimed to determine the contribution of the natural and concentration factors of heavy metals such as Cd, Pb and Cu in sediment of Chah Nimeh of Sistan. The concentrations of heavy metals in surface sediments were studied in six stations during 2013. To determine the concentration of the heavy metals atomic absorption spectrometer (Contr AA 700) was used. Sequential extraction analysis  was applied based on the share of natural and concentration factor sources of heavy metals. Sequential extraction analysis showed that a considerable part of the Pb (63.67%), Cd (55.17%) and Cu (57.17%) were from natural sources. The highest concentrations of Cd and Pb were 0.81 and 5.57 mg kg^-1, respectively, obtained in station one and the maximum Cu concentration was observed in station five (37.8 mg kg^-1), while the lowest concentration of Cd, Pb and Cu were 0.34, 3.95 and 31.4 mg kg^-1, respectively.

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Aim: Regular physical activity has several physical, psychological and social benefits. However, it is a global health problem, especially among ICU nurses. Therefore, in order to improve nurses’ physical activity, it is required to determine the effective correlated factors. The aim of this study was to delineate predictive factors on the physical activity of ICU nurses based on a trans-theoretical model (TTM) using path analysis.
Method: Accordingly, in this cross-sectional study, 82 nurses from eight intensive care units of six hospitals in Guilan University of Medical Sciences completed the translated version of Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) and another questionnaire, which included a range of constructs from the TTM. Data were analyzed using bivariate correlation and path analysis.
Findings: It was revealed that self-efficacy (β=0.24) and Pros (β=0.18) had a direct effect on the participants’ physical activities. It is important to state that self-efficacy was effective on the participants, behavioral physical activity both directly and indirectly. Totally, self-efficacy with the path coefficient of 0.62 was considered as the strongest predictive factor of physical activity among the ICU nurses.
Conclusion: To enclose, the determined effective factors in improving the ICU nurses’ physical activity were expected to be of more concern, especially self-efficacy as the strongest one.

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Aim: The aim of this study was to design a tool and to assess its validity and reliability based on native culture characterization to evaluate the health belief model (HBF) constructs about prenatal care.
Methods: 215 pregnant women covered by the health centers of Iranshahr in the age group of 18-35 years and the least ability of reading and writing participated in this cross-sectional study. After reviewing the literature, the tool was designed, and its validity and reliability were approved based on psychometric data of the target group and the view of a panel of experts through calculating the content validity ratio, content validity index, exploratory factor analysis, and internal consistency.
Findings: The validity of 42 items was assessed through calculating the index score of the item effect above 1.5, content validity ratio more than 0.80, and content validity index higher than 0.79. By using exploratory factor analysis with a special value greater than 1, six factors and 35 items remained that were classified into six categories based on the literature review and content items, which were able to predict 77.095 % of the total variance of the tool. The reliability of the research tool was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha equal to 0.816.
Conclusion: The results of this study provide proper evidence about the strength of structural factors and the reliability of the assessment tool for the structures of HBM about prenatal care. It can be considered by the researchers in developing a tool for research, education and action.

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The increase in energy consumption within modern societies in addition to expiration of fossil resources are two vital factors which compel the world to alter dangerously, while construction industry around the world consumes 25%-40% of energy in different countries. Above all postindustrial era causes the increase in number of employees as well as bureaus. As a result, the amount of energy consumption and also the quality of indoor offices has always been one of the main concerns of architects. Several studies represent that the thermal discomfort is the most common complaint in offices. The thermal aspect of indoor buildings, not only provides comfort for the residents, but also brings saving in energy, health, productivity, and also a significant morale improvement of the staff. Since most complaints of indoor environment are caused by failure in providing the adequate thermal comfort, researches concentrated on several offices around the world suggest that indoor quality of such buildings is about average; in which many are dissatisfied about their workplace and while many are suffering from building-related illnesses that negatively affect the productivity, duration of working and having economic consequences for those countries. The requisite of thermal comfort within the indoor environment is the existence of thermal comfort standards. These standards define indoor thermal comfort zone according to the physical and personal indexes. The most important international standards are ISO7730 and ASHRAE 55. Nowadays, various models are introduced for appraising thermal comfort within different standards of thermal comfort. According to ASHRAE Standard 55 (2010) thermal comfort is defined as "condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment". Therefore thermal comfort contains different physical and psychological aspects, which means several factors are in effect for this purpose. Thermal comfort is related to four controllable factors namely air temperature, radiant temperature, air speed and as well as humidity. thermal comfort also is influenced by three additional factors: activity, clothing and personal expectations. As mentioned above, there are several standards for thermal comfort in the world. The most important ones are international standards ASHRAE 55 (North America) and ISO 7730 (Europe). These standards congruous the theoretical analysis of heat exchange of the human body and gathering information regarding the climate chamber. These standards are appropriate for stationary and homogeneous conditions which are not suitable and hence not much used in the real world. This fact is evident by the disparity between the predicted thermal comfort by these standards and the real sense of human comfort in different places. These standards specify comfort zones in which a large percentage of people perceive the environment thermally acceptable by certain personal criteria. According to these standards, acceptable thermal zone is defined based on satisfaction of at least 80% of the occupants. In other words, performing within the provided criterion of this standard does not mean the 100% satisfaction, as if it is difficult to satisfy everybody due to personal differences. It is to be mentioned that personal control of thermal environment or personal compatibility (by clothing or activity) also increases the satisfaction level. Considering the complexities of defining thermal comfort, several models are represented which are allied to the physical and psychological parameters as the physiological ones. Two forthcoming models are available for appraisal of thermal comfort: PMV model; which explains individuals' response to the thermal comfort in the physiology of the heat transfer. This model evaluates the indoor environments and constitutes the current thermal comfort standards. According to the aforementioned standards, environmental thermal conditions must be maintained homogeneously. Therefore, PMV model is not appropriate for appraising inert thermal sense in places like residential buildings which are not thermally homogeneous and have different thermal zones. However regarding several capacities of this model, many studies have been accomplished in order to adjust this model for such buildings by implementing some changes. The other model named 'adaptive' explains individuals' response to the thermal comfort considering behavioral, psychological and physiological aspects. The thermal comfort standards define the thermal environment conditions of residents based on data obtained by climate chamber experiments. Therefore, consequently, there are problems for using these standards and also thermal comfort models for those who are living in different climates. That is to say regions with different climatic conditions may need different levels of satisfaction parameters through these standards. In other words, due to different climates, cultures, and etc.,the thermal satisfaction conditions differ in different places. Hence, many countries all over the world have conducted field studies to introduce the most favorable thermal conditions that fit their location best. The lack of essential standards for determination of thermal satisfaction limits in office buildings in Iran, results in employees’ thermal dissatisfaction and overall performance reduction. This study uses field methods for measuring environmental variables (temperature and humidity) and also leading inventory (n=328). Kermanshah city is chosen as a case study. Since this city lacks a dominant type of office buildings and the only common aspect of such buildings is indoor offices, thus this feature is considered to choose the samples. To develop the questionnaire, that of ASHRAE 55 (2010) is used, however according to type of the research and the questions cover, some related questions are added. Moreover, answers are adjusted in seven scales in order to be analyzable using available scales of thermal comfort standards such as 7-point scale of ASHRAE. According to results, 81.7% of whole 328 respondents and 65.5% are satisfiedwithtemperature and humidity respectively. Adapting these results to ASHRAE 55, it is concluded that most staff are satisfied in their work place however the results are the opposite about the humidity. To determine suitable range of temperature and relative humidity in order to define comfort zone in offices in Kermanshah, measured data using FLUKE AIR METER are opposed to the results about temperature and humidity (questionnaire). Data analysis using SPSS represents that neutral temperature range through offices in this city is 20-26 centigrade and low relative humidity is about 19%.

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Aims:  Due to Human’s physical and psychological dimensions interaction so that  both dimensions includes human integrity and general health, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between Low Back Pain(LBP) severity and depression among employees of the  Education Ministry.
Instrument & Methods: In this researching as a descriptive-analytical study, 100 employees of the Education Ministry who were selected through available sampling, included. . Study tools included demographic questionnaire, Visual Analog Scale (VAS)  and Beck Depression Inventory. Data were analyzed by using SPSS 23 and Pearson correlation coefficient (г) and independent t-test.
Findings: The results showed that 62% (N=62) of employees were suffering from LBP with different severity. In addition there was a positive and significant correlation between low back pain and depression in participants (P <0.05). However, no significant difference between mean pain intensity in male and female employees was observed (P> 0.05).
Conclusion: The relationship between LBP and depression among the staff in this study was revealed. It is necessary to pay attention towards physical-psychological factors and also mental and physical vitality for preventing and treatment of LBP.
Conclusion: the relationship between (LBP) and depression among the staff in this study, it is necessary to pay attention towards physical-psychological factors and mental and physical vitality for preventing and treatment of (LBP) will be advised.
 

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Problem: With the development of urbanization and the need to pay attention to environmental aspects, industrial areas within the city have been abandoned and destroyed. Pars Electric factory in Rasht city has become a place for garbage and drug addicts to accumulate during nearly two decades of closure and has created dangers for the area.
Target : The purpose of the article is to examine the components of vitality in order to revive the post-industrial arena of this collection.
Method: In this regard, information has been collected by using library-documentary methods, questionnaires and interviews. Vitality components based on theoretical literature were extracted and randomly distributed among 312 people in the form of a questionnaire, and the results were subjected to second-order confirmatory factor analysis in Smart PLS.
Findings : Safety and security with a path coefficient of 0.878 shows the strong and direct impact of this factor on increasing the vitality of Pars Electric Factory in Rasht. The factors of sense of place, legibility, climatic comfort, social justice and sensory richness express 55, 48, 44, 42 and 36 percent of the changes in increasing the dynamism and vitality of the post-industrial landscape of Pars Electric respectively.
Result: Definition of areas, monitoring and control, proper lighting, establishment of 24-hour activities, creation of interactive spaces are among the proposed measures with high priority to strengthen the two factors of safety and security and sense of place in order to improve the vitality of the said site.

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Regarding the importance of inhibiting VEGF and unique features of VHHs as a new generation of antibody-based therapeutics, the present study aimed to generate VHHs against the receptor binding domain of VEGF, thereby blocking of VEGF binding to its receptor. After preparing the gene repertoire of VHH fragments from an immunized camel, a VHH phage display library was constructed. We adopted a stringent successive biopanning to isolate the phages displaying VHH with high affinity to VEGF-RBD.A significant enrichment of phages that specifically bound to the target protein was obtained after six rounds of panning. Of the specific clones with high binding affinity screened by monoclonal phage ELISA, 52% shared the same VHH sequence, showing its high enrichment. Using molecular simulation of antigen-antibody interaction based on the crystallographic information of VEGF/VEGFR2, molecular dynamics simulations and MM/PBSA free energy calculations, we provide a reliable picture of the binding site of antibody on antigen. The key residues in the VEvhh1-VEGF interface were dissected and the energetics was analyzed by MM/PBSA. The results of studies revealed that VEvhh1 binds to the receptor binding site of VEGF with high binding energy and showed the highest affinity to the residues of VEGF which are responsible for VEGF binding to VEGFR2. Also the antibody potently covers these key functional residues of VEGF, thereby inhibiting VEGF binding to its receptor and probably abrogating its biological activity. This study may represent VEvhh1 as an anti-VEGF and anti-angiogenic candidate.