---

---

The present study evaluated the effects of reducing agricultural tariffs in different scenarios on food security and macroeconomic variables that using a computable general equilibrium model and data from Afghanistan's social accounting matrix. The effects of reducing tariffs were evaluated at 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%, and 100% (full liberalization). The results of this study showed that imports and consumption of cereals, fruits, vegetables, and livestock are gradually increased for households. Additionally, the increased purchasing power of households led to an increased demand for food, which improved food security and ultimately the health of households and society. Therefore, support for special facilities in the field of eliminating tariffs on agricultural products is essential.

---

     The Oriental hornet, Vespa orientalis L. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) is one of the most important and serious enemies of honeybees. In this study, the annual population dynamics and daily activity rhythm of Oriental hornet were examined, based on the number of adults trapped in an apiary located in Ahvaz (southwest of Iran) during a period of two years (January 2021 to December 2022). Samplings were performed using the box traps available in the market. The bait used in the traps was fresh chicken liver, with the traps checked daily in four time periods. The results revealed that the first overwintering queens (gynes) emerged in March and two population peaks of newly emerged hornet workers occurred during the year, one in July and the other in October. In late November and early December, no adult hornet was trapped. The daily activity rhythm of adult hornets was observed mostly during 9 - 12, almost twice as much as in the afternoon period (12 - 15). The lowest activity was recorded in the evening period and night (6 pm - 9 am). During both years of sampling, the seasonal abundance of adult hornets displayed a significant positive correlation with air temperature and a significant negative correlation with relative humidity. By comparing the result of our findings with other studies performed in the same and different climate zones, it can be hoped to present effective methods to control the population of V. orientalis, especially in areas that have extensive beekeeping.

---

---

Damage of both building and non-building structures (including the space structures) against earthquake is of great importance for civil engineers, because collapse of such large structures may have significant casualties and economic losses. Space structures are classified as large-scale structures and can cover a large space without columns. Seismic behavior of these structures is different from building structures. There are different types of space structures considering the geometrical aspects, which are effective in the damages causing economic and life losses. A space structure has three-dimensional behavior, and their higher-mode effects are remarkable. On the other hand, the weight of these structures is relatively low that may cause an unrealistic reduction in the calculation of seismic force in a static analysis. Therefore, the static analysis cannot capture their structural response effectively. Traditionally, the dynamic analysis is utilized for seismic design of space structures due to their complex structural behavior. Thus, in this paper, seismic design of two single-layer domes is performed using two dynamic analyses: time history analysis and response spectrum analysis. Although there are some studies on seismic design of domes, further investigations are required due to the structural diversity of different domes and the difference in their seismic behavior. Here, the ribbed and Schwedler domes under gravity and seismic loads are analyzed dynamically. The parameters of the design response spectral acceleration are based on ASCE7-16, and the site class (based on the soil type) is selected as “D”. Both horizontal and vertical components of seismic excitations are utilized in the dynamic analyses, because all these components are effective in design of a dome structure. The damping ratio is assumed to be 2% in the dynamic analyses based on the relevant literature.  In the response spectrum analysis, the vertical seismic load is expressed in terms of dead loads in the response spectrum analysis. In the time history analysis, seven ground motion records are selected based on the seismic zone. These ground motion records are scaled using both amplitude scaling and spectral matching approaches. The vertical components are scaled to the specific vertical design spectrum obtained from ASCE7-16. In this study, seismic design of the ribbed and Schwedler domes with a span of 36 meters and a height of 6 meters are carried out with some limitations on the member stress ratios and top nodal displacements. The structural designs based on the time history analysis and the response spectrum analysis are compared. The same cross-sectional areas are used in designs of the dome structures to compare the effects of these dynamic analysis methods better. In general, the top node displacement and stress ratios of the dome obtained using time history analysis is larger than that obtained using spectral dynamic analysis. Accordingly, the results indicate that the structure designed with the time history analysis is heavier than the structure designed with the response spectrum analysis. Obviously, although the time history analysis provides a better understanding of the dynamic behavior of the structure, it requires much higher computational cost than the response spectrum analysis.

 

---

Background:Accumulative research is in progress to clarify clinical aspects of GBV-C. The possibility of interaction between HCV and GBV-C as well as its consequence on development of liver diseases is the most important clinical aspect which encourages researchers to develop a rapid and cost effective technique for simultaneous detection of both viruses. Methods: In this study, a SYBR Green real time multiplex RT-PCR technique as a new economical and sensitive method was designed and validated for simultaneous detection of HCV/GBV-C in HCV positive plasma samples. SYBR green real time RT-PCR technique optimization was performed separately for each virus. Multiplex PCR was established next. Standard sera with known concentrations of HCV RNA and dual HCV/GBV-C positive control samples along with negative control samples were used to validate the assay. Results and Conclusions:  Fifty six non cirrhotic HCV positive plasma samples [29 of genotype 3a and 27 of genotype 1a] were collected from patients before receiving treatment. 20.6% of genotype 3a and 18.7% of genotype 1a showed HCV/GBV-C co-infection. As a result, 19.6% of 56 samples had HCV/GBV-C co-infection that was compatible with other results from all over the world. SYBR Green real time multiplex RT-PCR technique can be used to detect HCV/GBV-C co-infection in plasma samples. Furthermore, with application of this method more time and cost could be saved in clinical-research settings.

---

Previously, neighborhood units were considered as the first identity unit of cities and the most important base of citizen’s social relationships, however recently they have been lost in the shadow of new urban developments. Nowadays, the quantity of citizen’s relationships has been increased but it happened at the cost of quality reduction in social relationships alongside replacement with virtual relationships. It seems that the identity and cultural structure of urban society are being threatened by new urbanism development and loss of their original functions in Iran. This is the result of shrinkage in the function of neighborhood centers and interior public spaces in the neighborhood units. On the other hand, green spaces and valuable natural countryside of cities are destroyed because of population increasing, industrial development and undefined urban expansion. Not only reduction in appropriate urban green spaces has suppressed their effects on urban pollutions but also limited the recreational and social open spaces in the cities. Design and construction of neighborhood parks as a part of urban green spaces, are among the most important issues in the design and planning of contemporary urbanism. In the developing countries such as Iran, establishment of new neighborhood parks is part of the Improvement of minimum necessary urban green spaces, but the effect of such green spaces on the type and quality of citizens’ relationships has not been deeply noticed. Noticing the” neighborhood unit” as an informant unit of city is basically one of the fundamental strategies for solving this problem. Revitalization of old neighborhood unit centers in the form of new neighborhood parks and using the potential of neighborhood green spaces could develop social relationship in the neighborhood units. This research aims to answer two questions: 1) What is the function of neighborhood parks in the social relationship quality of neighborhood communities; and 2) How the neighborhood parks can be used for development of neighborhood social relationships. Two successful samples from the developed countries and one successful sample from Iran were selected for analytical –descriptive analysis of the subject. Besides analyzing the operation quality of these parks in urban spaces, different impacts of such green spaces on neighborhood social relationships were studied. The results showed that, for increasing of neighborhood social relationships, the appropriate conditions for increasing the presence time of people in the parks must be provided at first. Some of these conditions such as easy accessibility, attractiveness, etc have impact on peoples’ attraction to the parks, and some others such as physiological comfort, sense of security, natural scenes, etc have impact on people’s presence time in the park. Suitable tactics for increasing interaction between people were stabilized; such as park furniture arrangement types, multiple and social activities and, good aggregation points. Based on the results of this study, appropriate strategies for the design of  neighborhood parks were developed.

---

Aims: Fatalistic employees take serious risks because they have limited knowledge of risks and accidents, leading them to under estimate the possibility of their occurrence. This research examined the effectiveness of safety training on changing employees’ fatalism with attention to the mediating role of attitude toward safety issues. Methods: 204 employees was selected according to the stratified random sampling method in Isfahan Steel Company, divided randomly into control group (n=103) and experimental group (n=101) and the questionnaires of safety attitude and fatalism were applied as data collection instruments. The data was collected before intervention, and educational intervention was then executed in four 90-minute sessions over four days. One month after intervention, post-test was performed and the collected data was analyzed using descriptive indexes, t- and F-tests. Findings: Results show that there was a significant statistical difference in average numbers of attitude toward safety issues and fatalism before and after training intervention (p<0.01). Also, mediation analysis indicated attitude toward safety issues mediated the effect of safety trainings on fatalism (p>0.05). Therefore, safety training only by promoting workers’ safety attitudes can change the fatalistic beliefs among employees. Conclusion: By understanding relationship between fatalism and safety attitude, it should be possible to improve the training of employees, such that are less likely to attribute accidents to chance or fate.

---

Acknowledging the strengths of the national curriculum, the present study aimed at evaluating its approach towards foreign language education from three perspectives: (1) analyzing the foreign language section of the national curriculum based on the methodological and theoretical underpinnings, and its internal consistency; (2) examining its content based on the basic assumptions mentioned in the literature for setting foreign language policies and (3) evaluating its content based on the macro-documents of the country. In so doing, first, the relevant sections of the national curriculum were analyzed. The results indicated that, although the foreign language section of the national curriculum has some strengths such as a move toward decentralization and increase in hours of instruction, it suffers from some weaknesses such as vagueness of the content and lack of consistency and connection among the aims of the instruction. In order to examine the document from the second perspective, 6 criteria that foreign language education policies should follow were extracted from the relevant literature, and the document was evaluated based on these criteria. The results indicated both consistencies and inconsistencies between the content of the document with these principles. The national curriculum, then, was evaluated to find its matches and mismatches with the policies and orientations of macro-documents. The results indicated that the foreign language section of the national curriculum cannot set the ground for achieving the goals proposed in the macro-documents of the country. Finally, the paper offers some guidelines for developing national English language curriculum.

---

In this research 52 species of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) have been reported from the northeastern Fars province, of which the species of Hylaeus punctus Förster and Hoplitis leucomelana Kirby were new records for Iran fauna. Among the material examined, there were 11 species of Apidae, 19 species of Halictidae, 1 species of Andrenidae, 4 species of Colletidae and 17 species of Megachilidae. Phoretic mites belonging to four genera Parapygmephorus, Vidia, Imparipes and Anoetus were associated with halictid and meghachilid bees. Among associated mites with collected bees Imparipes burgeri Ebermann & Jagersbacher-Baumann belonging to the family Scutacaridae was new for Iran fauna and Asia. We also collected five new mite species for science. These species were belong to the genera Parapygmephorus (1 species), Vidia (1 species), and Anoetus (3 species) of the families Neopygmephoridae, Winterschmidtiidae and Anoetidae respectively that will be described elsewhere. All specimens are deposited in the “Collection of Iranian Pollinator Insects” of Yasouj University.

---

Unwillingness-to-communicatation in a foreign language (UTC) on the part of learners, which is a tendency to avoid oral communication, is one of the main problems of language teachers. In a way, if the source of this unwillingness is determined, language teachers can decide better about those students who seem reluctant in the communication and usually avoid interactions. Yet the extent of this unwillingness is not constant among different individuals and it can be the result of many diverse factors. This study has focused on the relationship between the students' personality traits and their UTC, and the role of gender in the levels of UTC. In so doing, two highly validated measures of NEO Five Factor Model (NEO-FFM) and UTC scale of unwillingness to communicate were administered to 250 participants from four universities. The results of step-wise multiple regression showed that, from the five factors of personality (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness), extraversion was the best predictor of UTC. The second and the third predictive variables were neuroticism and conscientiousness, respectively. While extraversion and conscientiousness had a negative relationship with UTC, neuroticism had a positive correlation. Moreover, the results of t-test proved no significant difference between the two groups of males and females with respect to their levels of UTC. In the end, drawing on the relevant literature, the results of the study have been discussed and the importance of findings has been explicated for teachers and language teaching practitioners.

---

Aim: It has been shown that workers who had previously been involved in a work accident had significantly lower situation awareness scores than those who had not had an accident in the workplace. In this study, we examined the role of stress, sleep loss and fatigue in predicting situation awareness among workers. Methods: The current study was a cross-sectional study. The sample consisting of 180 employees in National Petrochemical Company in 2014 was selected according to the stratified random sampling method. They responded to questionnaires about work situation awareness, work stress, sleep loss and fatigue. The data were analyzed by correlation techniques and stepwise regression. Findings: The results showed a significant internal correlation among work stress, sleep loss and fatigue, and work situation awareness. Also the results of stepwise regression analysis showed that sleep loss, fatigue and stress predicted, respectively, almost 25%, 23% and 21% of variances of work situation awareness among workers. Conclusion: The variables of stress, sleep loss and fatigue could predict work situation awareness. Therefore, these variables can be important to promoting the awareness of work situation among workers

---

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) is a serious and economically important pest of cruciferous crops worldwide. The nutritional indices of this pest on four host plants including two canola (SLM₀₄₆ and RGS₀₀₃) and two cabbage cultivars (Green-Cornet and Glob-Master) were determined under laboratory conditions (25 ± 0.5 °C, 65 ± 5% RH and 16: 8 L: D h). The highest relative consumption rate (RCR) and relative growth rate (RGR) were recorded on RGS₀₀₃ (95.68 ± 14.52 mg/mg/day) and SLM₀₄₆(0.382 ± 0.041 mg/mg/day), respectively. The efficiency of the conversion of ingested food (ECI) and efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) were significantly higher on SLM₀₄₆ (2.298 ± 0.646 and 2.471 ± 0.719%, respectively). However, there was no significant difference among cultivars regarding approximate digestibility (AD) index. The highest feeding performance of the larvae of P. xylostella was found on SLM₀₄₆. The nutritional indices are appropriate tools in host plant resistance evaluation and they also could provide profound understanding of the behavioral and physiological bases of insect-host plant interactions.  

---

Aim: Depression symptoms play a major role in eating disorders; however, research shows that non-adaptive emotion regulation strategy is also associated with depression symptoms. The current study examined the mediating role of the emotion regulation strategy on the relationship between depression symptom and disordered eating among students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 on a sample of 264 female students at Allameh Tabatabaie University, according to Morgan and Cluster samplings. The participants completed the questionnaires of depression, emotion regulation and eating attitudes test. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using coefficient correlation and stepwise regression. Statistical differences were considered significant at P<0.01.
Findings: The results showed that there was a significant correlation among emotion regulation difficulties, depression symptom and disordered eating (p<0.01). Also regression analysis indicated that emotion regulation difficulties significantly mediated the relationship between depression symptoms and disordered eating (p<0.01).
Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, examining the role of emotion regulation strategies on the relationship between depression symptoms and eating disorders indicated that eating disorder is the regulating mechanism in reducing depression.

---

Abstract Urban parks and green spaces as a part of the urban structure must be design according to the necessities of urban life and fulfillment of the citizens requirements. The citizens requirements include wide variety environmental, social, cultural, economical and physical aspects. All cities potential spaces and their natural values must be consider to sustainable fulfillment of the citizens requirements. One of the most important natural values in cities are rivers and their surrounded valley that always very interested for Authorities and urban planners to convert to urban green space.. Rehabilitate and planning of these rivers and rivers valleys is mainly done base on recreational development and sustainable development objectives. Therefore their suitable ecological conditionse is very important. Base on above consideration, the principle criteriaes for urban river valleys ecological evaluation base on sustainable landscape design, wereinvestigated. In this project, case research method by use of compound solution has been used. Results of this research reveals that landscape elements in Darabad river valley could be divided in four categories including 1-watery surfaces 2-topography 3-vegetation cover 4-artificial elements and the first priority in permanent ecological landscape restoring of this river valley is connected to preservation and restoring of the river and vegetation cover in the river floor and side gardens. Keywords: sustainable development, river valleys, urban environment, park

---

Background: Rapid test and conventional ELISA are common immunological assays used for the detection of HIV infection. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence rate of   HIV infection by rapid test used for screening HIV infection and then confirmed the positive cases with ELISA and western blot tests.
Materials and Methods: In this analytical descriptive study, 1964 out of 6923 patients who were referred to the Consult Center of Behavior Diseases, West Health Center (Valfajr Clinic), Iran University of Medical Sciences were subjected to rapid test for screening HIV infection from July 2012 to September 2014.
Results: Thirty seven out of 1964(1.88%) cases were confirmed as positive by rapid HIV test. All of the positive cases confirmed by rapid test were also confirmed as positive by ELISA and western blot tests. According to the data analysis of this study, among people diagnosed as HIV positive using rapid test, 12(32.4%) cases had unsafe heterosexual contact, followed by 10 (27%) cases of IDUs with a history of prison, shared injection, and unsafe heterosexual contact.
Conclusion:  The use of rapid test as a screening test for diagnosing HIV infection and the confirmation of all the positive and suspected negative cases by the ELISA test or western blot is recommended. 

---

Among different models for runoff estimation in watershed management, the Soil Conservation Services-Curve Number (SCS-CN) method along with its modifications have been widely applied to ungauged watersheds because of quickly and more accurate estimation of surface runoff. This approach has been widely accepted by hydrologists, water resources planners, foresters, and engineers, as well. Therefore, this work was aimed to estimate the curve number using CN-values through several methods viz. SCS, Sobhani (1975), Hawkins et al. (1985), Chow et al. (1988), Neitsch et al. (2002) and Mishra et al. (2008) in Bar Watershed, Iran. According to the results, the Neitsch formula showed the best performance for estimating the Curve Number in situation with low (CNI) and high (CNIII) antecedent moisture conditions. However, the weakest performance was related to Mishra (2008) in CNI and CNIII-conversions. The weakest performance was resulted from the exponential form of the Neitsch et al. formula and the variable meteorological conditions of the Bar Watershed over the year.

---

The present study was set out to investigate the generalizability of the findings of quantitative research studies in Iranian English Language Teaching (ELT) context. To this end, the researchers, first, examined the general characteristics of the people who had participated as study subjects in quantitative ELT research studies during the last ten years. Considering the subjects’ age and the research sites, it appeared that the participants in previous quantitative ELT studies belonged to 11 groups of people. Subsequent analyses revealed that more than 60% of previous research studies had been carried out in academic settings and on university students. About 20% of the studies had focused on language learners in private language institutes and students in junior high schools and high schools. Pre-university centers had participated in only 7% of previous studies. Highlighting the possible causes of the imbalanced focus of previous studies, the researchers then discussed the limitations that this skewed distribution impose on the generalizability of previous ELT studies.    

---

With the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Islamic ideological discourse as the most important element in the discursive field of the discourse of modernism was able to articulate with other sub-discourses and according to its capabilities, credibility and populism was able to bring the transcendence of their discourse to the foreground in comparison with the dominant discourse and especially in relation to rival discourses. This new discourse with the creation of a new ideal space emerged as a discourse of hegemony and created a dominant political construction in this period in the history of Iran. What further led to the hegemony of this Islamic ideological discourse over rival discourses, along with Ayatollah Khomeini's charisma, was the adoption of a strategy right under the guise of a policy of solidarity between different groups in the sense that Laclau and Mouffe envisioned. It signifies the creation of an organic alliance between groups, parties, organizations, and the masses with the aim of turning social affairs into political ones. This study deals with a fundamental approach and using an analytic-descriptive method i.e discourse analysis, investigates the dominance of Islamic ideological discourse over the political construction of space in the first decade of the revolution. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between space, power and discourse in the Foucaultian sense and its effect on the political construction of space. The central signifier of this discourse is the Islamic ideology that emerged in opposition to and in the negation of the centrality of the previous discourse, Western modernism. Also, the space-place notion in which this discourse is manifested is the Islamic nation where the element of land is eliminated and extended to the realm of the world, instead.

---

Fair assessment of language proficiency and use is one of the challenges language assessment experts have faced. In Iran, according to the parliament’s ‘Act of Student Admission to Universities’, University Entrance Examination (UEE) should be gradually substituted by the students’ schooling backgrounds mostly reflected in their high school exam performances. In spite of this upcoming change, however, various English language exams students take during high school have not been assessed in terms of their ethical effects. In the present study, 80 students who had graduated from high school determined the degree to which teacher-made exams in the second grade and pre-university level, national third-grade exam and English part of UEE can be regarded as fair. The data obtained were analyzed by ANOVA. In addition, the contents of students’ essay-type responses to the items of another questionnaire were analyzed and qualitative data were collected. The results showed the extent to which students could remember cases of unfair assessment associated with each type of high school English exam. It was finally concluded that the English part of UEE and national English exam are perceived as the most ethical forms of assessment. It also seems that authentic assessment of the language, which is the most noticeable in the pre-university English examination can contribute positively to fair assessment. The findings can be utilized for filling the fairness gap after UEE is removed from the educational system.