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The present mixed-methods study aimed to provide the preliminary profile of Iranian EFL teachers’ Psychological Distress, Foreign Language Teaching Enjoyment, and wellbeing. In this vein, 243 Iranian EFL teachers aged between 20 to 51 were recruited from four provinces and were asked to reflect and respond the questionnaires. The results of the Pearson Correlation signaled a significant negative relatedness of Psychological Distress with the other two variables which were significantly and positively associated. Building upon the quantitative results, we further explored the coping strategies with which the teachers would alter and allay the negativity of Psychological Distress in their daily life and teaching experience. The qualitative results of the interview obtained from 40 teachers showed that they use self-related, and others-related strategies to cope with their distressful feelings. The findings of the present study would be useful for teachers and teacher educators by giving them an eagle eye towards teachers’ negative feelings and the ways by which they can handle unpleasant feelings and move toward wellbeing.
 

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Although critical pedagogy (CP) is a worthwhile approach to education, not much attention has been paid to its application in online courses. Acknowledging its pivotal role, this study intended to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ awareness of CP and explore the possible effects of teaching experience on their awareness of CP via a CP questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Furthermore, to evaluate teachers’ actual classroom application of CP, online EFL classes were observed. The results indicated that teachers’ awareness of the significance of CP principles did not help them fully implement the principles in their online teaching practices. A significant relationship between teaching experience and some subscales of CP principles was also found. The findings of this study can offer some implications for English teachers in the post-method era to rethink their previous critical views towards English language teaching and their roles as facilitators.
 

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The poetries of Sheevan Foumani are various from the conceptual and functional views.These stylistic varieties in poetries represent the frequency of experience that by means of them the poet incorporates component of meaning to the linguistic community of poetries.He carries out the aim by using the symbolic units in a specific style.Since the most of his poetries are symbolic and symbols of poetries are manifested in the forms of attributes,identification,personalization,impersonalization,the current research aims at investigating the semantic components of poetries of Fokhos and Aghadar in accordance with sociolinguistics. Also, it aims at drawing discursive boundaries through the symbolic representation of social actors based on the discursive functions.Therefore, two combined models of socio-semantic of Van Leeuwan and semio-semantic of Paris have been chosen to achieve these goals.As a main purpose,this research investigates the features of the model of Van Leeuwan on poetries.Consequently,the critical approach of the semio-semantic analysis of Paris tries to explain the discursive boundaries of poetries. Primarily by implementing the model of Van Leeuwan on verses, the results of research indicated that the representation of social actors in two poetries has been mostly formed by the factor of impersonalization. Moreover, based on the saliency of impersonalization, the semio-semantic analysis of poetries is formed by instrumenting this component in the direction of creating discursive spaces and the result indicated that discursive functions of appeasement,resistance,and insistence are often organized in textual layers that are related to the subcomponents of impersonalization.

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Salt stress is a serious environmental threat reducing crop yield. Hence, developing any breeding plan requires an understanding of the basic physiology and cell molecular genetic regulation under salinity stress. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of gene expression changes on ion homeostasis comprising salt overly sensitive (SOS1) and vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter (NHX1) along with ion content measurement and proline content in the rice mutants at Rice Research Institute of Iran in 2018-2019. To survey these realities, tolerant mutant genotypes (em₄hs290 and em₄hs84) along with Hashemi parent cultivar, IR28 (sensitive), and FL478 (tolerant) seedlings were treated with 100 mM NaCl. Based on the results of growth indices, the seedling length of Hashemi cultivar and IR28 decreased considerably about 44.7%, and 44.2% reduction to that of the control, and the leaves progressively yellowed. Results showed that proline content and K⁺ and K⁺/Na⁺ ratio increased about ~2–3-fold higher in the tolerant genotypes than in the susceptible ones. Also, the overall amount of the OsNHX1 and SOS1 expression increased in tolerant genotypes compared to the susceptible ones. Accordingly, the compatible solute accumulation significantly advanced resulting in improvement of ionic homeostasis and probably suppresses the stress. Moreover, the variable pattern of gene expression in the two salt-tolerant mutants (em₄hs290 and em₄hs84) and Hashemi parent showed that the induced mutation could increase the salt-tolerant in mutant genotypes through ionic and osmotic homeostasis. Generally, these tolerant mutant genotypes could be applied to develop salt-tolerant varieties in rice breeding programs which can bring on production sustainability.

 

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Fire can not only lead to many human and financial losses, but also can cause structures to collapse and destroy them. For this reason, it is necessary and inevitable to protect buildings against fire and conduct more research in the field of better understanding the effects of combining different materials with each other and obtaining materials with greater resistance to fire. Concrete and concrete structures are always used by construction engineers due to their resistance, availability and resilience against fire. Ordinary concrete loses its strength at high temperatures, and the use of unreinforced concrete is not very useful due to its brittleness and weakness in tensile strength. In concrete, the tensile strength is lower than its compressive strength, and for this reason, researchers are trying to increase the resistance to fire and heating by improving the tensile strength of concrete. Reinforcing concrete with rebar is always a solution to increase the tensile strength in concrete parts, one of the most important weaknesses of using rebar in concrete is that the reinforcements form a small part of the concrete cross-section and actually cause the concrete to be inhomogeneous. In this research, double-bent steel fibers have been used to overcome the mentioned weakness and reinforce the concrete. It should be noted that concrete containing steel fibers has favorable compressive and tensile strength due to the high tensile strength of steel fibers. In order to achieve this goal and achieve fiber concrete that has good fire resistance, we defined seven different mixing plans with different percentages of steel fibers and lubricants. Concrete samples were produced using double-bent steel fibers in amounts of 0.5, 1, and 1.2 percent by volume of concrete and superlubricant in 0.5, 1, and 1.3 percent by weight of cement, and then in Cubic molds with dimensions of 10x10x10 cm and cylindrical ones were sampled as standard, and after setting the cement, the 28-day-old concrete samples, after heating and placing inside the electric heater with different temperatures, were divided into two The method of gradual cooling with ambient air and fog spraying (water spraying) is similar to what firefighters do when extinguishing a fire, after measuring the amount of weight loss of the heated samples, the weight loss values ​​were presented in the form of a diagram, then the samples were subjected to tests Compressive strength, tensile strength (Brazilian test) and ultrasonic wave speed (ultrasonic test) were placed, and the results and data of each of them for each mixing design were presented in the form of a diagram after examination and classification, so that the effect of high heat on Concrete containing steel fibers and super-lubricant should be determined. The results clearly showed the improvement of the tensile strength in three volume percentages of fibers by 14.6, 16.8 and 64.5%, respectively, compared to concrete without fibers, and also the compressive strength of concrete after bearing the heat of 250 degrees Celsius and cooling to the fogging method had 44.5, 31.6, and 9.3 percent, respectively, and in the gradual air cooling method, the compressive strength was 43.3, 44.9, and 50 percent, respectively.


 

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Being a promising component of educational and occupational success, the inclusion of critical thinking in various aspects of schooling has gained momentum in recent years. Therefore, the present study investigated the Iranian 12th grade English language final examinations based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy in terms of “knowledge dimension” and “cognitive process dimension” over the last five years of exam administration. Using a quantitative content analysis design, the items of the aforementioned examinations administered from 2019 to 2023 were analyzed. The findings of the study showed that the frequency of “conceptual knowledge” items in the “knowledge dimension” and “understand” items in the “cognitive process dimension” were significantly higher based on the results of Chi-square test. Moreover, the frequency of items relevant to lower-order thinking skills was found to be considerably higher than that of the items related to higher-order thinking skills, although instances of top cognitive level items could be traced in these examinations. It was also revealed that there was no considerable change with regard to the inclusion of the two dimensions of Bloom’s revised taxonomy over the five years of administration under study. The results of this study can be a fillip for policy makers, textbook developers, and teachers to accelerate the required changes regarding the consideration of inclusion of critical thinking-based tasks in textbooks, lesson plans and examinations.
 

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Moisture damage in asphalt mixtures poses significant challenges to infrastructure durability, necessitating accurate modeling for effective mitigation strategies due to the complex nature of moisture susceptibility. Current tests, such as those utilizing general indicators like the indirect tensile strength ratio, examine moisture susceptibility in asphalt mixtures. However, these tests incur substantial costs and require considerable time. Therefore, this study aims to develop moisture susceptibility prediction models using Multi-Gene Genetic Programming (MGGP). The research utilized four types of aggregates (two limestone and two granite types) and eight different Performance Grade (PG) bitumen types. The modified Lottman test method (AASHTO T283) was employed for moisture susceptibility assessment, with samples subjected to specific conditioning protocols including vacuum saturation (13-67 kPa absolute pressure), freeze-thaw cycles (-18°C for 16 hours), and hot water conditioning (60°C for 24 hours). Indirect tensile strength tests were conducted under controlled loading conditions (2 Hz frequency, 0.1s loading time, 0.4s rest period) at 25°C. The dataset comprised 34 samples and 11 variables to predict two key indicators: Inflection Stripping Point (ISP) and Stripping Slope (SS). The MGGP model demonstrated remarkable performance in predicting both ISP and SS, achieving R² values of 0.981 and 0.974 for the test data, respectively. Several crucial parameters were analyzed, including the apparent film thickness (AFT) calculated using aggregate specific surface area, permeability measured through falling head test method (ASTM PS 129-01), and surface free energy components. The surface energy analysis incorporated both cohesive free energy (CFE) and adhesive free energy (AFE), with special attention to the acid-base theory components: Lifshitz-van der Waals (LW), Lewis acid (Γ⁺), and Lewis base (Γ^-) components. For ISP prediction, the MGGP model identified key variables including the ratio of base to acid surface free energy (SFE), asphalt-water adhesion (Γ_{Asphalt-Water}), cohesive free energy (CFE), adhesive free energy (AFE), permeability of asphalt mixture (PAM), asphalt film thickness (AFT), and degree of saturation (DS). The model for SS prediction emphasized the importance of Γ_{Asphalt-Water}, aggregate-water adhesion (Γ_{Aggregate-Water}), wettability, specific surface area (SSA), PAM, and DS. The study employed various performance metrics to evaluate the MGGP models. For ISP predictions, the model achieved RMSE, MSE, and MAE values of 5.228, 27.337, and 3.843, respectively. For SS predictions, these values were 0.294, 0.086, and 0.231, respectively, indicating high accuracy and low error rates. These results surpass those of previous studies employing traditional Genetic Programming (GP) methods, highlighting the potential of MGGP as a powerful tool in modeling asphalt moisture susceptibility. The practical implications of this research are significant for improving asphalt mixture durability, reducing maintenance costs, and enhancing road safety. Future research could focus on validating the models across a broader range of asphalt mixtures and environmental conditions.
 

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By studying the Qur'anic narratives, what is most visible is the amazing and elimination that includes a complete part of a story, even at a time. A pity that has been used not only in the Qur'anic stories, but also throughout the Qur'an as one of the highest literary and rhetorical manifestations of the Qur'an. This is one of the mechanisms and tools of the narrative or discourse silence process in which the signs of the narrative are eliminated and with their absence refers to the modules that the reader can rely on succession and companionship. And also from the intersection between the two and the use of brain capacity, fill those holes and gaps, thus fully view and receive the story. The important point in discourse silence is the interpretative and analytical aspect of narrative, and merely, such as the elimination of the classic rhetoric of the Nesith, which appeared in the form of metaphor, metaphor, permissible, and such equipment and to express aesthetics. In this article, we will first explain the silence of discourse in modern cognitive criticism, and then explain the narration of the life of Yusuf (AS) in the Holy Quran, based on the same validity and discourse. The result shows that discourse silence in this sura has been used in three types of structural, semantic and implicit, and with the systematic structure of the Qur'anic narrative structure, these vacuums are received and completed by the reader.
 

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Background:Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a sight-threatening microvascular complication of diabetes in which the vascular endothelium is damaged due to oxidative stress and inflammation, and vitreous VEGF concentration becomes elevated. The aim of the present study was to assess the association of DR with genetic variations of the MnSOD, a major antioxidant enzyme, and VEGF, an important mediator of neovascularisation, in northern Iran. Methods: 70 patients with DR and 70 healthy control subjects matched for age and sex was recruited for this study. PCR-based RFLP assay was used to determine the genotypes of MnSODA16V and VEGF+405 C/G polymorphisms. Results and Conclusions:A higher frequency of the AV genotype (71.43%) of the MnSODA16V polymorphism was found in the patients compared with controls which had a 8.33-fold increase in risk of DR (OR= 8.33, 95% CI= 2.56-27.13, P= 0.0004). The frequency of GG, GC, and CC genotypes of VEGF +405 C/G polymorphism in controls were 42.86%, 45.71% and 11.43%, respectively, while in DR patients were 18.57%, 48.57%, and 32.86%, respectively.The +405C allele was considered as a high risk factor of DR (OR= 2.55, 95% CI= 1.57-4.14, P= 0.0001). In conclusion, It is suggested that the MnSODA16V and the VEGF+405 C/G polymorphisms may be associated with the risk of DR in northern Iran.

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Biochemical characteristics of α-amylase in the digestive system and head glands of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, a key predator of citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Pseudococcidae), were studied. The major isoform of α-amylase with the same molecular weight was detected in both gut and head glands loaded on polyacrylamide-starch gel electrophoresis. Moreover, a minor band with much lower intensity was observed in zymogram analysis of gut. Results showed that the specific activity of α-amylase from head glands (0.89 ± 0.02 μmol/min/mg protein) was significantly more than that of digestive system (0.76 ± 0.01 μmol/min/mg protein) in common condition (temperature equal to 25 ± 1 ^oC). The optimal pH and temperature for α-amylases activity were determined to be nearly 4 and 50°C in digestive system and 6 and 60 °C in head glands, respectively. EDTA (Ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid), Mg²⁺, Na⁺, Co²⁺, Fe²⁺ and Ca²⁺ inhibited the enzyme activity but Ba²⁺, Zn²⁺, Hg⁺ and K⁺ enhanced enzyme activity in digestive system. EDTA and all tested metal ions except Ba²⁺ inhibited the enzyme activity of head glands. Detectable levels of α-amylase activity in the insect reflect adaptation of the coccinellid for using starch granules or sugars (honeydew; sugary excreta of homopterans; and nectar) as a source of food in addition to predatory habits.

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Powdery mildew is one of the most important disease concerns of tomato production in different regions of the world, which is caused by different species of Erysiphales. The most important causal agents of which are Leveillula taurica and Oidium neolycopersici. In the present study tomato farms in Qazvin province were surveyed and tomato leaves with powdery mildew symptoms were collected. After morphological studies in laboratory and using reliable resources, the causal agent of tomato powdery mildew was identified as Leveillula taurica. The host range was determined by inoculation of Leveillula taurica from tomato on nine species of plants belonging to four different plant families. All cultivars of tomato, eggplant, pepper and cucumber used in this study, showed disease symptoms on their leaf surfaces. Other plant species including potato, alfalfa, sunflower, clover and sainfoin did not get infected by the pathogen. The nucleotide divergence for the rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) region between tomato mildew and 21 other Leveillula taurica isolates ranged from 0.00 to 0.031 %. The sequence of ITS region of Leveillula taurica from tomato was identical to that of eight isolates from different plant species.  

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This study was conducted to choose the best species for plantation on a poor drainage soil in southern coast of Caspian Sea, Iran. Nutrient concentrations in live and senescent leaves and soil properties were compared among Alnus subcordata C.A.Mey (N-fixing tree), Populus deltoides­ Marsh. (Non N-fixing tree)and Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. (Coniferous tree) plantations. In each of these plantations and an adjacent natural forest, six 20×20m plots have been selected according to a 100m × 100m randomly systematic grid. Leaf samples of green trees were collected from the bottom one-third of the tree crown by clipping two small twigs located on opposite sides of the crown (six representative trees were sampled in each plot). Senescence leaves have been collected inside wooden trap-based in each stand. Results revealed different effects of species on soil nutrients. Alnus subcordata increased soil N (%) whereas Populus deltoides­ and Taxodium distichum reduced it.The results of nutrition, litter quality, retranslocation and soil properties indicated that Alnus improve soil quality in comparison with the two others.

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Background: The kiss peptins and its receptor G protein coupled receptor (GPR54) or KISS1 receptor system are being described as key signaling molecules for reproductive function in animal models and humans. They play essential roles in regulation of the hypothalamic- pituitary- gonadal (HPG) axis and the onset of puberty and fertility. Objective: This study was performed to delineate the association of T305C (Leu 102 Pro) KISS1 receptor gene mutation with idiopathic female infertility in Iranian women. Methods: In this study, 140 healthy women with at least one child and no history of infertility and abortion and 130 idiopathic infertile women were recruited for this study.  By using allele specific PCR (AS-PCR) method, the allele and genotype frequencies among infertile and healthy women were determined. Results: The gene frequencies of the 305 T and C allele of the KISS1 receptor were 45% and 54% among infertile women and 50% and 50% among healthy controls, respectively. The distribution of genotype frequencies in the patients and controls was as follows: TT (Leu/Leu) was 15% and 0%, TC (Leu/Proline) was 60% and 100% and CC (Pro/Pro) was 24% and 0% respectively. Structural analysis was performed using the MedCalc program (version 12). Our results suggests that significant association were not observed in genotype (P=0.8) and allelic (P=0.6) distribution between cases and controls. Conclusions: The data presented show that mutant allele C  is not a risk factor for infertility, suggesting that the presence of KISS1 receptor T305C mutation is probably not associated with idiopathic female infertility in this population (P>0.05).

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Life table parameters of Aphis pomi DeGeer (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were determined on two host plants: apple (Malus pumila L.) and flowering quince (Chaenomeles japonica Lindl.). This study was carried out under laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 ºC and RH of 70 ± 5 % and a photoperiod of 16: 8 h (L: D). The survivorship from first instar nymphs to adult was very close in M. pumila and C. japonica. The longevity of A. pomi was 8.1 ± 0.458 and 9.65 ± 0.412 days and the fecundity of female was 37.25 ± 2.198 and 32.9 ± 1.802 nymphs on M. pumila and C. japonica, respectively. Peaks of reproductive value occurred at ages of 8 and 9 days when reared on M. pumila and C. japonica, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) on M. pumila was higher than that on C. japonica, as it was 0.396 ± 0.015 on M. pumila and 0.329 ± 0.006 day^-1 on C. japonica. The mean generation time (T) was 9.13 ± 0.35 and 10.62 ± 0.18 days, on M. pumila and C. japonica, respectively. The results showed that the two closely related host plants had significant influence on life table parameters of A. pomi and the aphid showed a better performance on M. pumila than on C. japonica. These results indicated that M. pumila is more suitable for A. pomi, resulting in a higher reproductive performance.  

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Fungi belonging to the Mycosphaerella s. l. are widely distributed all over the world. Most taxa cause leaf spot diseases, and have considerable impact on cultivation of many economically important crops. On Eucalyptus species, for example, Mycosphaerella leaf spots are one of the major diseases responsible for severe damage in most parts of the word especially outside of their native cultivation range. Mycosphaerella leaf blotches on Eucalyptus have little been studied in Iran. During a study on fungi associated with leaf spots on Eucalyptus spp. several specimens of mitosporic fungi which have been collected from Guilan province were examined and two species viz. Kirramyces epicoccoides and Pseudocercospora eucalyptorum were found to be new records for Iran mycobiota. Moreover, another species of Pseudocercospora is described on Eucalyptus. This species is clearly distinguished from related taxa by its conidium morphology, and appears to represent a new species; however, due to complicated taxonomy of the genus Pseudocercospora (especially on Eucalyptus spp.) further information is required to confirm its taxonomical position.  

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The closed texts are among the texts being definitive in meaning and lucid in language. In other words they are monophonic and so, easy to understand. On the contrary, the open texts are polyphonic suggesting a possibility of different interpretations. Meanwhile, their language is implicit and ambiguous.
The hypothesis of the present article is that in the 8th century the open texts were developed widely in the Persian literature and for the very reason the poetry of the time is so brilliant tending to a kind of perfection in its lyrical form (Ghazal). The elements and factors involved in creating the open texts such as polysemicity, plurality, conciseness, making use of the original and everlasting subject matters, as well as taking advantage of the capacities of Persian language are discussed to be the origin of ambiguity, holistic point of view and the creating a possibility for these literary figures involved in polysemy of the text.
 

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Demographic parameters of the ladybeetle, Serangium montazerii Fursch feeding on citrus whitefly, Dialeurodes citri Ashmead were determined on two host plants, Page tangerine and Thompson navel orange. This study was carried out under laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 °C and RH of 60 ± 5% and a photoperiod of 16: 8 h (L: D). Total pre-adult periods of the lady beetle were 20.84 ± 0.302, 19.27 ± 0.251days on Page tangerine and Thompson navel orange, respectively. The survivorship from egg to adult were very close to each other on the two host plants. The oviposition periods were 29.64 ± 0.905 and 33.36 ± 0.599 days and the total number of eggs per female (fecundity) were 457.14 ± 11.099 and 528.57 ± 12.369 on Page tangerine and Thompson orange, respectively. Peaks of reproductive value occurred at ages of 31 and 33 days when reared on Thompson navel orange and Page tangerine, respectively. The intrinsic rates of increase (r) on Thompson orange and on Page tangerine were 0.134 ± 0.063 and 0.126 ± 0.006d^-1 with no significant differences. The mean generation time (T) on these host plants were 39.03 ± 0.5 and 40.57 ± 0.46 days, respectively. It can be concluded that S. montazerii feeding on D. citri in general showed a slightly better reproductive performance on Thompson navel orange than on Page tangerine.