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Abstract “Kalila and Dimna” in Persian literature and “Aesop’s Fables” in ancient Greece are two examples of old works of the world’s literature and are classified as works falling within the domain of “animals allegorical fables”. In the present research, the application of satire as a genre of unserious speech which forms an artistic dimension of the two mentioned books is studied. For this purpose, allegorical narratives of the two books in terms of different techniques for creation of satire such as ethical-critical message, verbal satire, situation satire, specific meanings, characterization and … are studied, compared and clarified. The satire applied in “Aesop’s Fables” primarily focuses on demonstration of existing moral and social contradictions in society by profiting from metaphor and extension in verbal satire and situation satire which of course the brevity in length of fables and application of the brevity technique has helped eloquence and comical aspect of this type of satire. In “Kalilah and Dimnah” too, moral and social contradictions have been given attention to by satirical expression and its narratives’ satirical strength is originated from a variety of themes, characterizations as well as situation satire next to verbal satire, with this difference that in “Kalilah and Dimnah” with composition of Nasrollah Monshi, application of narrative-inside-narrative technique together with descriptions and metaphors and those groups of literally fineries which is characteristic to technical prose, made the narratives lengthy and decreased the effect of satire.

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"The Story of “Shahre Sangestan’’ is one of the most famous poems of Mehdi Akhavan Sales. The story turns around the narration of a city where all its inhabitants have changed into stone and are looking for a way to save them. Among the characters in this poem are two pigeons who know the story of Shahriyar and give him a way to free himself. In this research, by content analysis method, the origin of the "loss of consciousness of the bird" in Persian and folk tales (370 folk tales and one hundred love collection) was studied. Taking into consideration these cases, the authors have tried to divide this content into three categories: 1. the revealed history of the hero according to bird, 2. Recognizing the magic properties of the tree according to bird; 3. Girl’s transformation to tree whose first structure is closer to Akhavan's poetry. There are examples similar to Akhavan's narrative, especially in popular narratives that can provide a clear background for the reconstruction of Akhavan's poetry in the story of the "Sangestan tale". Although two examples of this content have been reconstructed in Persian antique and official literature; but the occult’s function of bird in "Sangestan tale" is more similar to folk tales than other functions and its frequency is higher in folk tales. Given the fact that Akhavan shows his interest to folk literature, his borrowing in the article entitled “Shahre Sangestan ", which is the basis of this article, is more acceptable.
 

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Sexing is a difficult task for most birds (especially ornamental birds) involving expensive, state-of-the-art equipment and experiments. An intelligent fowl sexing system was developed based on data mining methods to distinguish hen from cock hatchlings. The vocalization of one-day-old hatchlings was captured by a microphone and a sound card. To obtain more accurate information from the recordings, time-domain sound signals were converted into the frequency domain and the time-frequency domain using Fourier transform and discrete wavelet transform, respectively. During data-mining from signals of these three domains, 25 statistical features were extracted. The Improved Distance Evaluation (IDE) method was used to select the best features and also to reduce the classifier's input dimensions. Fowls’ sound signals were classified by Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a Gaussian Radial Basis Function (GRBF). This classifier identified and classified cocks and hens based on the selected features from time, frequency and time-frequency domains. The highest accuracy of the SVM at time, frequency and time-frequency domains was 68.51, 70.37 and 90.74 percent, respectively. Results showed that the proposed system can successfully distinguish between Hen and Cock hatchlings. The results further suggest that signal processing and feature selection methods can maximize the classification accuracy.

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Folk literature plays a prominent role in recognizing different types of attitudes and cultural norms of ethnic groups to various aspects of life, including environmental issues because this type of literature affects not only the institutionalization of these issues, but also their construction in any society. Accordingly, this research investigates the environment-related cultural norms in common Bakhtiari folk poems and tales in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari and Khuzestan provinces using the documentary method and analytical-descriptive approach, and provides answer to this question: What is the role of the environment in the formation of Bakhtiari folk literature? and, what cultural norms (beliefs) about the environment have been reflected in this literature? The results of this research show that Bakhtiari folk literature is an animal-plant-based literature and cultural norms in the area of environment have been represented in this literature, such that to preserve the hunt, factors such as age, gender, and hunting time have been considered, and in order to prevent the cutting of trees, the issue of their sanctity and regarding them as the symbol of life has been addressed. Of course, besides positive cultural norms, there are some inappropriate beliefs, such as the negative attitude toward some animals, plants, and trees, causing damage to the environment.
 

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The Sassanid era is one of the most brilliant in the Iranian civilization in terms of various arts development. The coastal areas of the Caspian Sea, especially Mazandaran, has long been the site of artistic manifestation with countless examples of art works kept in different museums inside and outside the country. The Sassanid art particularly depict life and glory of the kings. With a deep insight into the works, one can easily find the use of a vast array of birds, animals, plants, gods and mythological beings in symbolic ways. After reviewing and researching all the works created in the Sassanid period, a common feature attracts opinions, and that is the similarity and harmony of decorative motifs in all of these works, especially bas-reliefs, metal wares, fabrics and seals. The purpose of this research is to investigate the images of sacred animals on the Mazandaran artifacts of the Sassanid period, in response to the question of what is the relationship between the designs of sacred animals and the motifs on discovered metal works of Mazandaran. The results of this study clearly show that in most of the concepts and representations in the works produced in every part of this civilization, a common goal was pursued, and it is a struggle against evil forces. The symbolic emblems of sacred animals in Iran can be found in close connection with the beliefs and religions of that era, some of which are manifested in the form of boar and lion in the body of gods and goddesses.

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The purpose of this study was comparison study on antibiotic resistance profile and multiple antibiotic resistance index (MAR Index) in the Campylobacter spp. isolates from domestic animals and water. To performing the study, 392 fecal and water samples were collected from poultry (182), cow (141), sheep and goat (41) and tap water (28). All samples were subjected for isolation of Campylobacter spp. using pre-treatment-Kapandis Baseri (prêt KB) method and the isolates were confirmed by sequencing of 16srRNA genes. Furthermore, Campylobacter isolates were assessed for antibiotic resistance profile and multiple antibiotic resistance index (MAR Index) by using disk diffusion method. The results indicated that Campylobacter spp.  isolated from 50 samples. The isolation rate was highest in poultry (37/50) and lowest in goat (2/50). 36 isolates were identified as Campylobacter jejuni and the rest (14 isolates) were identified as Campylobacter coli. All of C. jejuni and C. coli isolates found resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic, erythromycin and chloramphenicol and all sensitive to ciprofloxacin, kanamycin, gentamicin, streptomycin, tobramycin, tetracycline and imipenem. 36% of C. jejuni  and 14% of C. coli had multiple antibiotic resistance index 0.2 and upper. Therefore, based on foregoing evidence, all of the isolates were resistant to antibiotics, therefore, human infection with Campylobacter spp. via utilization of animal origin products is possible.  
 

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Seals have been important as one of the archaeological findings with various motifs and functions from the past which recount different aspects of human life. The use of seals with various designs can be seen during the Achaemenid period (5th century B.C), including a number of cylindrical seals that have been obtained from Persepolis and have the themes of heroism combined with animals. Therefore, the analysis can provide important information about the cultural and artistic structure which ruled on Persepolis. In this article, an attempt is made to analyze Achaemenid seals and the reasons for their use as well as an investigation about patterns and their influence on the native Iranian art and other nations, particularly Mesopotamia. This is a descriptive-analytical research in terms of method and the data are derived from librarian sources. Therefore, the researcher will examine and categorize the designs and themes of Persepolis seals and then compare them with the art of other nations, especially the Middle East, and the conclusion is based on the analytical comparisons. The conclusion provides the information that seals with heroic themes and mythical animals of Persepolis have an extreme similarity and adaptation from Mesopotamian seals, especially Assyrian, and they have received the most influence in terms of content and structure from the Assyrian seals. However, in terms of credibility and dynamic, Persepolis seals have similarities and differences with Assyrian and other nations. While as some distinctions, the researcher must mention the special staging of the spaces on seals, which has made them unparalleled. While among indigenous peoples who lived on the plateau of Iran, these seals are more influenced by Mannaeans art than anywhere else; and even the animal themes on the seals were closer in terms of form to the motifs found in Hasanlu, Ziviyeh and Qalaiji than Assyrian.

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Neolithic and food production from domesticated species has been one of the most important topics discussed and studied about prehistoric archaeology. Since the 1920s, or even much earlier, archaeologists tried to explain this great event that changed human life after millions of years of hunting-gathering. During these years, various theories based on technological, environmental, economic and sustenance, demographic, social, and evolutionary and, in recent decades, ideological, have been proposed by researchers. Some believe that Neolithic and food production is not an absolute and sudden process, but a long-term process, from knowing and choosing of species, management, and domestication of interdependence; this process is called Neolithization. The Neolithization process is not just the adoption of a new way of life due to environmental and demographic changes, but the beginning of human mental and worldviews changes. In this period, human manifests new behaviors, including rituals, which can be seen in burials, handicrafts, and architecture. Placing animal horns (domestic/wild) in the architectural space is one of these ritual behaviors. This symbolic behavior has been found in Fertile Crescent sites, from the Levant in the westernmost to Iran’s easternmost borders. Some researchers believe that this behavior is to gain authority, while some believe that humans tried to use these ways to control the wild in their inner domestic world. In this research, the authors have tried to analyze this type of behavior from the perspective of Neolithization ideological theories.