Beyond their conventional concepts as some outcome of the system dynamics, Patterns and their Formation are regarded here as some substantial parts in description of the dynamics and flow of information in systems. Approach to a typical geometrical problem, for instance, comprises some sequential steps where the observed information of the system is rearranged, reorganized and reformulated to reach the final result. An algebra is introduced here to begin a systematic framework for sequential approaches to geometrical problems. The type of (...) the objects suitable for different kinds of the problems, the way the objects successively match to get a more detailed description of the problem, and the summation operator which combines simultaneous segments of the information of the system are discussed. Based on such abstract clarification for the sequential description of systems, we then switch to reformulate practical examples in various fields from network dynamics to molecular decomposition, relativity and embryogenesis, and demonstrate how different sequential implementation of symmetry could lead to proper description for the dynamics in each of these examples. (shrink)

RésuméCette étude tente de mettre plus en lumière les innovations philosophiques et linguistiques d’Avicenne (m. 1037) à travers ses diverses explications du problème de l’individuation. Pour mieux comprendre son discours, je le replace dans un contexte historique en partant de l’Isagoge de Porphyre (m. 305) et des remarques de Fārābī (m. 950) dansson Isāġūǧī. J’ai égalementénuméré les candidats au principe d’individuation dans l’œuvre d’Avicenne. Cet article soutient que, dans la tradition péripatéticienne préavicennienne, l’individu en tant que porteur d’une identité unique (...) n’était guère considéré, ni épistémologiquement ni ontologiquement. Au lieu de cela, l’individu a été traité ontologiquement comme une instanciation d’universaux et, épistémologiquement, on ne l’interrogeait que dans la mesure où il pouvait être distingué. En introduisant la notion d’individuation comme tašaḫḫuṣ, au lieu de l’individuation traditionnelle comme tamayyuz, Avicenne propose une nouvelle façon d’examiner les différences intra-espèces pour une compréhension plus complexe de l’individu en soi. Dans cette perspective, l’individu avec sa šaḫṣiyya unique doit être compris par lui-même à travers la perception sensorielle. Cette approche tend à proposer que l’individu ne soit pas considéré comme subordonné aux universaux aristotéliciens dont l’assemblage, dans la pensée péripatéticienne, était vainement supposé conduire à la connaissance et à la définition de l’individu. (shrink)

Background: Ethical conflict is a barrier to decision-making process and is a problem derived from ethical responsibilities that nurses assume with care. Intensive care unit nurses are potentially exposed to this phenomenon. A deep study of the phenomenon can help prevent and treat it. Objectives: This study was aimed at determining the frequency, degree, level of exposure, and type of ethical conflict among nurses working in the intensive care units. Research design: This was a descriptive cross-sectional research. Participants and research (...) context: In total, 382 nurses working in the intensive care units in Iranian hospitals were selected using the random sampling method. Data were collected using the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire-Critical Care Version (Persian version). Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee. Ethical considerations such as completing the informed consent form, ensuring confidentiality of information, and voluntary participation were observed. Findings: The results showed that the average level of exposure to ethical conflict was 164.39 ± 79.06. The most frequent conflict was related to “using resources despite believing in its futility,” with the frequency of at least once a week or a month (68.6%, n = 262). The most conflictive situation was violation of privacy (76.9%, n = 294). However, the level of exposure to ethical conflict according to the theoretical model followed was the situation of “working with incompetent staff.” The most frequently observed type of conflict was moral dilemma. Conclusion: The moderate level of exposure to ethical conflict was consistent with the results of previous studies. However, the frequency, degree, and type of ethical conflict were different compared to the results of other studies. Recognizing ethical conflict among intensive care unit nurses can be useful as it allows to consolidate those measures that favor low levels of ethical conflict, design appropriate strategies to prevent ethical conflicts, and improve the nursing work environment. (shrink)

Thus far, recent protests in the Arab world have led to different political outcomes including regime change, civil war, and suppression by regime. The present paper explores the reasons behind these different outcomes. The research methodology is a comparative case study approach, and five countries of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, and Syria are examined. The hypothesis is that the different political outcomes of the protests are due to a combination of factors, including the level of mobilization of anti-regime movements, the (...) responses of national militaries, and finally the reaction of international powers. Different configurations of these components in the crisis-stricken countries have led to different political outcomes. (shrink)

Plagiarism has been on the rise amongst university students in recent decades. This study puts university teachers in the spotlight and investigates their role in raising students’ awareness about plagiarism. To that end, plagiarism policies in 207 Iranian university TEFL teachers’ syllabuses were analyzed. The researchers analyzed the syllabuses to find out if they contain a plagiarism policy, and if so, how the term is defined; whether they approach the issue of plagiarism directly; if they offer students any guidelines on (...) how to avoid plagiarism; and if the consequences of committing plagiarism are specified. The results indicated that the majority of the syllabuses (83.6%) lacked a plagiarism policy and those that did include a policy were often vague in their definition of the phenomenon. However, when there was a plagiarism policy in the syllabuses, the teachers tried to address the issue directly half of the time and offered students brief guidelines on how to avoid plagiaristic behavior, which was a small step in the right direction. It is recommended that other higher education institutions make it obligatory for their academic staff to include a plagiarism policy in their syllabuses if they wish to cultivate academic integrity in students. (shrink)

The Second Khordad Movement was a democratic social movement in contemporary Iran. Investigation of this movement revealed two images, of flourish and of decline, as the movement was first generally successful until early 2000 and thereafter began to regress from the spring of that year onwards. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive framework in which to examine the reasons behind the movement's failure and regression. To this end, the study utilizes the literature on social movements, especially (...) the political process model, and attempts to explain the initial success and subsequent decline of the movement based on elements such as political opportunity, framing processes, mobilizing structures, and the repertoire of collective action.Export citation Request permission. (shrink)

Brain monitoring combined with automatic analysis of EEGs provides a clinical decision support tool that can reduce time to diagnosis and assist clinicians in real-time monitoring applications (e.g., neurological intensive care units). Clinicians have indicated that a sensitivity of 95% with specificity below 5% was the minimum requirement for clinical acceptance. In this study, a high-performance automated EEG analysis system based on principles of machine learning and big data is proposed. This hybrid architecture integrates hidden Markov models (HMMs) for sequential (...) decoding of EEG events with deep learning-based postprocessing that incorporates temporal and spatial context. These algorithms are trained and evaluated using the Temple University Hospital EEG, which is the largest publicly available corpus of clinical EEG recordings in the world. This system automatically processes EEG records and classifies three patterns of clinical interest in brain activity that might be useful in diagnosing brain disorders: (1) spike and/or sharp waves, (2) generalized periodic epileptiform discharges, (3) periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges. It also classifies three patterns used to model the background EEG activity: (1) eye movement, (2) artifacts and (3) background. Our approach delivers a sensitivity above 90% while maintaining a specificity below 5%. We also demonstrate that this system delivers a low false alarm rate, which is critical for any spike detection application. (shrink)

Infertility is a prevalent worldwide health issue and is defined by the World Health Organization as a global health problem. Considering the importance of the psychological dimensions of infertility, various measurement tools have been used to measure the variables involved in infertility, of which the most widely used are the following: the Symptom Checklist 90, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Therefore, given the problems of infertile people in terms of psychological (...) dimensions, the aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the psychological assessment score in infertility. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol, we applied an online database with no time restriction. Data were gathered using a random-effect model to estimate the standard mean difference for the evaluation of the strength of association analyses. Our data demonstrated a significant higher SCL90 score, and a non-significant higher DASS score. It is essential to seek for strategies to help infertile patients overcome their infertility-related psychological problems. (shrink)

Background and ObjectivesFocal cortical dysplasia is a type of malformations of cortical development and one of the leading causes of drug-resistant epilepsy. Postoperative results improve the diagnosis of lesions on structural MRIs. Advances in quantitative algorithms have increased the identification of FCD lesions. However, due to significant differences in size, shape, and location of the lesion in different patients and a big deal of time for the objective diagnosis of lesion as well as the dependence of individual interpretation, sensitive approaches (...) are required to address the challenge of lesion diagnosis. In this research, a FCD computer-aided diagnostic system to improve existing methods is presented.MethodsMagnetic resonance imaging data were collected from 58 participants. Morphological and intensity-based features were calculated for each cortical surface and inserted into an artificial neural network. Statistical examinations evaluated classifier efficiency.ResultsNeural network evaluation metrics—sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy—were 96.7, 100, and 98.6%, respectively. Furthermore, the accuracy of the classifier for the detection of the lobe and hemisphere of the brain, where the FCD lesion is located, was 84.2 and 77.3%, respectively.ConclusionAnalyzing surface-based features by automated machine learning can give a quantitative and objective diagnosis of FCD lesions in presurgical assessment and improve postsurgical outcomes. (shrink)

Ptolemy presents only one argument for the eccentricity in his models of the superior planets, while each one of them has two eccentricities: one for center of the uniform motion, the other for the center of the constant distance. To take into account the first eccentricity, he introduces the equant point, but he provides no argument for the eccentricity of the center of the deferent. Why is the second eccentricity different from the first one? The 13 th century astronomer Quṭb (...) al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, a member of the famous school of Marāgha, who was interested in this problem, suggests the “retrograde arcs” as the empirical origin of the second eccentricity and develops an argument to justify this conjecture. Although his argument is not without difficulty, his suggestion is in line with the suggestions made by some historians of astronomy in recent decades. Résumé Ptolémée ne donne qu'un seul argument pour expliquer dans son système l'excentricité des planètes supérieures, alors que chacune d'elles a deux excentricités: l'une par rapport au centre du mouvement uniforme, l'autre par rapport au centre de la distance constante. Pour rendre compte de la première excentricité, il introduit le point équant, mais il ne donne en revanche aucun argument pour l'excentricité par rapport au centre du cercle déférent. Or, pourquoi la seconde excentricité est-elle différente de la première? Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, astronome du xiii e siècle membre de l'école de Marāgha, qui s'est intéressé à cette question, a fait l'hypothèse que les “arcs de rétrogradation” constituent l'origine empirique de cette seconde excentricité. Bien que l'argument sur lequel il appuie cette hypothèse ne soit pas exempt de difficultés, sa suggestion rejoint celles faites par des historiens de l'astronomie durant les dernières décennies. (shrink)

Physicians in Islamic countries might be requested to participate in the Islamic legal code of qiṣāṣ, in which the victim or family has the right to an eye-for-an-eye retaliation. Qiṣāṣ is only used as a punishment in the case of murder or intentional physical injury. In situations such as throwing acid, the national legal system of some Islamic countries asks for assistance from physicians, because the punishment should be identical to the crime. The perpetrator could not be punished without a (...) physician’s participation, because there is no way to guarantee that the sentence would be carried out without inflicting more injury than the initial victim had suffered. By examining two cases of acid throwing, this paper discusses issues related to physicians’ participation in qiṣāṣ from the perspective of medical ethics and Islamic Shari’a law. From the standpoint of medical ethics, physicians’ participation in qiṣāṣ is not appropriate. First, qiṣāṣ is in sharp contrast to the Hippocratic Oath and other codes of medical ethics. Second, by physicians’ participation in qiṣāṣ, medical practices are being used improperly to carry out government mandates. Third, physician participation in activities that cause intentional harm to people destroys the trust between patients and physicians and may adversely affect the patient–physician relationship more generally. From the standpoint of Shari’a, there is no consensus among Muslim scholars whether qiṣāṣ should be performed on every occasion. We argue that disallowing physician involvement in qiṣāṣ is necessary from the perspectives of both medical ethics and Shari’a law. (shrink)

Freire and Environmentalism: Ecopedagogy, as a compelling addition to the Freire in Focus series, delves into the intersection of Freirean environmental teaching and broader environmentalism. Thoug...

Teacher professional identity is a characteristic of a teacher, which should be developed in a long, consistent, and progressive process and usually shapes in any specific educational and social context. In addition to several factors influencing TPI, such as university education and empowerment courses, experience seems to play a significant role. Moreover, the role of psychological factors is highly undeniable in the formation and development of TPI. Attributional style is defined as the consistent way by which people can explain the (...) reasons for the occurrence of good or bad events. Besides considering ASs as one of the crucial variables for academic success, it can be regarded as one of the aspects of shaping one’s identity in general and the teacher’s identity in particular. In order to study the relationship between AS and TPI of teachers regarding their experience, two questionnaires were distributed among 317 Iranian English as foreign language teachers, and about 80% returned them. The researchers ran correlational analyses and they came up with a positive and significant relationship between TPI and teacher attributional styles of teachers. Moreover, experienced teachers proved to have a significant difference from novice teachers regarding their TPIs. The findings of this study would hopefully be advantageous for teacher educators to educate pre-service teachers by ways of constructing identity, and they may be applicable for Iranian EFL teachers to know and focus on different aspects of their professional identity. Moreover, they learn how to manage the intervening factors and shape and empower different domains of their PI, such as teaching experience, by means of exploring and knowing their ASs. (shrink)

Government is a rational necessity for mankind because a society without government leads to chaos. Government regulates the affairs of the individual and the community, implements the limits, and ensures the dignity and independence of the human society. Thinking in the main goals of the divine prophets, it is clear that achieving great goals such as liberating people from the domination and captivity of foreigners, comprehensive human education, reviving human values, establishing justice, bringing people to excellence and growth, etc., requires (...) formation. In this context, transparency is a key attribute, which can bring much power to the expected level as an effective mechanism for protecting citizens’ political, economic, social and cultural rights. This concept is thus a valuable solution in the fight against sinister phenomena, such as political and economic corruptions, which are ranked as the biggest challenges facing any society. Even though transparency is nowadays deemed an emerging concept, its roots can be traced back to Islamic teachings, mainly during the short reign of Imam Ali, (peace be upon him [PBUH]). As a central figure, Imam Ali considered transparency as essential, and shared his views on governance and practical methods with the people and all audiences based on complete honesty and openness. As per Alavi thoughts, some criteria and indicators, both structural and behavioural, are involved in order to ensure the public good and meet the interests of all by providing the prerequisites for the realisation of transparency, at odds with the predominant ideas that transparency in governance, like many concepts in the political and governance-related spheres, has a western origin. Contribution: The concept of transparency, with a proven history in global experiences, accordingly holds a special place in the literature of Islamic governments. Given the importance of this topic, the present study with an emphasis on transparency aims to examine Islamic teachings on governance in Islamic societies, and reflect on governance transparency components in such societies, relying on expert opinions. (shrink)

Predicting suspended sediment load in water resource management requires efficient and reliable predicted models. This study considers the support vector regression method to predict daily suspended sediment load. Since the SVR has unknown parameters, the observer-teacher-learner-based Optimization method is integrated with the SVR model to provide a novel hybrid predictive model. The SVR combined with the genetic algorithm is used as an alternative model. To explore the performance and application of the proposed models, five input combinations of rainfall and discharge (...) data of Cham Siah River catchment are provided. The predictive models are assessed using various numerical and visual indicators. The results indicate that the SVR-OTLBO model offers a higher prediction performance than other models employed in the current study. Specifically, SVR-OTLBO model offers highest Pearson correlation coefficient, Willmott’s Index, ratio of performance to IQ, and modified index of agreement and the lowest relative root mean square error in comparison with SVR-GA and SVR models, respectively. (shrink)

Internationalization of higher education is a concept that is currently making its way to every corner of the globe. An Introduction to the Internationalization of Higher Education aims to provide the reader with an introduction to this subject and explore three of its most fundamental aspects; namely, internationalization at home, internationalization abroad, and internationalization of curriculum. This publication delves into the underlying rationale for internationalization of higher education and discusses the opportunities and challenges brought about by this concept. Current practices (...) regarding the internationalization of higher education are discussed, and the requirements for the realization of these activities are laid out. This book can act as a basis for future research endeavors as it clearly and comprehensively introduces the internationalization of higher education and answers various questions about this topic. (shrink)

In this report, we look at the challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID‐19 and how the Executive Board of these two congresses succeeded in overcoming those challenges and holding two congresses. The approach for a large festival with different virtual setting components provided a suitable solution that led to exemplary achievements and created an appropriate model for future virtual or combined virtual and face‐to‐face events. These events proved that pandemic problems could not limit the organizers, pushing them to make (...) better use of the facilities and turning this threat into an opportunity. (shrink)

Here I shall focus on Suhrawardi’s use and conception of ‘fiṭrī’, translated as ‘innate’ by Hossein Ziai (1990), Hossein Ziai and John Walbridge (Suhrawardi 1999), and Mehdi Aminrazavi (1997, 2003),1 and will try to make some points in passing regarding Cartesian innate ideas in relation to Suhrawardi’s fiṭrīāt. I will try to explain my understanding of Suhrawardi’s i‛tibārāt ‛aqliyya (beings of reason) and their relationship to fiṭrīāt. As a relevant issue, I will touch on Suhrawardi’s distinction between objective (...) and intellectual attributes. Considering Platonic forms as the godparents of Suhrawardi’s ‘innate’ ideas, I will end by justifying this question: Is Suhrawardi a Platonist?Let’s begin with Descartes. .. (shrink)

This seventh volume of Collected Papers includes 70 papers comprising 974 pages on (theoretic and applied) neutrosophics, written between 2013-2021 by the author alone or in collaboration with the following 122 co-authors from 22 countries: Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Abdel-Nasser Hussian, C. Alexander, Mumtaz Ali, Yaman Akbulut, Amir Abdullah, Amira S. Ashour, Assia Bakali, Kousik Bhattacharya, Kainat Bibi, R. N. Boyd, Ümit Budak, Lulu Cai, Cenap Özel, Chang Su Kim, Victor Christianto, Chunlai Du, Chunxin Bo, Rituparna Chutia, Cu Nguyen Giap, Dao (...) The Son, Vinayak Devvrat, Arindam Dey, Partha Pratim Dey, Fahad Alsharari, Feng Yongfei, S. Ganesan, Shivam Ghildiyal, Bibhas C. Giri, Masooma Raza Hashmi, Ahmed Refaat Hawas, Hoang Viet Long, Le Hoang Son, Hongbo Wang, Hongnian Yu, Mihaiela Iliescu, Saeid Jafari, Temitope Gbolahan Jaiyeola, Naeem Jan, R. Jeevitha, Jun Ye, Anup Khan, Madad Khan, Salma Khan, Ilanthenral Kandasamy, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Darjan Karabašević, Kifayat Ullah, Kishore Kumar P.K., Sujit Kumar De, Prasun Kumar Nayak, Malayalan Lathamaheswari, Luong Thi Hong Lan, Anam Luqman, Luu Quoc Dat, Tahir Mahmood, Hafsa M. Malik, Nivetha Martin, Mai Mohamed, Parimala Mani, Mingcong Deng, Mohammed A. Al Shumrani, Mohammad Hamidi, Mohamed Talea, Kalyan Mondal, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Gulistan, Farshid Mofidnakhaei, Muhammad Shoaib, Muhammad Riaz, Karthika Muthusamy, Nabeela Ishfaq, Deivanayagampillai Nagarajan, Sumera Naz, Nguyen Dinh Hoa, Nguyen Tho Thong, Nguyen Xuan Thao, Noor ul Amin, Dragan Pamučar, Gabrijela Popović, S. Krishna Prabha, Surapati Pramanik, Priya R, Qiaoyan Li, Yaser Saber, Said Broumi, Saima Anis, Saleem Abdullah, Ganeshsree Selvachandran, Abdulkadir Sengür, Seyed Ahmad Edalatpanah, Shahbaz Ali, Shahzaib Ashraf, Shouzhen Zeng, Shio Gai Quek, Shuangwu Zhu, Shumaiza, Sidra Sayed, Sohail Iqbal, Songtao Shao, Sundas Shahzadi, Dragiša Stanujkić, Željko Stević, Udhayakumar Ramalingam, Zunaira Rashid, Hossein Rashmanlou, Rajkumar Verma, Luige Vlădăreanu, Victor Vlădăreanu, Desmond Jun Yi Tey, Selçuk Topal, Naveed Yaqoob, Yanhui Guo, Yee Fei Gan, Yingcang Ma, Young Bae Jun, Yuping Lai, Hafiz Abdul Wahab, Wei Yang, Xiaohong Zhang, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas, Lemnaouar Zedam. (shrink)

I should, I suppose, begin by taking some personal responsibility for this controversy. When my late friend Hossein Ziai and I published our edition and translation of Suhrawardī’s Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq (hereafter Philosophy of Illumination), we chose “innate” as our rendering of fiṭrī. I don’t remember discussing the rendering, and we did not bother to mention it in the glossary. Hossein had used this rendering in his first book, Knowledge and Illumination, stating that “innate ideas serve as the grounds (...) for knowledge.”1 Others, however, have rendered the term and its source, fiṭra, as “nature,” “natural spirit,”2 or “innate disposition.”3So what does fiṭra mean? Al-Tahānawī, in his dictionary of Islamic technical .. (shrink)

Background:Privacy is a complicated and obscure concept, which has special meanings in the healthcare environment; therefore, it is essential for healthcare providers to fully understand this conce...

There are two metaphysical pictures of spacetime: The evolutionary picture and the all-at-once picture. According to the evolutionary picture, spacetime is nothing but the evolution of space over time. In contrast, the all-at-once picture considers spacetime as ‘a global, four-dimensional boundary value problem’ that can be solved only in an all-at-once manner, i.e. as a whole which is fundamentally four-dimensional and non-decomposable into spatial and temporal parts. The two most-known formulations of general theory of relativity, i.e. the Hamiltonian (or the (...) canonical) and the Lagrangian (or the standard) formulations, enjoy the evolutionary and all-at-once pictures of spacetime respectively. Here, we have argued that (1) the all-at-once picture is more aligned with the philosophy of relativity theory, i.e. uniting space and time into spacetime, (2) the evolutionary picture is not as general as the all-at-once, since only in special cases, such as globally hyperbolic spacetimes, is it possible to deal with spacetime as the evolution of a spatial slice over time, and (3) the all-at-once picture paves the way to better understanding _four-dimensional_ physical entities, like event horizons, which cannot be explained within an evolutionary picture without raising a paradox. Therefore, the evolutionary picture is neither the _fundamentally-true_ nor the _naturally-chosen_ picture of spacetime. Rather, we choose the evolutionary picture for practical and computational reasons. While the all-at-once picture seems a more appropriate description of the quantum and cosmological reality, the evolutionary picture can be applied occasionally and locally, or quasi-locally, and is not the proper metaphysical picture of spacetime at the fundamental level of reality. (shrink)

The intensive care unit, with its structural complexity and the exposure of critically ill patients to various disparities, presents a significant setting for health disparities. This critical ethnographic study sought to uncover cultural knowledge and ethical practices for reducing health disparities in providing care services within the intensive care unit. The focus was on understanding how ethical considerations and cultural competence can address and mitigate these disparities effectively. This critical ethnographic study was conducted in 2022–2023 at intensive care units in (...) western Iran. Three interrelated phases were used to collect and analyze the data. More than 300 h of observation were done during the first phase. A horizon analysis was carried out in the next phase. To further enhance the dataset, 18 informants participated in semi-structured interviews and informal conversations. Following that, the analysis procedure was conducted to identify a culture of health disparities and factors that reduce it, as it had been in the prior stage. Trustworthiness data collection methods were implemented to ensure the validity and reliability of the study. Two key themes emerged from the study: (A) Improved cultural competence, which encompassed empathy towards patients and their families, effective communication, prioritization of continuous learning, appropriate knowledge and awareness, sensitivity to cultural and religious beliefs, staff attitude and personality, and the delivery of customized care tailored to each patient’s needs. (B) Supporting role and compensating for disparities involved recommendations for upholding ethical standards, compensatory actions, maintaining professional behavior despite external factors, addressing gaps and deficiencies, and actively defending and supporting patients. The findings indicate that staff with high cultural competence can ethically mitigate health disparities through their supportive roles. Managers and health policymakers should create barriers to health disparity by improving staff cultural competence and knowledge about health disparities. (shrink)

This study aims to assess the localization of Schema.org for manuscript description in the Iranian-Islamic information context using documentary and qualitative content analysis. The schema.org introduces schemas for different Web content objects so as to generate structured data. Given that the structure of Schema.org is ontological, the inheritance of the manuscript types from the properties of their parent types, as well as the localization and description of the specific properties of the manuscripts in the Iranian-Islamic information context were investigated in (...) order to improve their indexability and semantic visibility in the Web search engines. The proposed properties specific to the manuscript type and the six proposed properties to be added to the “CreativeWork” type are found to be consistent with other schema properties. In turn, these properties lead to the localization of the existing schema for the manuscript type compatibility with the Iranian-Islamic information context. This schema is also applicable to centers with published records on the Web, and if markup with these properties, their indexability and semantic visibility in Web search engines increases accordingly. The generation of structured data in the Web environment through this schema is deemed to promote the concept of the Semantic Web, and make data and knowledge retrieval easier. (shrink)

This collective article discusses the philosophy of modern higher education in Iran, which in this case, optimistically, its history dates back to the founding of Dār al-fonūn —if we consider Dār al-fonūn as a university. Otherwise, its origin can be traced back to the University of Tehran. Central to this article is the emphasis on the lack of philosophy of higher education in Iran. Therefore, most of the criticisms in front of us are related to the internal inconsistency in the (...) Iranian higher education system due to the lack of a national-indigenized-official philosophy of higher education in Iran. Furthermore, The Islamic Revolution of 1979 brought about fundamental changes in higher education. Accordingly, several controversial issues including the rapid growth of higher education, the Islamization of universities, cultural narratives in higher education, the increase in students, especially women and the low-income class of the country were also explored. Therefore, in this collection, the political, economic, social, cultural, moral, technological and historical dimensions of Iranian higher education were examined. (shrink)

Background Ethical decision‑making and behavior of nurses are major factors that can affect the quality of nursing care. Moral development of nurses to making better ethical decision-making is an essential element for managing the care process. The main aim of this study was to examine and comparison the effect of training in ethical decision-making through lectures and group discussions on nurses’ moral reasoning, moral distress and moral sensitivity. Methods In this randomized clinical trial study with a pre- and post-test design, (...) 66 nurses with moral reasoning scores lower than the average of the community were randomly assigned into three equal groups (n = 22) including two experimental groups and one control group. Ethical decision-making training to experimental groups was provided through the lectures and group discussions. While, the control group did not receive any training. Data were collected using sociodemographic questionnaire, the nursing dilemma test (NDT), the moral distress scale (MDS) and the moral sensitivity questionnaire (MSQ). Unadjusted and adjusted binary logistic regression analysis was reported using the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals. Results Adjusted regression analysis showed that the probability of increasing the nursing principle thinking (NPT) score through discussion training was significantly higher than lecture (OR: 13.078, 95% CI: 3.238–15.954, P = 0.008), as well as lecture (OR: 14.329, 95% CI: 16.171–2.005, P < 0.001) and discussion groups compared to the control group (OR: 18.01, 95% CI: 22.15–5.834, P < 0.001). The possibility of increasing moral sensitivity score through discussion training was significantly higher than lecture (OR: 10.874, 95%CI: 6.043–12.886, P = 0.005) and control group (OR: 13.077, 95%CI: 8.454–16.774, P = 0.002). Moreover, the moral distress score was significantly reduced only in the trained group compared to the control, and no significant difference was observed between the experimental groups; lecture group vs. control group (OR: 0.105, 95% CI: 0.015–0.717, P = 0.021) and discussion group vs. control group (OR: 0.089, 95% CI: 0.015–0.547, P = 0.009). Conclusions The results of this study indicate that ethical decision-making training is effective on empowerment of ethical reasoning. Whereas the group discussion was also effective on increasing the ethical sensitivity, it is recommended the training plan provided in this study to be held as workshop for all nurses in health and treatment centers and placed in curricular plan of nursing students. Registration This randomized clinical trial was registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials under code (IRCT2015122116163N5) in 02/07/2016. (shrink)

Theories of decision-making and its neural substrates have long assumed the existence of two distinct and competing valuation systems, variously described as goal-directed vs. habitual, or, more recently and based on statistical arguments, as model-free vs. model-based reinforcement-learning. Though both have been shown to control choices, the cognitive abilities associated with these systems are under ongoing investigation. Here we examine the link to cognitive abilities, and find that individual differences in processing speed covary with a shift from model-free to model-based (...) choice control in the presence of above-average working memory function. This suggests shared cognitive and neural processes; provides a bridge between literatures on intelligence and valuation; and may guide the development of process models of different valuation components. Furthermore, it provides a rationale for individual differences in the tendency to deploy valuation systems, which may be important for understanding the manifold neuropsychiatric diseases associated with malfunctions of valuation. (shrink)

Background: Plagiarism is an ethical and academic issue, which is affected by several factors. Objectives: This study is an attempt to introduce a model for elaborating on the causes of plagiarism in Iran. Research design: The study was carried out as a grounded theory study. Participants and research context: Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 university professors and postgraduate students at Iranian universities of medical sciences. The participants were selected through purposeful and theoretical sampling. Data analysis was (...) done following Strauss et al.’s work. To ensure study rigor, Lincoln and Guba’s measures were used. Ethical considerations: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Results: A conceptual model of the causes of plagiarism was developed based on analyzing and coding the data. The main core of the model was the emergence of plagiarism, and other cores were (1) causal condition: lack of skills, pressure by education system, and lack of awareness; (2) intervening factors: technological advances, legal gaps, and lack of efficient supervision; (3) ground factors: personal traits and attitudes of the academic community; (4) strategy and interventions: role model, supervision, national/international coordination, and higher awareness; (5) outcomes: regeneration of plagiarism and negative attitudes toward Iranian authors in the world academic communities. Conclusion: Several factors affect plagiarism. Among the approaches to attenuate plagiarism in Iranian academic communities are improving self-esteem and self-efficacy in Iranian researchers, emphasizing on quality rather than quantity of published works, discouraging boasting attitudes in the practitioners, denouncing intense competition among researchers, and introducing clear laws and severe punishments for plagiarism. (shrink)

Considering the importance of complying medical and general ethics and the lack of a study on determining ethical considerations in the communication network of women undergoing hysterectomy surgery, this study aimed to present these aspects in the patients’ lives by a standard researcher-made instrument. This mixed method analysis (exploratory sequential mixed methods design was conducted in the whole of 2020 to create the “ethical considerations in communication network of women undergone hysterectomy” questionnaire and investigate its psychometric properties. A researched-made instrument (...) was validated and its psychometric properties were checked among 218 women by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Accordingly, the 8 factors extracted included “complying ethical consideration by the physician (a)”, “complying ethical consideration by medical team (b)”, “complying ethical consideration in the hospital (c)”, “complying ethical consideration by the secretory in the clinic (d)”, “complying ethical consideration by the spouse (e)”, and “complying ethical consideration by the family and friends (f)”, “complying ethical consideration by the media and society (g)” and “complying ethical consideration by herself (h)”. The results of Cronbach’s alpha test showed that there is moderate to good internal consistency in all dimensions. Cronbach’s alpha for the whole questionnaire was calculated as 0.75, which shows that the internal consistency is at a good level. According to the results of this study, the reliability (internal consistency) and construct validity of the ethical considerations in the communication network of women undergoing hysterectomy questionnaire were confirmed. However, in light of the study limitations, caution should be practiced in the interpretation of the results. There is a need for further longitudinal studies in multiple settings using random sampling methods. (shrink)

Abortion and euthanasia are still one of the greatest bioethical challenges. Previous studies have shown that there are differences in attitudes towards these issues depending on socio-demographic characteristics and socio-cultural environment (country of residence). As part of the scientific research project EuroBioMed, we compared the attitudes of students from three Mediterranean countries towards abortion and euthanasia and examined them from the perspective of Mediterranean bioethics. A pen-to-paper survey was conducted on a convenient sample of students (N = 1097) from five (...) universities and four fields of study (Medicine, Law, Theology and Philosophy) in Croatia, Greece and Italy to investigate their attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia. Three hypotheses were tested using t-test and ANOVA for differences in attitudes according to country, field of study, year of study, gender, religiosity, political orientation, financial status, and size of place of residence. While attitudes towards abortion were not statistically significantly different between students from different countries, the analysis showed that students from Italy had more liberal attitudes towards euthanasia. Theology students had more conservative attitudes towards both abortion and euthanasia, while there were no differences between the other groups. Women, final year students, non-religious and politically left-oriented students had more liberal attitudes. The results provided an insight into students’ attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia. Knowledge of the attitudes of these future experts can be valuable for the discussion of these issues. These results also provided a basis for a better understanding of the construct of Mediterranean bioethics. (shrink)

This paper examines the notion of fouls in sports. In the first part of the paper, we examine some actual distinctions and classifications between different kinds of fouls. In the second part we examine the significance, validity, and justification of these classifications from a normative perspective.The term ‘foul’ evokes negative connotation; some would say—negative normative connotations. Conventional wisdom suggests that typically to commit fouls is, by definition, to go against the rules or principles of the contest. Since sport contests are (...) constitutive activities—this means that to foul is to go against the essence of the contest. In other words, to commit fouls seems not to play the game; it seems unsporting. Consider the following typical example: in a premiership match in 2014 Hull’s forward Nikica Jelavic spun around Company and had a clear path to the goal. Manchester City’s defender Vincent Kompany then held him back. Although immediately ejected from the game, it is noteworthy that Kompany... (shrink)

Objective: The main purpose of this study was the psychometric assessment of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale among Iranian older population. Methods: Using a standard “forward-backward” translation procedure, the original English version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale was translated into Persian. Internal consistency of the scale was checked by the Cronbach’s α coefficient. Convergent validity of the instrument was appraised by the Social Skills Scale and General Health Questionnaire. Factor structure of the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale and possible (...) interplay between its subscales were checked through recruiting a convenient sample of 300 Iranian older people and performing the confirmatory factor analysis. Findings: The estimated Cronbach’s α and intraclass correlation coefficients for the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale were in the vicinity of acceptable range, that is, 0.87 and 0.93, respectively. The output of confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a four-factor model best fitted the study data (χ2 = 323.49; df = 129; p < 0.001; comparative fit index = 0.913; Tucker–Lewis index = 0.901; root mean square error approximation = 0.074; standardized root mean square residual = 0.078). Rasch estimates of item difficulty ranged from –1.28 (less difficult) to 1.33 (more difficult). No significant cross-gender differences were observed regarding the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale’s items indicating its invariant psychometric properties for use in the Iranian men and women subgroups. Ethical Considertaion: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Tabriz university of medical science. Informed consent, information confidentiality, and voluntary participation were guaranteed. Conclusion: The study findings were indicative of applicability of the Iranian version of Jacelon’s Attributed Dignity Scale as a reliable tool in measurement of the perceived social dignity among Iranian and probably other Persian-speaking older populations. (shrink)

In social systems or spaces, distance between the centre and the periphery breeds epistemic injustice. There are growing accounts of epistemic injustice in health-related fields, as in the article by Pratt and de Vries.1 The title of the article asks: ‘Where is knowledge from the global South?’ Like me, you may answer by saying: ‘Knowledge from the global South is in the global South’. That answer says a lot about how we right epistemic injustice done to actors in the global (...) South or the periphery, including in health ethics. Pratt and de Vries identified four sets of actors (individuals, institutions, journals and funders) responsible for righting epistemic injustice. For three of the four sets of actors, they recognised the need for—or the possibility of—symmetry between global North and global South. Except journals. They did not seriously consider that journals are either present in or could belong to the global South; to the periphery. Platforms for knowledge exchange, circulation, cultivation and curation—such as journals, conferences, publishers, blogs, archives, seminars, books and the media, social or traditional—are neither physically nor epistemically neutral. They are situated. The BBC cannot do for Nigeria or Australia what it does for Britain; neither can the BMJ. Many of us take our position at the centre or periphery as neutral, natural, necessary or permanent. But the African American writer Toni Morrison proved the opposite with her career: ‘I stood at the border, stood at the edge and claimed it as central. l claimed it as central, and let the rest of the world move over to where I was.’2 Although physically in the USA, Toni Morrison was writing …. (shrink)

Background Since dignity is one of the fundamental rights of each patient, maintaining patients’ dignity is essential. Unfortunately, in many cases, particularly among patients with schizophrenia (SCZ), dignity is not fully respected. Nonetheless, there is limited knowledge regarding this matter in Middle Eastern Nations. Research Objective This study aimed to identify the barriers to maintaining dignity for patients with schizophrenia from the perspective of patients with schizophrenia, their family caregivers, and healthcare personnel. Research Design This qualitative study was conducted with (...) patients ( n = 16), family caregivers ( n = 4), and healthcare personnel ( n = 6) who were selected using a purposeful sampling method. The data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth face-to-face interviews until the data reached saturation. Data were analyzed using the Graneheim and Lundman method. Ethical Considerations The Research Ethics Committee of Urmia University of Medical Sciences (IR.UMSU.REC.1401.099). Findings Analysis of the interviews revealed two main themes and five subthemes as the barriers to maintaining dignity for patients with schizophrenia. The main themes included “Black shadow of stigma” (three subthemes: “Facing the fear and discrimination of others,” “Misconceptions in society,” and “Social rejection”) and “Facing violations” (two subthemes: “Basic human rights violation” and “Negative emotional responses”). Conclusion Patients’ dignity with schizophrenia was at a low level due to the negative attitude of society toward these patients. In this respect, the basic human rights violations, social rejection, and misconceptions were abundant in society and care centers. An in-depth comprehension of the threatening factors affecting dignity can assist policymakers in safeguarding their dignity through effective programs. (shrink)

Background Quality nursing care and ethical responses to patient pain and suffering are very important in the preoperative period. However, few studies have addressed these variables. Objective This study aimed to examine the relationship between compassionate care and preoperative anxiety from the perspective of hospitalized patients. Methods The current study was a cross-sectional descriptive one. The participants were selected using convenience sampling. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, Burnell Compassionate Care Tool, and Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (...) (APAIS). The collected data were analyzed with SPSS software (version 22) through descriptive and inferential statistics at a significance level of 0.05 ( p <.05). Participants and setting This study was conducted on 704 candidates for surgery in the internal and surgical wards of a large teaching hospital located in the south of Iran from December 2022 to March 2023. Ethical considerations The protocol for this study was reviewed and approved by the University Ethics Committee. Findings The patients’ average age was 36.61 ± 13.07. The average preoperative anxiety and need for information scores were 13.80 ± 2.66 and 7.44 ± 1.47, respectively. The average score of importance was 3.03 ± 0.19, and the average score of the extent of compassionate care provision was 1.22 ± 0.15. There was a significant relationship between preoperative anxiety with importance and the extent of compassionate care provision (r = 0.68, p <.001), r = −0.72, p <.001, respectively). A comparison of the demographic characteristics, need for information, importance, and provision of compassionate care showed that the extent of compassionate care provision had the greatest contribution in explaining preoperative anxiety (β = 0.50; p <.001). Conclusion Even though patients’ preoperative anxiety was high and providing compassionate care in the preoperative period had a great role in relieving their anxiety, many participants appear to have received little compassionate care. To this end, nursing managers should pay attention to the quality of compassionate care in the preoperative stage. Besides, healthcare staff should receive the necessary training in compassionate nursing care. (shrink)

Based on the analysis of 267 tokens derived from editorial columns primarily drawn from two Persian newspapers, following on earlier studies by Chafe, Jahani, Lazard, Dahl, Adel, and Dafouze, and inspired by a series of Hyland’s studies on metadiscourse signals, this study has aimed at investigating evidential markers in these columns. In order to come to grips with the types of evidentials, first, we classify them into two major types – inferential and reportative; the reportative evidentials are further classified into (...) four types. The reportative classification is based, in the first place, on whether the source of information comes from an individual or from a government body, hence institutional. The further classifications are based on their identifiability/specificity. Results show that inferential evidentials comprise about 15% of all the tokens. Among the four reportative types, those whose source is individual and identified/specified and those that are institutional and unidentified/unspecified, coded as TYPE 1 and TYPE 4, respectively, have the highest frequency. The results overall show that Persian editorials in these two papers feature a high frequency of attribution of information to identified sources when the source is individual, but to unidentified sources when the source is institutional. The results also support other authors who claim that the imperfective aspect marker mi-, which is frequent in Persian, is a marker worthy of consideration in evidentiality. (shrink)

In MacIntyre’s view, the agent in order to have a consistent identity should be able to narrate a story about her life, which relates the different episodes of her life together. This story should explain the transition between these episodes. This story is based on the notion of the good of human beings. A notion of the good should be present in the agent’s life to give a direction to her life. This integrity forms an identity for the agent. We (...) intend to challenge this narrative view of identity in this paper. We will argue in this paper that though identity is formed in the eye of others, it does not need to be constituted in a unified narrative form, i.e., the agent does not need to place all episodes of her life in narrative order and have a consistent and unified account of her life, which includes her life from birth to death. Rather, shorter-term episodes of time suffice for identity formation. We will appeal to some findings of empirical psychology and neuroscience to support our claim. (shrink)