17 research outputs found
New world, other value
No full textRecent studies on artistic modernism pay particular attention to the art histories of the non-West by doing less with Western theoretical conducts and how they define “modern art.” The present book, in line with these studies, surveys artistic modernism while it recognizes “modernism” as a response to confluences of social, economic and political forces. The book thus skips frameworks of a comparative study for the strategies that mainly aim to unveil similarities or dissimilarities between what is modern and what is not. It instead returns to and captures the ways artists conceived their works as modern art; moreover, it collects documents which better display the relation between these works and their contextual causes: What is needed more now is an understanding of the necessities which encouraged artists into creating new forms as absolute responses.
Parastoo Jafari completed her master’s degree in art research at IAU Tehran with an interest in artistic developments of post–Islamic Revolution Iran. She received a doctoral degree in art history at LMU Munich focusing on material and intellectual contexts of artistic modernism. She collaborated as research assistant with Walter De Gruyter and University of Munich, contributed to curatorial projects on Iranian art and, as an author and translator, works with topics relating to modern and contemporary art with particular attention to Iran
Rethinking Flood Risk Management
No full textABSTRACT
Damages due to flooding have increased significantly in recent years and are predicted to rise globally despite many attempts by governments to mitigate flooding. Since 2015, global efforts to reduce the risk of flooding and to promote adaptation have gained momentum. These efforts include the development of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Despite the increase in global attention, there is evidence that the unpredictable impacts of climate change, combined with changes in social and economic trends, are not being adequately addressed in flood risk management strategies around the globe (FRM). A key concern is the roles played by natural or human-induced factors that directly or indirectly cause a change in the risk of flooding or the ways in which flooding is managed or governed. These are referred to as “drivers of change”. While the challenges and impacts of drivers of change on FRM are widely recognized by researchers and policymakers, very few studies have explored the impact of drivers of change on FRM at the global and local levels. Therefore, it is beneficial to study FRM systems in different social, economic, and environmental contexts to identify a global and local range of drivers of change, their impacts on FRM, and their implication for governance.
Examining drivers of change and studying their potential impact on flood management sheds light on pathways to change flood management approaches and to connect with broader social ecological systems to adjust to, cope with, or benefit from the impact of drivers of change. The overall purpose of this research is to identify and assess drivers of change and their influence on flood management. Four research objectives follow from this overall purpose: (1) build a conceptual framework that recognizes and accounts for impacts of drivers of change on flood management using insights from the Social-Ecological Systems (SES) Framework, institutional design and analysis, flood management, and broader water governance literature; (2) apply the conceptual framework to detect drivers of change and to understand the ways in which flood management and water governance literature have identified and addressed the influence of drivers of change on flood management; (3) use this framework empirically to examine flood management approaches concerning the influence of drivers of change in Ontario and the City of Toronto; and (4) identify ways in which institutional arrangements for flood management can be changed to reduce and manage the risk of flooding by accounting for drivers of change.
This dissertation used a mixed-method design that combined a systematic review of FRM literature with case study research in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A systematic review of peer-reviewed papers (n=170) was conducted to identify the most common and noted drivers of change. Using the systematic review, I explored FRM literature capacity to recognize or acknowledge the impact of drivers of change (Chapter Two). Case study research focused on the FRM systems in the City of Toronto, which is nested in the Ontario FRM system (Chapter Three and Four). In total twenty-eight key informant interviews were conducted. All participants had a managerial role in their organization and were purposefully recruited based upon their knowledge of FRM in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and/or their involvement with the selected FRM systems. Personal observation and analysis of more than 230 documents provided additional data used in the analysis. Documents included statutes, case law, and reports from government agencies, the insurance industry, and other actors. The collected data described, explained, and exemplified the scientific, engineering, policy, management, and governance approaches in FRM systems in the City of Toronto and Port Lands Flood Protection Project.
The empirical findings reveal that the most noted drivers are usually portrayed as global challenges outside the scope of FRM or governance, despite having a noticeable impact on the flood hazard and vulnerability at a local level. Defining and categorizing drivers of change facilitates identifying direct and indirect drivers that exist in different levels and scales (temporal and spatial). Identifying drivers of change is a necessary first step to rethink FRM approaches. This analysis also concluded that awareness of drivers of change and their impacts on FRM is increasing among people involved. The result from the systematic review reveals that drivers of change are emerging in five key categories: Environment (ENV), Policy (POL), Technology (TEC), Economy (ECO), and Social (SOC). The systematic review analysis also highlighted a gap in defining and categorizing drivers of change or weighing their impact on flood risk and vulnerability. To address this gap, I developed a conceptual framework that situates the select FRM system in the broader social-ecological systems and accounts for the pre-existing conditions in the system.
The conceptual framework, as a major contribution of this research, presents a new approach to identify the impacts of drivers of change on flood risk management using insight from the modified CIS (Combined Institutional Analysis Development and Social-Ecological Systems and a diagnostic approach. The conceptual framework follows a four-step analysis and supports high-level and in-depth research in the case study approach. In the four-step analysis, the first step is to define the action situation as clearly as possible. The second step, “spiralling inwards,” determines if a FRM perspective is appropriate. The third step critically reflects on the boundaries of the current action situation to facilitate the analysis' final step, which focuses on identifying opportunities to improve governance by accounting for drivers of change in the selected action situation. Together, the last two steps promote inquiry into interactions “external” to the selected action situation; they involve, which involves “spiralling outwards” to explore broader interactions and their impact on current FRM contextual factors. Using the four-step analysis, I explored the impacts of drivers of change on institutional arrangements to highlight opportunities and weaknesses in the selected action situation.
The case study research results highlight thirteen drivers of change relevant to FRM in the City of Toronto and five main drivers of change in the Port Lands Flood Protection Project. Further, this dissertation emphasizes a need for strengthening nested polycentric governance in FRM by engaging all levels of government. Further, examining drivers of change in the Port Lands Flood Protection Project provides a lens into the characteristics of an innovative institutional design that can adjust to, cope with, or benefit from the impacts of drivers of change. This innovative institutional design has enhanced collaboration among public and private actors while providing a strong business agenda to ensure the continuity of the projects and the plans. Finally, this dissertation makes scholarly and practical contributions. Scholarly contributions complement literatures on water and environmental governance, flood risk management, institutional analysis, and flexibility literature. Practical and policy contributions address the impacts of drivers of change on FRM in Ontario and the City of Toronto and build the case for more flexible institutional arrangements
Evaluating procedural justice in regional planning process : lessons from Alberta's regional plans
No full textAlberta regional plans aim to integrate the management of water, land, air and biodiversity resources. Designing a process that balances various interests and reaches consensus is essential for these plans. This research aims to understand the procedural justices in the context of the process of developing the Alberta regional plans by exploring the perception of the stakeholders involved in various levels of the regional planning process, with focus on water issues and challenges.
The research is based on an analysis of data from three sources: policy documents, in-depth interviews, and opinions posted on various blogs and web sites expressing public opinion. Grounded theory uses a combination of thematic analysis and content analysis and was used for this research. The analysis revealed that procedural justice should be improved in three main parts of the planning process: the plan’s design, the public consultation process, and the decision making process
Discrepancy of Graham Greene
No full textLack of religious sense in twentieth century made so many writers to object to the situation. One of these writers who had devoted a very challenging criticism to himself is Graham Greene. In criticizing Greene’s novels there has always been an argument that Is there any relationship between his novels and his personal life? In this article the role of Catholicism Graham Greene’s works and his own personal life has been examined. In order observe such a role we need a very detailed examination of Greene’s life, his personal letters, his conversations and his works. According to so many critics the close relationship between Greene’s life and his works is not ignorable. So by applying Biographical Criticism on Graham Greene it is obvious that about this writer the death of author does not work. The prominent figure of the writer seems to be present in each story and each action.
H-index and research evaluation: A suggested set of components for developing a comprehensive author-level index
No full textThe H-index has been investigated in various studies; this index has many strengths that have made it popular. However, it also has weaknesses, due to which other indicators have been developed. This study aims to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the H-index and provide the minimum set of necessary components for developing a comprehensive author-level index. In this systematic literature review, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Emerald, and ProQuest databases were searched to identify relevant studies. From the number of 14,253 retrieved studies, after two stages of screening, 81 studies were selected according to the eligibility criteria for data extraction. The findings of the study led to the identification of 15 strengths in the three categories of Quality Features, Simplicity, and Suitability, and 13 weaknesses in the six categories of Publications, Citations, Academic Age, Author Credit Allocation, Variety of Fields, and mathematical calculation for H-index. Finally, 28 components were identified as the minimum set of necessary components to develop a comprehensive author-level index to help evaluate researchers more realistically and fairly. The minimum components that need to be considered in developing a comprehensive author-level index can be proposed as follows: Quality Features, Simplicity, Suitability, Publications, Citations, Academic Age, Author Credit Allocation, Variety of Fields, and mathematical calculation
Effects of physical activity on risk of colorectal cancer: A case-control study
No full textBackground: The prevalence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is rapidly increasing in Iran. It holds the most prevalent cancer after skin, breast, and gastric cancers among the Iranian population. The current study was designed to investigate the effects of leisure time, occupational and household physical activity as well as exercise on the risk of CRC in the Iranian population.
Methods: In this population-based case-control study, 100 individuals with a recent diagnosis of CRC who were eligible for the study were recruited between 2006 and 2008. The control groups were selected from patients′ companions (excluding first- and second-degree relatives) without past history of cancer or any physical disability. Physical activity of the participants was evaluated using a Kriska retrospective physical activity questionnaire. The relation between CRC and physical activity was assessed via logistic regression model and calculating the odds ratio (OR) as well as a confidence interval (CI) of 95%.
Results: According to the findings, the adjusted OR of occupational (OR = 0.98, 95%, CI: 0.95-1.02) and house holding physical activities (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.99-1.08) were not significantly different between the case and control groups for women (P > 0.05). The risk of CRC shows a significant reduction in individuals with moderate leisure physical activities compared to those with minimal activities (OR = 0.82, CI 95%: 0.73-0.98).
Conclusions: The study suggests that the risk of CRC will decrease in individuals with higher leisure physical activities (especially with an increase in hours of brisk walking during the day)
The Role of Gender in the Importance of Risk Factors for Coronary Artery Disease
No full textIdentification of risk factors and their importance in different genders is essential in order to prevent, diagnose, and manage coronary artery disease (CAD) properly.) The present study aims to investigate the role of gender in the distribution of different risk factors in ischemic heart disease.)is study is a cross-sectional study. More than one thousand (N = 1012) patients referring to the Nuclear Medicine Department in Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran, from March 2017 to March 2018 were studied.) The patients' demographic data and their clinical history were collected.) The results of the myocardial perfusion scan were recorded and compared between groups. Statistical analysis was implemented by SPSS version 18.0, and P values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Out of the 1012 patients participating in this study, 698 (69%) were female and 314 (31%) were male. Ischemic heart disease (IHD) was significantly higher in men compared to women (19.1% versus 14.2%).) The higher levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressures, along with older age, were a significant risk factor in women (P < 0.05). Previous myocardial infarction (MI), diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN), and hyperlipidemia (HLP) had a strong correlation with IHD in our female population. Regarding the male subjects, previous MI and HLP had a lower correlation with IHD. Based on our logistic regression models, investigation of the simultaneous effects of risk factors on IHD showed that previous MI is the most effective risk factor in females (OR = 3.93) mostly in terms of residual ischemia in the infarcted myocardium. In the male population, on the other hand, HTN was identified as the most effective risk factor for IHD (OR = 2). In conclusion, we found that older age, higher blood pressure, DM, previous MI, HTN, and HLP have a significant association with IHD in the female population, whereas older age, DM, and HTN were significant risk factors for IHD in males. Also, the most effective factor for women was previous MI, while it was HTN for the male population.
Key Words: HEART-DISEASE; CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE; MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION; BLOOD-PRESSURE; FOLLOW-UP; WOMEN; MEN; LIPIDS; TRENDS; SE
Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay for Rapid Detection of viable but non-culturable Vibrio cholerae O1
No full textVibrio cholerae, an important waterborne pathogen, is a rod-shaped bacterium that naturally exists in aquatic environments. When conditions are unfavorable for growth, the bacterium can undergo morphological and physiological changes to assume a coccoid morphology. This stage in its life cycle is referred to as viable but non-culturable (VBNC) since VBNC cells do not grow on conventional bacteriological culture media. The current study compared polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to detect and identify VBNC V. cholerae. Because it is difficult to detect and identify VBNC V. cholerae, the results of the current study are useful in showing LAMP to be more sensitive and rapid than PCR in detecting and identifying non-culturable, coccoid forms of V. cholerae. Furthermore, the LAMP method is effective in detecting and identifying very low numbers of coccoid VBNC V. cholerae in environmental water samples, with the added benefit of being inexpensive to perform.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Designing a Framework for Evaluating the Scientific Productions
No full textBackground:
Evaluation of scientific productions to attract, maintain, and promote faculty members is one of the necessary processes of academic societies and is of interest to policy makers in the field of higher education. This study aimed to provide a uniform and native framework for evaluating the scientific productions of researchers in the fields of science and health in Iran.
Methods:
The current research used the single-stage fuzzy Delphi technique and AHP. The research community comprised 50 top scientific experts and researchers from the country. The data collection tool was a researcher-made checklist obtained from the review of literature and laws and regulations of Iranian universities and research institutions.
Results:
Data analysis led to the identification, prioritization and weighting of eleven criteria and 124 items for the intended framework, which are, respectively, author’s authority (scientific leaders) (15 items); database used in calculating the index (3 items); Innovation and technological impact (18 items); Gaining rank in national and international festivals related to the specialized field (6 items); Citations (7 items); subject area (3 items); level of cooperation (15 items); Types of scientific productions (54 items); scientific age (3 items); Evaluating, refereeing and monitoring of research, technology and innovation activities (2 items) Author`s role and position (1 item).
Conclusion:
The final framework obtained for evaluating Iranian researchers has 11 criteria and 124 items that can be used to compile an author-centered and native scientometrics index that leads to the same evaluation of health and science researchers
Investigating the temporal effects of ovarian failure on single muscle fibre contractility using a chemically-induced ovarian failure model in mice
No full textWe investigated the effects of chemically-induced ovarian failure on single fibre contractility of the soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles throughout ovarian failure, thereby mimicking the menopausal transition into late-stage menopause: [(D60;peri-menopause), (D120;onset of menopause), (D134;early-onset menopause), (D176;late-stage menopause)]. We used 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) to induce ovarian failure in sexually-mature female mice. For the soleus at D120 and D176, mice with VCD-induced ovarian failure produced higher force as compared with controls (pThe presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
