176 research outputs found
Azadeh Westergaard Flora Stieglitz Straus Award 2025 Acceptance Speech
Author Azadeh Westergaard wins the Flora Stieglitz Straus Award 2025 for The One and Only Googoosh: Iran\u27s Beloved Superstar from Bank Street College Children\u27s Book Committee
The Flora Stieglitz Straus Award
Established in 1994 to honor Flora Straus, who led the Children’s Book Committee for many years, this award is presented annually for a distinguished work of nonfiction that serves as an inspiration to young people. Flora Straus stood for the values of courage, hard work, truth, and beauty while adapting to a changing world. She believed that books about varying cultures enrich and help all children in their growth. She championed diverse opinions and points of view and was a person of high principles, unfailing courtesy, and deep understanding.https://educate.bankstreet.edu/cbc_awards/1021/thumbnail.jp
Corrigendum to “The association of food consumption and nutrient intake with endometriosis risk in Iranian women: A case-control study” [Int J Reprod BioMed 2019; 17: 661-670]
The authors have been informed of an error that occurred on page 661 in which the word “Iran” has been missed in the affiliation of the third author (Azadeh Mottaghi), which should be corrected as: “Research Center for Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases, Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran”. On behalf of the author, the publisher wishes to apologize for this error. The online version of article has been updated on 15 November 2022 and can be found at https://doi.org/10.18502/ijrm.v17i9.5102
Spatial Integration and Asymmetric Price Transmission in Selected Iranian Chicken Markets
This study evaluates pattern of price adjustments in selected spatially separated chicken markets in Iran using weekly price data from 1998:17 to 2006:41 including 441 observations in total. The results of Tsay’s test suggest that threshold behavior characterize spatial price linkages among the selected markets that imply on using the threshold models. We use the multi-dimensional (two and three regime) threshold cointegration of TAR and M-TAR models. Our results confirm the different speed of adjustment in response to positive and negative shocks in every case. We also utilize impulse response function to investigate dynamic patterns of adjustments in response to shocks.Spatial Integration, Price Transmission, Threshold Autoregression, Chicken, International Relations/Trade, Marketing,
Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Silica-Polystyrene Nanocomposite
The addition of micron sized inorganic filler particles to the polymeric materials is a well known reinforcement method in composite production. Polymers reinforced with the nanoscale particles,known as nanocomposite materials (NCMs), have greater interaction with the filler particles, due to their enormous surface, and show vastly improved properties. The clear explanation of the origin of this improvement in the properties of the NCMs, compared to the conventional composites, is still missing. Polymer behaviour is modified “near” the filler particle surface, forming a so-called “interphase” region, which in turn can affect the overall properties of the NCM. The present PhD thesis is part of a large international research programme, NanoModel, in which academic and industrial partners from six different countries contributed. The ultimate aim of the project was to achieve a unified picture of the polymer behaviour in the interphase region of NCMs, considering the theoretical and experimental viewpoints and results. Such an understanding of the polymer-filler interaction and its controlling parameters and ultimate effects on the composite behaviour would improve the industrial design of the polymer NCMs
Unemployment insurance in Algeria : implications for a labor market in transition
To predict how Algeria's unemployment crisis will evolve, the author evaluates the Algerian unemployment insurance system's ability to finance itself, to affect employment decisions, and promote enterprise restructuring. The main conclusion is that industrial restructuring has serious and persistent implications for the labor market. In an environment where many equilibria are possible, there is a real danger of reaching a high unemployment equilibrium. The big-bang experience of structural adjustment in Central and Eastern Europe transition economies resulted in large-scale unemployment. Despite considerable restructuring progress, structural rigidities still exist in the labor market, and long-term unemployment has persisted. One advantage of the big-bang approach is adjustment speed, but the resulting unemployment may be too costly for Algeria's economy, especially if it persists. A more modern mixed bang approach would incorporate active employment measures to mitigate entrenched unemployment. The policies will maintain or enhance human capital through work, so idle workers don't lose their skills. Flex-time arrangements would help workers maintain an attachment to the labor force. However minor, such work would help workers avoid the traps of long-term unemployment. Two striking conclusions emerge from the Central and Eastern European experience: a) unemployment is not essential to enterprise restructuring and labor market adjustment;and b) growing long-term unemployment is self-fulfilling and results in higher and persistence unemployment. Although active employment measures are costly and have relatively low rates of return in the short run, they can be marginally effective as part of a long-term strategy.Health Economics&Finance,Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform
Corporate communication as a governance mechanism: A content analysis of corporate public disclosures
Corporate communication efforts have mainly been viewed as a by-product of governmental regulations and board of directors’ oversight. In this paper, we examine the role of corporate communication as a stand-alone governance mechanism. We introduce a new business-related dictionary and conduct automated textual analysis of over 150,000 electronic documents filed by a sample of firms listed on the S&P/TSX Composite Index from 1999 to the end of 2014. Our findings demonstrate the governing role of corporate communication by documenting the adverse market effects of deviations from the expected level of communication. Moreover, as a governance mechanism, corporate communication shows substitution/complementary relationships with other established governance mechanisms. In addition, we find a non-linear relationship between a firm’s communication efforts and its value and risk levels. Results are robust after controlling for major corporate events (M&A, spin-offs, financial distress and bankruptcy, and significant lawsuits). These findings contribute to corporate governance literature and the understanding of agency theory predictions of communications and disclosures’ economic effects
Corporate communication as a governance mechanism
We examine whether corporate communication is a stand-alone governance mechanism. Corporate communication is measured by length (to capture the amount), dictionary (to capture the informativeness), and communication index (to capture the diversity of disclosed information). Using content analysis technique on more than 150,000 filings of 98 Canadian firms from 1999 to 2014, we find that firms’ communication have governing powers. Our findings confirm substitution-complementary relationship between corporate communication and board size, independence, education, expertise, CEO duality, frequency of board meetings, gender diversity, institutional ownership, and product market competition. Moreover, we show that negative deviation from the expected transparency is associated with negative changes in Tobin’s Q, confirming the disciplinary role of corporate communications. We also find that communication has an inverted U-shaped association with Tobin’s Q, and a U-shaped association with firm’s risk, showing the non-linearity and existence of an optimum point in communications. Results are robust when controlling for corporate major events (M&A, Spin-offs, Financial distress and bankruptcy, and major lawsuits)
International capital flows : do short-term investment and direct investment differ?
The authors examine the behavior of four major components of international capital flows in 15 developing and industrial countries. Striking differences in the behavior of the component flows arise in general specifications that allow the flows to interact. For example, the behavior of international short-term investment appears to be sensitive to changes in all the other types of international capital flows, including direct investment, but direct investment appears to be insensitive to such changes. In finding that short-term investment appears to respond more dramatically to disturbances in other capital flows and in other countries than does direct investment, the authors provide empirical support for the conventional notion that short-term investment is"hot money"and direct investment is not.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Capital Markets and Capital Flows,Financial Intermediation,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Capital Flows
The Frequency of Stx1 and Stx2 Genes in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Isolated From Patients in Kermanshah, Iran
1) Background: Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) is responsible for 70-90% of urinary tractinfections. On the other hand, E. coli producing Shiga toxin (STEC), the so-called Verotoxinproducing E. coli (VTEC), has two stx1 and stx2 genes (Producing Stx1 and Stx2 toxins). Since these genes are plasmidal and can be transmitted between E. coli strains, it is likely that stx1 and stx2 genes are also found in the Uropathogenic E. coli. Studies in different parts of the world indicate some cases of dangerous syndromes such as Haemolytic-Uraemic Syndrome (HUS)following urinary tract infections. Also, the incidence of urinary tract infections caused by Verotoxigenic E. coli strains is increasing. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the presence of verotoxin genes in Uropathogenic E. coli; 2)Methods: A total of 180 clinical specimens were collected during five months. After diagnostic tests and differential biochemistry tests, 100 samples were confirmed as E. coli and the presence of stx2 and stx1 genes was investigated by Muliplex-PCR; 3) Results: The results showed that the prevalence rates of stx1 and stx2 genes were 15% and 13%, respectively, in UPEC samples examined in this study, which is in agreement with the results of few similar studies in Iran; and 4) Conclusions: It seems that the frequency of verotoxin genes in E. coli causing urinary tract infections in Kermanshah is more than the other parts of Iran. Therefore, the potential risks of these bacteria could not be ignored
Cloud manufacturing with fuzzy inference system: A supply chain approach to post COVID-19 economy
The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the managerial team with unprecedented fluctuations in supply, demand, and transportation of goods and services. The lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic proved the urgent need for agility and flexibility in response to similar future crises. This paper proposes a cloud manufacturing model as a clustered supply chain approach that incorporates fuzzy inference systems to provide a platform for the post-COVID-19-economy. Cloud manufacturing is a way to standardize and increase the system’s reliability, and a fuzzy inference system is suited to deal with highly uncertain circumstances. A fuzzy inference system is integrated into a cloud manufacturing model to incorporate uncertainties related to Time, Quality, Cost, Reliability, and Availability in finding the optimum supply chain of manufacturers and service centers. The model is illustrated via a simulation in the manufacturing context. The proposed approach provides a tool to address the uncertainties and disruptions resulting from wide-scale crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic
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