156 research outputs found
The God Without Trust: A Lived Experience of Doubt, a Conditioned Brain, and the Possibility of Reclaiming a Conscious Relationship with the Transcendent
No full textThis article examines a deeply personal experience of doubt toward God—rooted not in denial, but in the inner struggle with conditioned neural patterns, upbringing, and cultural-religious conditioning. The author distinguishes consciousness from mere brain activity, and argues that sincere doubt can serve as a gateway to a more authentic relationship with the divine. God is understood not as an adjudicating or rewarding entity, but as a presence free from judgment and independent of belief. Remaining faithful to the inner experience, the article engages with neuroscience and spiritual psychology to propose a redefinition of the human-divine relationship within individual and collective psychological contexts. "Scientific name: Ramin Bidari. Legal name: Ramin Bidarsefidi.
Donna Vis e i suoi tre mariti. Semantica del desiderio femminile nel Vis o Ramin di Gorgani
No full textThe author focuses on the analysis of the characters, especially the female characters, and their mutual complex relations, in the first verse romance of the New Persian literature, Vis and Ramin of Gorgani (XI sec.) set at the Marv court in the pre-Islamic era. Subsequently the author examines the dynamics of adultery, highlighting how Gorgani will focus on the role of the “demonic”, within the love triangle, as a factor of disorder but also of dynamization of private and public life. Finally, the author analyzes the attitude marked by open philoginy of Gorgani and his legitimation strategies of Vis’s sin
Hannah Arendt: The illegitimacy of violence
No full textThis book presents an original understanding of Hannah Arendt in the context of comparative political theory. The author discusses Arendt’s acute and perceptive view of violence as well as practical applications of her thought in a comparative context. The book examines Hannah Arendt’s ideas about politics and violence provoked by the horrors of totalitarianism. It applies the rich potential of Arendt’s insights to the wider cultural context and discourse of nonviolence. Through case studies of India and Iran, it presents a new way of reading Arendt’s understanding and critique of violence beyond the simple analysis of her work on power and violence. An original, nuanced and meaningful guide to Hannah Arendt, the book will be essential reading for students and scholars in politics, philosophy and peace and conflict studies. © 2025 Ramin Jahanbegloo
Essays on Education, Personality and the Labor Market
No full textHow do different dimensions of personality predict school vs. labor-market performance? How has the value of these traits changed over time? In Essay I, we (my co-author and I) answer these questions using data that includes multidimensional personality and cognitive test scores from mandatory military conscription for 80% of Finnish men. We document that some dimensions of noncognitive skills are productive at school, and some dimensions are counterproductive at school but still valued in the labor market. Action-oriented traits predict low school performance but high labor market performance. School-oriented traits, such as dutifulness, deliberation, and achievement striving, predict high school performance but are not independently valued in the labor market after controlling for school achievement. We further document that the labor-market premium to action-oriented personality traits has rapidly increased over the past two decades.
Labor markets are in constant change. Which personality traits and skills help workers to deal with a changing environment? In Essay II, we document how responses to labor-market shocks vary by individuals' psychological traits. We construct measures of cognitive ability, extraversion, and conscientiousness using the same military data as in Essay I. We analyze establishment closures and mass layoffs between 1995-2010 and document heterogeneous responses to the shock. Extraversion is the strongest predictor of adaptation: the negative effect of a mass layoff on earnings is about 20% smaller for those with one standard deviation higher scores of extraversion. Conscientiousness appears to have no differential impact conditional on other traits. Cognitive ability and education predict a significantly smaller initial drop in earnings, but have no long term advantage. Our findings appear to be driven directly by smaller dis-employment effects: extraverted and high cognitive-ability individuals find re-employment faster in a similar occupation and industry they worked in before.
Finland's success in international student comparisons is often attributed to the quality of its teachers. In Essay III, I examine the teacher selection process in Finland and highlight three new findings. First I show that teacher graduates have lower standardized test performance in comparison to other university graduates. However, in contrast to findings from other developed countries, they have been closing that gap during the last 40 years. Second, past test performance is a poor predictor of teacher aptitude, as measured by expert evaluators during entrance interviews for teacher training programs. This implies that the performance gap between teaching and other programs is not due to lack in applicant quality, but due to uncorrelated factors that influence the aptitude test performance in teaching. In other words, teacher training programs in Finland are not looking to enroll the academically best students. Third, relative to other university graduates, teachers have high wages but low earnings, which helps to explain the popularity of teacher training programs
The Paradox of Zero Tolerance: When the Tool Misses the Target
No full textThe Paradox of Zero Tolerance: When the Tool Misses the Target examines the systemic and psychological impacts of "Zero Tolerance" policies in the post-#MeToo era. While acknowledging that these movements arose from a genuine historical need to address deep-seated injustices against the vulnerable, the article argues that the current implementation of Zero Tolerance has failed to reduce real harassment. Instead, it has led to the "sanitization" of healthy social dialogue and the erosion of communal trust.
Through a multidisciplinary lens, the author explores how evolutionary negativity bias, our ancestral drive to prioritize threat detection over progress, distorts modern policymaking. The article further utilizes the biological principle of Hormesis to argue that complete protection from all stressors (Safetyism) can hinder human resilience, creating "greenhouse environments" where individuals lose the capacity to manage conflict. By analyzing Concept Creep, the text illustrates how the expanding definitions of "violence" may lead to an endless retreat from natural human interaction.
The author concludes by proposing "Smart Regulation" based on four distinct criteria: power asymmetry, intentionality, possibility of escape, and growth potential. The article calls for a shift from "Safe Spaces" to "Brave Spaces", where real, purposeful abuse is decisively halted, but the essential human capacities for empathy, dialogue, and "healed femurs", the true signs of civilization, are preserved.
Note on Language and Translation: The original version of this article was written in Persian by Ramin Saadat and subsequently translated into English by the author to bridge cultural and academic perspectives on the shared human challenge of social justice and resilience
ASSESSMENT OF SOME KRIGING METHODS FOR MAPPING THE SOIL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY: CASE STUDY OF SOUTHEASTERN COAST OF CASPIAN SEA OF IRAN
No full textThis study assessed kriging methods for mapping soil electrical conductivity (EC) in Southeastern, Coastal region of the Caspian Sea of Iran. The coordinates of the study area were Longitude=47.975896177 Latitude=36.995353646224 and Longitude=48.209973627223 Latitude=37.241702530966 which covered approximately 500 km2 of land area. The average maximum and minimum temperatures are 22.3 ºC and 13 ºC, respectively. Sampling points were selected from seven (7) rows each containing 20 points (where 4 points had been lost from the last row). The soils were sampled from 136 locations at 0-20 cm deep in order to measure soil EC. Soil EC maps showing unique management zones due to EC results were created using ordinary kriging, universal kriging, log-normal kriging and inverse distance weighting (IDW) using ArcGIS software version 10.4.1 GS+ v 5.1 and SPSS v 16. Results indicated that log-normal kriging was the most accurate method for predicting and mapping soil EC. All four statistical methods suggest that the lowest soil salinity occurred in the Southeastern region and the highest EC was recorded in the Northwestern of the study area. Furthermore, the lowest soil EC was observed in agricultural activities involved soil tillage and soil draining, which are far from the present shoreline
Probing the nature of AFEX-pretreated corn stover derived decomposition products that inhibit cellulase activity
No full textSequential fractionation of AFEX-pretreated corn stover extracts was carried out using ultra-centrifugation, ultra-filtration, and solid phase extraction to isolate various classes of pretreatment products to evaluate their inhibitory effect on cellulases. Ultra-centrifugation removed dark brown precipitates that caused no appreciable enzyme inhibition. Ultra-filtration of ultra-centrifuged AFEX-pretreated corn stover extractives using a 10 kDa molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) membrane removed additional high molecular weight components that accounted for 24–28% of the total observed enzyme inhibition while a 3 kDa MWCO membrane removed 60–65%, suggesting significant inhibition is caused by oligomeric materials. Solid phase extraction (SPE) of AFEX-pretreated corn stover extractives after ultra-centrifugation removed 34–43% of the inhibition; ultra-filtration with a 5 kDa membrane removed 44–56% of the inhibition and when this ultra-filtrate was subjected to SPE a total of 69–70% of the inhibition were removed. Mass spectrometry found several phenolic compounds among the hydrophobic inhibition removed by SPE adsorption.Published version: Humpula, James F., Uppugundla, Nirmal, Vismeh, Ramin, Sousa, Leonardo, Chundawat, Shishir P. S., Jones, A. Daniel, Balan, Venkatesh, Dale, Bruce E. & Cheh, Albert M. (2014). Probing the nature of AFEX-retreated corn stover derived decomposition products that inhibit cellulase activity. Bioresource Technology 152, 38-45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.10.08
Profiling of Soluble Neutral Oligosaccharides from Treated Biomass using Solid Phase Extraction and Liquid Chromatography-Multiplexed Collision Induced Dissociation-Mass Spectrometry
No full textThermochemical pretreatment of cellulosic biomass improves cell wall enzymatic digestibility, while simultaneously releasing substantial amounts of soluble oligosaccharides. Profiling of oligosaccharides released during pretreatment yield information essential for choosing glycosyl hydrolases necessary for cost-effective conversion of cellulosic biomass to desired biofuel/biochemical end-products. In this report we present a methodology for profiling of soluble neutral oligosaccharides released from ammonia fiber expansion (AFEXTM)-pretreated corn stover. Our methodology employs solid phase extraction (SPE) enrichment of oligosaccharides based on porous graphitized carbon (PGC), followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation using a polymeric amine based column (Prevail Carbohydrate ES) and electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS) in both positive and negative modes. For structural elucidation on the chromatographic time scale, nonselective multiplexed collision-induced dissociation was performed for quasi-simultaneous acquisition of accurate molecular and fragment masses of neutral oligosaccharids in a single analysis. These analyses directly revealed presence of glucans up to degree of polymerization (DP) 22 without side-chain modifications. Additionally, arabinoxylans with DP up to 6 were detected in the pretreated biomass samples (post-enzymatic digestion). All linkages between sugar units in glucans and arabinoxylans were identified to be p-1-4 linkages based on cross-ring fragment masses. Comprehensive profiling of soluble oligosaccharides also demonstrated that arabinoxylan acetylation was reduced by greater than 85% post-AFEXTM treatment.Published version: Vismeh, Ramin, Humpula, James F., Chundawat, Shishir P. S., Balan, Venkatesh, Dale, Bruce E. & Jones, A. Daniel. (2013). Profiling of Soluble Neutral Oligosaccharides from Treated Biomass using Solid Phase Extraction and LC-TOF MS. Carbohydrate Polymers 94(2), 791-799. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2013.02.00
Formulace a charakterizace PLGA nanočástic s oximy
No full textThesis title: Formulation and characterization of oxime loaded PLGA nanoparticles Author: Ramin Hafezi Supervisor: PharmDr. Eva Šnejdrová, Ph.D. Advisor: PharmDr. Juraj Martiška, Ph.D. Department: Department of Pharmaceutical Technology The diploma thesis was focused on PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) which could be loaded with oximes, prepared by a double emulsion technique, and characterised by size, polydispersity and zeta potential. The theoretical part deals with the most common methods of the NPs preparation, the polymers and stabilizers employed, and drug delivery to brain. In the experimental part the effect of various formulation factors on NP characteristics were studied: linear or branched PLGA derivative, the concentrations of polymer, the volumes of primary emulsion. Dichloromethane (DCM) or Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as solvent for polymers were used and Poloxamer 407 or Didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) as an outer phase stabilizer were employed. By comparison among the collected results, it seemed 1% A2 in DMSO and stabilization with poloxamer 407 could be best candidate for the oxime loaded drug delivery systems as it was possible to produce nanoparticles with size from 152 to 168 nm with PDI of below 0.15. Electrostatic stability in case of using DDAB was resulted excellent and...Department of Pharmaceutical TechnologyKatedra farmaceutické technologieFaculty of Pharmacy in Hradec KrálovéFarmaceutická fakulta v Hradci Králov
Formulation and characterization of oxims loaded PLGA nanoparticles
No full textThesis title: Formulation and characterization of oxime loaded PLGA nanoparticles Author: Ramin Hafezi Supervisor: PharmDr. Eva Šnejdrová, Ph.D. Advisor: PharmDr. Juraj Martiška, Ph.D. Department: Department of Pharmaceutical Technology The diploma thesis was focused on PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) which could be loaded with oximes, prepared by a double emulsion technique, and characterised by size, polydispersity and zeta potential. The theoretical part deals with the most common methods of the NPs preparation, the polymers and stabilizers employed, and drug delivery to brain. In the experimental part the effect of various formulation factors on NP characteristics were studied: linear or branched PLGA derivative, the concentrations of polymer, the volumes of primary emulsion. Dichloromethane (DCM) or Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as solvent for polymers were used and Poloxamer 407 or Didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) as an outer phase stabilizer were employed. By comparison among the collected results, it seemed 1% A2 in DMSO and stabilization with poloxamer 407 could be best candidate for the oxime loaded drug delivery systems as it was possible to produce nanoparticles with size from 152 to 168 nm with PDI of below 0.15. Electrostatic stability in case of using DDAB was resulted excellent and..
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