مرتضی طاهری

The teachers' competencies in the process of internationalization of higher education (IHE) are of vital importance (Brandenburg & Federkeil, 2007; van der Werf, 2012). The extent of IHE in a university is in a close relationship with the teachers' competencies (Harari, 1981). However, the required competencies of teachers in IHE are not a well-studied topic. Similarly, the "dearth of literature on EAP professional development" (Blaj-Ward, 2014, p. 113) has complicated exploring the EAP teachers' competencies. The absence of a competency model addressing the needs of EAP teachers to effectively engage in the education fitting the IHE objectives and policies gave impetus to this study. In line with this objective, an instrument measuring EAP teachers' competencies was designed and validated. The following steps were taken to develop the instrument: the theme extraction and item generation phase, the piloting phase, and the validation phase. The extensive review of the literature and interviews with IHE experts and EAP teachers yielded 8 competencies. This initial framework led to the development of the preliminary version of a 22-item questionnaire. The piloting phase resulted in 23 items. 74 EAP teachers from both camps (language and content) participated in the final administration. Various factor analyses, internal consistency, and correlation of all of the items were performed. The data obtained confirmed a sufficiently reliable and valid scale, consisting of 6 components (with the same underlying themes of 8 competencies extracted earlier) and 23 items for measuring the EAP teachers' competencies.

Introduction : Sleep deprivation is one of common phenomena in athletes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of arginine supplementation following sleep deprivation on carbohydrate and fat metabolism, balance and fatigue index in female athletic students. Methods: The study population included all undergraduate female students of Sport Sciences at Imam Khomeini International University (age: 22.2± 2.16 years, BMI: 230.15±2.59 kg/m<sup>2 ) of whom 8 volunteered took part in the research. All experiments were performed in laboratory of university in 2020. Subjects were classified into four groups: Control, Sleep deprivation, Arginine and Arginine-sleep deprivation. Lactometer was used to measure blood lactate. Best Balance device was used to measure balance and GAS Analyzer was used to measure metabolism. Data was analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: Sleep deprivation significantly decreased static balance ( P =0.01) and dynamic balance ( P = 0.004) while arginine consumption resulted in improved static balance in sleep deprivation arginine group ( P =0.03). It was also shown that lactic acid levels were lower in the two groups that took arginine than in the groups that did not take arginine ( P ≤0.05). Conclusion: Arginine consumption can improve static and dynamic balance as well as mitigate side effects of sleep deprivation on static balance.

Background: Increasing prevalence rate of anxiety disorders in elderly populations especially due to physical limitations has become a key concern for health authorities. Aim : The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of cognitive and physical training on physiological and psychological Levels of anxiety in the elderly. Material and Methods: Forty-nine aged females (62.3±2.6 years) with BMI of 35-49.99 kg/m<sup>2 were assigned to one of three groups: Cognitive (n= 17), Physical training [yoga] (n= 16) and control group (n= 10). The cognitive training protocol included breathing and imagery/visualization techniques, which lasted for an 8-week period, three sessions a week. Yoga practices comprising Asana and Pranaya training, three times a week, for two months. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was given before and after intervention training. Biofeedback devices was used to monitor galvanic skin resistance and resting heart rate (as physiological and psychological markers of anxiety) in pretest and pre-test phases. The data were analyzed using analysis covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test. Results: It was indicated that anxiety score in cognitive training was significantly lower than control group ( P = 0.002) and also, anxiety score in physical Training was significantly lower than control group ( P = 0.01). No significant difference was found between the two training groups ( P = 0.18). Furthermore, both training groups had lower galvanic skin resistance ( P < 0.001). In addition, physical training group had a better status of resting heart rate after intervention compared to the cognitive and control groups (respectively, P = 0.04 and P = 0.001). Conclusions: It was concluded that the health benefits of Physical training [yoga] isn’t not specific to maintaining physical health, but also extends to lowering the anxiety in elderly with obesity. It was also suggested that cognitive training can mitigate the anxiety symptoms in the elderly while no physical changes were shown in cognitive training.