مرتضی طاهری

The purpose of this article is identification of factors which have significant effects on the perceived value of educational services by students’ parents in Iran educational system. Furthermore, we explore the role these factor play on the evaluation of educational services by parents. The statistical population of this study includes the parents of students of all secondary private schools in Tehran at the year 2021 and 800 parents were selected using random sampling. The research tool is a questionnaire with 62 statements which were identified using interviews by experts. We collected 300 questionnaires after calculating validity and reliability. We used Principal Components Analysis (PCA) in order to extract factors with highest degree of determining power. Using four identified principal components, we run a linear regression for testing the significance of these factors. Our results show that all of four factors i.e. functional, social, emotional and epistemic value have significant impact on the perceived values by parents in Iran educational system.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in global home confinement and quarantine, leading to the vaccination of societies worldwide. However, some elite athletes have negative views toward vaccination. Aim: This study aimed to compare the lifestyle of vaccinated versus unvaccinated international elite athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: From March to October 2021, an online survey was conducted, including socio-individual information of athletes, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants (REAP-S), and the Petersburg Sleep Quality Questionnaire (PSQI). A total of 581 elite athletes from 4 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, and America) and different countries, aged 18-35 years, were voluntarily recruited. Data analysis was performed using U-Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, with the level of significance set at alpha P <0.05. Results: The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the level of physical activity and eating behavior of vaccinated versus unvaccinated elite athletes ( P <0.001). However, no significant difference was found between the quality of sleep among vaccinated and unvaccinated elite athletes ( P =0.270). Conclusion: It was shown that, despite the unvaccinated status of some elite athletes (49.9%), their physical activity levels were higher than those of vaccinated elite athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the eating behavior of vaccinated elite athletes was better than that of unvaccinated elite athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was no significant difference in the quality of sleep between the groups.

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.

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.

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.