مطالب

Teaching grammar to EFL students has always been a challenge for EFL teachers. Many studies have acknowledged the role of using mobile apps to remove this problem. Therefore, the present study was conducted to see if the use of English Grammar Ultimate Software app can enhance the use of verb tenses by Iranian intermediate students. To this end, thirty-two students participated in this study based on their performance in a Quick Oxford Placement Test. They were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Each group consisted of 16 learners. Then a test of grammar was administered to two groups as the pre-test to assess their knowledge of simple present, simple past, present continuous, past continuous, and simple future tenses and ensure their homogeneity. Learners in the control group were taught these tenses through traditional language classrooms and received no extra treatment at all. However, learners in the experimental group were taught those tenses through English Grammar Ultimate Software app. Finally, in order to measure the effect of the treatment, a posttest was given to both groups. The results of the comparison between and within groups showed that the participants who had benefited from mobile-assisted learning had a significantly better performance on the post-test than the participants in the control group. The findings of the present study can have implications for material developers and EFL language teachers teaching grammar.

INTRODUCTION:Since the 2000s, tourism has become the most widespread activity on a global scale. Tourism, with its features, is always prone to any accident at a micro or a critical level, and this requires the action of the rescuers to reduce the disasters or to save the injured during their journey. The Red Crescent Society, as the largest non-governmental organization, carries out activities in the areas of rescue and relief, medicine and rehabilitation, and in other sectors. The aim of this study was to investigate the attitude of Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in rescue and relief of tourists from various accidents and disasters. METHODS: In this descriptive-analytical survey, the research community consisted of the members of Red Crescent Society in Kermanshah Province, Iran, including 135 instructors, relief workers, rescuers, rapid responses, and staffs. The sampling was performed using simple random sampling method. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, which validity was evaluated by the experts of the Red Crescent Society, social sciences, and geography, and the reliability was calculated as 0.92 using Cronbach's alpha. Data analysis was done using Spearman correlation and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: The attitude of the statistical society towards the subject was evaluated as good (mean: 1.78). Their attitude towards the overall performance of the Red Crescent Society in travel management was very good (mean: 1.95). Respectively, the equipment and facilities of the organization (mean: 2.17), the practical skills and operational capabilities of the forces (mean: 2.13), and the establishment of fixed and mobile relief bases at the provincial level (mean: 2.03) played greater role based on the attitude of study participants (P<0.01 for all).

Introduction: Drought is considered as a complex and creeping natural hazard associated with pervasive socio-economic and environmental impacts. Given the water reserves, per capita consumption, and average rainfall, Iran can be regarded as one of the countries facing the risk of lack of physical water resources and therefore proper management of drought in the country is an important issue. The main objective in the present study was to identify the dimensions gaining less attention in the context of executive drought management measures. METHODS: This was an applied-developmental study performed with the field method along with documentary studies. The data collection tool, data collection method, and data analysis method were a researcher-made questionnaire, structured interview, Q methodology using factor analysis, respectively. The statistical population of the study consisted of 12 executives of the Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization, Deputy ABFA of ministry of energy, Agricultural Promotion, Training, and Development Organization, and Deputy Minister of Water and Soil of Ministry of Agricultural Jihad active in drought management executive actions in the country. To derive the questionnaire items using the expert opinion, 24 items on drought management performance measures were selected in four technical-structural, socio-economic, managerial, and environmental-climatic aspects and factor interpretation was performed on them. FINDINGS: Based on the factor analysis of the results, the two technical-oriented and management-centered technical-oriented subjective models that both criticized the executive actions in the socio-economic dimension, were specified among the executives of the drought management field. Thus, according to the experts, most problems in the country in the field of drought management were in the socio-economic sector and most of the achievements in the technical-structural dimension. CONCLUSION: The results of the viewpoints of the executive managers indicated that most of them considered health promotion in drought crisis as one of the achievements of the executive measures in this field in the country which can be used as a strength in future planning.

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, the management of marine hazards has been taken into consideration by the authorities of marine organizations. This issue is important for preventing accidents, reducing costs, controlling socioeconomic harms, and maintaining professional human resources. METHODS: This exploratory descriptive study was performed as a survey with applied objectives. Library research was used to gather information and data collection was completed through the field method. To this aim, a researcher-made questionnaire was applied following the presence of the researcher in the target population. The validity was confirmed according to the ideas of professionals in this field and the reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha using the SPSS software (version 22). RESULTS: The results of the research demonstrated that the highest frequency was for the age group of 31 to 40 years. In terms of experience, we observed that the highest frequency was for the age group of 6 to 10 years. In addition, the highest frequency of educational level was found for the associate degree with 141 people. Regarding the employment location, 58 individuals were center staff and 176 people were operational. In addition, data analysis showed that management factors, human error, training, inspection, and monitoring, in addition to physical, and environmental variables, information system, guidelines, specialized technologies, facilities, and support affect the management of marine hazards in the Makran coast. CONCLUSION: The results of ranking and prioritizing of effective factors in marine hazards management utilizing the Friedman test showed that guidelines, training, management, human errors, specialized technologies and facilities, support, inspection and monitoring, information system, and physical and environmental variables were reported as the first to eighth ranks, respectively.