Iran

This study aims to investigate digital citizen science projects in Iran and the challenges in this field from the perspective of experts. The present study is exploratory with a content analysis approach. First, scientometric research was conducted in Scopus to assess the status of digital citizen science. Second, to identify the challenges of digital citizen science in Iran, experts were interviewed. Though the number of scientific publications in this field has been growing recently, Iran's share of the scientific output is quite small. A Review of qualitative data obtained from interviews showed that the main challenges in this field in Iran are: Funding, Government policy, Engagement, Time, Recognition, Data quality for citizen science, Volunteers for citizen science, Capacity and skills, and Communication. This research can be a guideline for experts in the field of digital citizen science. These technologies can also facilitate interactions and communication between professionals and non-professionals. Despite the spread of digital citizen science projects in European and American countries, the term is unfamiliar in Iran.

Japan was an important and influential trade partner of Iran during the Pahlavi II era. However, no studies have been conducted on the effects of this country and its trade relations with Iran. The present study attempts to deal with the ups and downs in Japan’s trade relations with Iran during that era and evaluate its political impacts based on available documents. Furthermore, the discussions also include the types of cargo, their amount, their value and the dimensions of the trade between the two countries. According to the results of the study, the ideological affiliation of Iran and Japan to the Western bloc was effective in the development of trade relations between the two countries. Thus, Japan became the main importer of Iran’s oil and Iran employed Japanese experts for its economical and industrial activities. Therefore, several contracts were signed between the two nations. Nevertheless, the trade balance was in Japan's favor. The Iranian government’s efforts to balance the scales were successful in a few instances; however it failed in the long run. In conclusion, Japan became Iran’s third trade partner in this era.

Iran holds great significance for the question of the eastward expansion of the Acheulean hominins, as it is situated between the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent, both of which have long and rich records of the Acheulean techno complex. Despite its strategic location, Iran has produced little evidence of the Acheulean techno complex. The only notable examples have been found in the western and northwestern regions of the country. The absence of Acheulean sites in southern Iran cannot be justified. Because this region, located in the northern parts of the Persian Gulf, was one of the main dispersal routes for Acheulean hominins towards the east. Here, we present a report on the discovery of a Lower Paleolithic locality near Dehtal, located in the northern region of the Persian Gulf. Additionally, we discuss the techno-typological characteristics of the lithics found in the area. Dehtal yielded a small, but characteristic lithic assemblage, which included a handaxe, a massive scraper, a large flake, and a flake core. The raw materials used are sandstone and fossiliferous limestone rock, which can be found as cobbles and boulders in secondary contexts on the northern slopes of Par-e Lavar. In addition to these findings, two boulder cores with large removal scars were also documented in the area, indicating large flake production in this locality. The site offers a unique opportunity to study a lithic assemblage in a relatively unknown area within the distribution range of the Acheulean technocomplex.

This paper will compare the characteristics of four ancient Iranian, copper alloy weapons. These weapons are from private collections in the USA at the time of examination. The first two weapons fall into the category of dirks (or daggers). This characterization is based on the overall length of the weapons in question. For comparative purposes, a dagger reaches 30 cm, a dirk is a classification for weapons with overall lengths of 30-50 cm, while a sword would have an overall length of over 50 cm. Because precise archaeological data is absent for these pieces, we examined short-term provenance and microscopic analysis, together with stylistic components to verify the authenticity and general cultural origin of each specimen. The hilt of each weapon is bordered by a ridge, or flange, on both sides that would have allowed for an organic or stone inlay to make the grip more comfortable and functional, as well as adding to the aesthetics of the piece. The pommels of these weapons all have a similar, crescent shape. Weapon 2, has not only a crescent-shaped pommel but also a more pronounced, crescent-shaped guard. Both of the dirks (weapons 1 and 2) have roughly triangular blades. However, the blade of weapon 1 becomes narrower near the guard while the blade of weapon 2 does the opposite and flares out near the guard. Microscopic examination of the patinas confirms the ancient origin of each piece, however, subtle differences in the patinas suggest that the alloys and/or the burial conditions of each were potentially different. This would be an area where further study would be warranted.

The current study investigates the effect of implementing six development plans on multidimensional inequality in Iran. To this end, the multidimensional Gini Index of inequality by Assis Kumar Banerjee (2010) for dimensions such as welfare, education, housing, health, and social welfare (aggregation of other dimensions in household expenditure-income basket) calculated for years 1984-2021 and their performance was evaluated. The results of this study showed that the implementation of the development plans led to an inequality increase. Among these six plans, implementing the first plan had an incremental effect on the inequality value. The third and fifth socio-economic plans have a decremental impact on inequality at a significant level of 5%. Also, there was no difference between implementing and not implementing other plans on the inequality value. Also, the results indicated that given the comprehensiveness and multidimensionality of the development plans, inequality did not experience a constant trend and had mild fluctuations in the urban and rural areas and the whole country. Moreover, at the end of the sixth development plan, the inequality value (0.825) reached a value higher than the beginning of the first plan (0.771) in 1989.

Administrative system is one of the deep-rooted and ancient institutions of Iran. Administrative system or in other words court-administrative organization in any government is considered as one of the structures of a political system, which is very important and plays a significant role in the consistency of a government. The court-administrative organization of Safavid, which went through the three stages of formation, stabilization and peak along with the two elements of continuity and development, was one of the powerful administrative systems of post-Islamic Iran, which its examples became as a model for Iranian governments after Safavid. The fundamental desire of the present research is to examine the role and position of the court organization considering the foreign relations of Safavid. The research method in this study is based on the descriptive-analytical method and the method of collecting information is library. The results and achievements of the present research illustrated that that positions such as Monshi ol-Mamalek, Majless Nevis (events writer), Īshīk Āghāsī Bāshī, Mehmandar Bashi, Yesavol Sohbat, Pishkesh Nevis and Nazer each played a role in issues related to Safavid foreign relations.

A look at Iran's contemporary history shows that in the past century, Iranian society has been alternately involved in riots, movements, revolutions  and political instability. To explain the causes of these conflicts, theorists have emphasized various factors, among which the number, type, nature and structure of social divisions in Iran can be mentioned. One of the faults that became activated after the Islamic Revolution is the gender cleavage. This article deals with the question of what role gender played in the process of political conflicts in post-revolutionary Iran.The findings show that the activation of the gender cleavage caused the political conflicts after the revolution to take on a gendered color.As a result,while women pursue specific demands related to their gender class, other groups and political factions involved in political conflicts also have emphasized their demands to attract their opinion, and from time to time, they have highlighted these demands in their campaign agenda.The current research is of a qualitative type based on documentary and library methods,and the relevant data were collected through note-taking of various books,articles,and documents,and the data were described and analyzed with a sociological approach.

The purpose of this study is to conduct comparative review of Iran and Turkey’s cultural diplomacy in Iraq after the US invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Iran and Turkey, as two influential powers in the developments of the Middle East, are trying to advance their cultural diplomacy in Iraq according to the nature of their government, goals, and aspirations. The main question of the research is, “On what approach are the effectiveness factors of Iranian and Turkish cultural diplomacy in Iraq between 2003 and 2020 based?” The hypothesis is that Iranian cultural diplomacy in Iraq after 2003 has been following Shi’ism, the axis of resistance, and Iranianism as the cornerstones of its approach, as opposed to Turkish cultural diplomacy that is based on Turkish nationalism and neo-Ottomanism. Accordingly, each of these governments is trying to exert influence in Iraq using soft power and cultural diplomacy. In doing this, Iran and Turkey have different conditions, opportunities, threats, and tools to advance their cultural diplomacy. The research findings indicate that Iran is in a better position than Turkey in terms of conditions, opportunities and tools but the focus on Shiism and the issue of resistance in Iraq has led to little attention paid to other features of cultural diplomacy. In contrast, Turkey, with its benefit-oriented and opportunistic approach, has been able to make the most of tools such as Kurdish language and literature, media diplomacy, tourism development, scientific and educational topics, etc. through careful planning and has gained more influence in Iraq. The method of data analysis is descriptive-analytical and the data collection was carried out via library research.  

Southwest Asia, despite its geographical, historical, cultural, and economic contexts, is extremely weak in terms of degree of convergence, and a series of border, political, security, and religious differences have led to critical conditions and suspicion of governments. has brought. Existing economic necessities, especially for countries with closed lands far from the high seas and effective international transportation networks. The aim of this study is to transform the convergence in West Asia and Southwest Asia and Iran's position in it. Southwest Asia is very important from both the land and sea dimensions of the Road Belt Initiative, but since the maritime dimension of this strategy covers a large part of the countries in the region, Southwest Asia has become a region that can play a maritime role. Play a leading role in achieving China's foreign policy goals. There are many reasons for Southwest Asia's pivotal position in China's maritime strategy, which is the most important source of energy for China's economy, as China is heavily dependent on energy imports for economic stability and continued production. Iran played a key role in the ancient Silk Road. From a geopolitical, economic and cultural point of view, Iran is an important country in the road belt initiative.

The shadow economy (SE) is a pathological normalcy, not only in developing countries but also in developed ones, causing disagreeable distortions in the real economy. The causes of the shadow economy can be traced back to actors who operate outside the formal sector to reap the benefits. The way these actors work can both affect the quality of governance and affect it. The right to comment and accountability, political stability and non-violence, government efficiency, the quality of governance laws, the rule of law and the control of corruption are indicators of governance evaluation in this regard. Therefore, in this study, using Hishao causality method, the causal relationship between these indicators with the shadow economy in Iran during the years 1995 to 2017 has been investigated. Findings show that government efficiency, rule of law and control of corruption have a two-way relationship with the shadow economy and the indicators of the right to comment and accountability, political stability and non-violence and the quality of governance laws have a one-way relationship with it.

Russia's military attack on Ukraine has had profound consequences not only for the Middle East, but also for the world. The political-security relations of the two countries, have been affected by this war. Since the beginning of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, Tehran has accepted Moscow's rationale for this attack and has shown its political support at the United Nations General Assembly, but Iran has been cautious in fully supporting this war. Iran's approach regarding the war in Ukraine is important in two ways. First, Iran's orientation towards this war affects Tehran's relations with Moscow. Second, this orientation affects Iran's interests in the international system. For this reason, the main question of this article is "What was Iran's attitude towards the war in Ukraine and how did it affect the relations between Tehran and Moscow?" The hypothesis of the authors is that "Iran's approach towards the war in Ukraine has been cautious - it has neither officially condemned nor supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine - this policy is aimed at maintaining and continuing the relations between the two countries. The purpose of this article is to examine the orientations of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards the war in Ukraine and its effect on the country's relations with Russia. The authors' method in this research is qualitative with a descriptive-analytical approach.

The term “free zone” refers to designated areas in which companies are taxed very lightly and it enhances global market presence by attracting new business and foreign investments. For over a century, governments around the world have sought to boost and exploit the economic power of their particular regions and zones by designating them as “special” or “free” economic zones. The trend of establishing such zones or areas have gained momentum in the last four or five decades with countries accounting for small businesses and millions of direct or indirect jobs. The Middle East, especially the countries in the Persian Gulf, for some and other reasons, have particularly embarked on such a trend. The current paper tries to highlight benefits and challenges faced by free trade zones in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, taking into account recent global financial crises.

Purpose: The immigrants in the destination communities always face many challenges in cultural and social fields and they must coordinate and adapt themselves to cultural and social influences. Therefore, the current research was conducted with the aim of sociological investigating of cultural-social influence of Afghanistan immigrant families from Iran. Methodology: In a qualitative, applied and cross-sectional research, 16 parents and children of Afghanistan immigrant families referring to the one of Tehran's helper clinics were examined in terms of cultural-social influence. The research tool was included semi-structured interviews with parents and children of Afghanistan immigrant families. For data analysis was used thematic analysis method according to grounded theory. Findings: The findings of the sociological investigating of cultural-social influence of Afghanistan immigrant families from Iran showed that 20 concepts in 7 categories of insecurity in Afghanistan (with 3 concepts of life insecurity, economic insecurity and financial insecurity), better living conditions in Iran (with 4 concepts better health, food preparation and food hygiene, better environmental conditions of people and better moral feedback in the society), better economic conditions in Iran (with 2 concepts of providing social life basic facilities and more economic situations), problems of social life in Iran (with 3 concept of racial mentality of Iranians in dealing with Afghans, financial and economic discrimination against Afghans and humiliation of native culture of Afghans), preservation of Afghan traditions and cultural values in Iran (with 2 concepts of holding traditional ceremonies of Afghans and connection of young Afghans with traditional ceremonies of Afghans), problems of educating Afghans in Iran (with 2 concepts of structural problems against the education of Afghans and negative cultural and racial attitudes from some Iranians) and accepting the values and norms of Iranian society (with 4 concepts of accepting and carrying out common traditions, understanding and accepting some aspects of culture daily social life of Iranians, participation in friendly gatherings of Iranians and family relationship and marriage with Iranians) were identified. The analyzes according to the grounded theory showed that in the causal conditions of the social structures of the acceptance of immigrants there are four categories of social trust, institutionalization of the principles of social education, development of structures that support the acceptance of immigrants and creation of equal conditions for the social life of immigrants, in the central phenomenon of security, health and better living conditions in Iran three are three category of lack of security in Afghanistan, better living conditions in Iran and better economic conditions in Iran, in the basic conditions of infrastructure there are two categories of financial resources and human resources, in the interfering conditions of social life challenges of Afghan immigrants there are one category of individual-social life problems in Iran, in the proposal solutions for the acceptance and participation of immigrants in Iranian society there are two categories of solving structural problems in the social presence of Afghans and cultural education of Iranians for better acceptance of Afghan immigrants and in the consequences of the life outcome

In this research, the effect of changes in energy prices on output of different sectors by using of regional input output of Hormozgan province is investigated. The AFLQ method is used for regionalization of national I_O table. Three scenarios for the increase in energy prices have been considered. The results showed that except of water, electricity and gas/ sector, the output of other sectors has decreased. In the first scenario, the increase in the output of Water, Electricity and Gas/ sector was equal to 38574.52 million Rials whereas the output of transportation sector had the largest decrease in production. Industry and agriculture sectors are the other sectors that have the largest decrease in output after transportation.Total decrease of regional output in first scenario was 1896633.17 million Rials. As a result of the research, 20% increase in the price of energy carriers, about 0.28% of the total production of the province has decreased. In the second and third scenario total decrement of regional output was 512973.80 and 3048927.86 million Rials, respectively. Decrement of agriculture output in these two scenarios was 362099.15 and 512973.80 million Rials. Considering the importance of the agricultural sector in food production, supporting the production of this sector is necessary using appropriate policies such as guaranteed purchase or decrease of tax rate and technology subsidies in different sectors. These policies can provide the necessary incentives to adjust towards more efficient energy technologies, in order to ultimately reduce the negative effects of the increase in the price of energy.

The Competitive Industrial Performance Index (CIP) measures a country's ability to produce, add value, export, and impact global trade through manufacturing industries. To improve industrial competitiveness, focus must be given to expanding production and enhancing its quality with technological advancements. Developing countries need to build technological capacity, increase production, and invest in infrastructure to upgrade their industrial competitiveness. However, Iran's Competitive Industrial Performance has fallen behind, lacking a favorable position in the region and the world. The annual reports of the UNIDO analyzing data from 1990 to 2020 shows that Iran's performance has been weak compared to similar economies. The gap between Iran and the global benchmark (Germany with a score of 0.416) and the regional benchmark (Turkey with a score of 0.117) has widened over the past three decades. Additionally, Iran's manufacturing industry production and export structures have experienced two different directions of transformation in the past two decades. From 2000 to 2010, concurrent with the Third and Fourth Development Plans, the Manufacturing Value Added share in total GDP (MVAsh) increased from 9% to 14%, and the Medium- and High-tech manufacturing Value-Added share (MHVASH) in total manufacturing value added increased from 41% to 45%. However, during the years 2010 to 2020, concurrent with the Fifth and Sixth Development Plans, both of these mentioned indicators regressed. Notably, the regression in the level of technology for high-tech products, from 0.9% to 0.5%, is continuously declining and poses a fundamental challenge for Iran's industrial competitiveness.

High transaction costs have been cited as limiting access to credit in developing countries. This issue is much more critical for knowledge-based companies due to their position in accelerating economic growth and the particular characteristics of these companies. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the transaction cost of financing knowledge-based companies from an official fund in Iran that provides financial support for innovations and technologies. The data was collected through interviews and questionnaires in a sampling of knowledge-based companies in 2022. In this study, after calculating the transaction costs of financing, the effect of the factors affecting it has been investigated. The investigated sample was 123 companies from the fund's customers. The results showed that, on average, the ratio of transaction cost to the facility, transaction cost rate, total cost rate (transaction cost and interest rate), and the ratio of transaction cost to interest rate are equal to 3.33, 7.04, 15.66, and 0.81, respectively. Based on the results, the facility amount, the number of payment steps, the distance between the request for the facility and the contract, the interest rate, and dummy variables for the type of facility have a positive and significant effect on the transaction cost