---

As a trigger to communication, motivation still includes undiscovered aspects which require further investigation. Hence, considering the newly proposed dual continuum model of motivation, this study investigated the relationships among willingness to communicate (WTC), active/passive motivation, and foreign language achievement (FLA) among 216 high school English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. The modified version of the active/passive motivation scale (APMS) was revalidated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed significant relationships among active/passive motivation, L2WTC, and FLA. Additionally, six models were proposed for the prediction of learners’ L2WTC and FLA. The findings indicated that socio-cultural and sensory-perceptual active motivation as well as cognitive and sensory-perceptual passive motivation significantly predict learners’ L2WTC, while only cognitive active motivation predicts FLA. Furthermore, passive motivation predicts FLA in all sub-constructs. Finally, active motivation is a negative predictor of FLA if mediated by L2WTC. Overall, the study highlights the importance of passive as well as active motivation in promoting WTC and improving FLA among EFL learners.

---

Although critical pedagogy (CP) is a worthwhile approach to education, not much attention has been paid to its application in online courses. Acknowledging its pivotal role, this study intended to investigate Iranian EFL teachers’ awareness of CP and explore the possible effects of teaching experience on their awareness of CP via a CP questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Furthermore, to evaluate teachers’ actual classroom application of CP, online EFL classes were observed. The results indicated that teachers’ awareness of the significance of CP principles did not help them fully implement the principles in their online teaching practices. A significant relationship between teaching experience and some subscales of CP principles was also found. The findings of this study can offer some implications for English teachers in the post-method era to rethink their previous critical views towards English language teaching and their roles as facilitators.
 

---

Being a promising component of educational and occupational success, the inclusion of critical thinking in various aspects of schooling has gained momentum in recent years. Therefore, the present study investigated the Iranian 12th grade English language final examinations based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy in terms of “knowledge dimension” and “cognitive process dimension” over the last five years of exam administration. Using a quantitative content analysis design, the items of the aforementioned examinations administered from 2019 to 2023 were analyzed. The findings of the study showed that the frequency of “conceptual knowledge” items in the “knowledge dimension” and “understand” items in the “cognitive process dimension” were significantly higher based on the results of Chi-square test. Moreover, the frequency of items relevant to lower-order thinking skills was found to be considerably higher than that of the items related to higher-order thinking skills, although instances of top cognitive level items could be traced in these examinations. It was also revealed that there was no considerable change with regard to the inclusion of the two dimensions of Bloom’s revised taxonomy over the five years of administration under study. The results of this study can be a fillip for policy makers, textbook developers, and teachers to accelerate the required changes regarding the consideration of inclusion of critical thinking-based tasks in textbooks, lesson plans and examinations.
 

---

The relationship between words and their concepts is investigated in the "Semantics". "Statistical Semantics" is a sub-branch of "Computational Semantics" and in fact, a sub-branch of NLP. Determining the keywords and main concepts of a text requires time and specialized knowledge about the text, in the traditional ways. “Lexical Chains” is one of the newest branches of statistical semantics that presents the main concepts of the text based on the semantic relationships between words. In this research, we aim to determine the lexical chains of the sermons No. 111 and 221 of Nahj al-Balaghah, based on the theory of "Barzilay" and "Elhadad", using the descriptive-analytical and statistical method. The results indicate that there is 78 lexical chains in the sermon No. 111, and the semantic relationship of antonymy (50%) is more used in it, and the sermon No. 221 has 87 lexical chains, which the semantic relationship of antonymy (38%), and synonymy (34%) are more used in it. In the sermon No. 111, the chain No. 53, which its words indicate leaving this world and choosing the Hereafter, and in the sermon No. 221, chains No. 31, 62, and 8, whose words, respectively, indicate silence after the ability to speak, the importance of using wisdom, fear of the Judgment Day, are the strongest chains. Also, the results show that the topic of the sermon No. 221 is "ethical, religious, scientific, intellectual", but the main concepts of the sermon No. 111 are matched by the "ethical" topic mentioned by "Dashti".
 

---

Metaverse is a space that includes the real world and virtual worlds in which people use a digital and virtual representation called an avatar to be present. Metaverse is considered as the major media of commercial advertising in the future and it will play a fundamental role in terms of audience attraction and society awareness. By adopting semiotics approach, this research analyzes the preparation of the subject and the formation of the avatar in Metaverse commercials. Ten commercial advertisements of prominent brands are chosen as statistical sample, and the virtual world of Hyundai brand on Roblox is examined as the case study because of its diverse activities. Descriptive-analytical method is carried out relying on participatory observation, in a way that the researcher experiences the field, and seeks to answer two questions: 1) What kind of discourse is applied to Subject and Object interactions? 2) What is the procedure of conversion of real body to ideal body? Results show that Subject of Metaverse should be considered as a Being-actor who continuously finds itself in a lack of meaning due to Becoming-centered situation and is called to action and achieves meaning as a result of the action. Besides, the avatar could be considered as Ideal-otherness while the dialogue between physical and virtual body is possible through the third body, which is the Imaginary body, which is the main base of sensory-perceptual receptions and leads the actions of the subject.

---

This study employs graph theory to analyze the semantic network of Persian verbs among bilingual speakers. Situated within the frameworks of cognitive linguistics, lexical semantics (cognitive semantics), and computational linguistics, the research involves administering a questionnaire comprising 50 basic Persian verbs to participants, asking them to map the conceptual and intra-linguistic relationships between these verbs.The primary objective is to identify the most robust and frequent conceptual and intra-linguistic links among these verbs and to provide a detailed description of the graph structure constructed by bilingual speakers. The study seeks to address the question: What typology of conceptual and intra-linguistic relations is reflected in the graph patterns of non-Persian-speaking Iranians? The working hypothesis posits that semantic relations such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and collocation will manifest in this network.The methodology is field-based, and the instrument used is a localized questionnaire. Participants were instructed to diagrammatically represent any semantic relationships among the verbs provided.The findings demonstrate that the semantic graph constructed by Iranian bilinguals exhibits semantic relations such as synonymy (6.45%), reverse antonymy (34.94%), polysemy (7.79%), entailment (11.01%) (comprising "type-of" relations at 8.60% and "part-of" relations at 2.41%), as well as intra-linguistic collocation (28.22%). Among these, collocation, entailment, and antonymy were the most frequent relations, respectively. 

---

Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development (T-CPD) is of utmost importance for language teachers. T-CPD is the stimulation for updating teachers’ subject knowledge and  their teaching skills. Therefore, the predictive power of Psychological Well-being, L2 Teacher Grit, Grit-s, and Perceived Organizational Support (POS) on T-CPD was investigated through the mediating role of Work Motivation. Those who have participated in this study were 189 L2 teachers, who were from Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. They took part in an online questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using Path Analysis. Before running path analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was run to estimate Cronbach’s Alpha. Based on the CFA, two items (one from L2 Teacher Grit and one from POS) that did not have good loadings were removed from the scales. Then, the authers used path analysis to check the causal relationship among the variables in the proposed model. The fitness indices showed good fitness. Moreover, the more domain-specific L2 Teacher Grit performed better than the Gris-s scale. These insights can inform strategies for enhancing T-CPD and improving the overall quality of education. In addition, the results put light on the design of teacher training programs and organizational policies that aim to improve teacher quality and student outcomes.
 

---

---

Cette recherche, qui s’inspire particulièrement du « nudge », une approche innovante en stratégie comportementale, ainsi que de la sémiotique tensive, trouve sa motivation dans les incitations à consommer moins d’énergie. Tout au long de cette étude, nous cherchons à répondre à la question fondamentale de savoir si, en matière d'écologie, les « nudges » peuvent encourager les individus à adopter des modes de vie plus respectueux de l'environnement en modifiant les discours et en faisant ressurgir des situations éthiques oubliées. L’objectif de cette étude est de comprendre comment l'univers du discours est lié aux pratiques de vie et de fournir des solutions simples et pratiques en exploitant le pouvoir du langage et en analysant l'impact du discours indirect sur les mentalités, dans le but de guider les individus vers des choix énergétiques optimaux pour la création d'une ville durable. Étant donné que cette recherche est analytique, la méthode de présentation adoptée repose sur une étude de cas. Dans cette approche, nous avons commencé notre analyse par une description théorique de notre exemple choisi, puis l’avons analysé à travers les approches sémiotiques et la structure tensive. Les résultats des analyses ont démontré que l'approche du nudge peut créer une dynamique éthique, encourageant les individus à s'organiser pour contribuer à une meilleure forme de vie. En orientant subtilement les choix sans contrainte, cette méthode favorise des comportements responsables et solidaires, tout en renforçant la prise de conscience collective.

---

With the increasing prevalence of online education, the significance of students’ self-regulation skills has never been more pronounced. Yet, many students struggle to develop and apply these skills (Bylieva et al., 2021). This transcendental phenomenological study investigates the self-regulation strategies employed by highly self-regulated university students in fully online learning environments. Participants were recruited online based on purposive and criterion sampling procedures. Data were collected through guided journals and semi-structured in-depth interviews, transcribed with Voxtab, and analyzed using Peoples' (2020) phenomenological framework and NVivo 10 software. The result revealed four major themes: meta-affective and affective practices, metacognitive and cognitive practices, socio-affective features, and tech-enhanced learning strategies. The study's trustworthiness was ensured through member checks, purposeful sampling, inter-rater agreement, and debriefing. The findings offer profound insights into students' experiences with online self-regulation. They present students with practical and effective online self-regulation strategies and provide educators with insights into course designs fostering self-regulation.

---

Nowadays, the seismic performance-based design of structures has been widely noticed by the engineering community. So, different methods for performance-based design have been presented by different researchers. This attitude has been included in the design code and regulations for seismic design of new buildings and retrofit of existing buildings. The FEMA P-58 performance-based design method presented by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) can quantify the consequences related to the seismic response of buildings. Therefore, using this method, the seismic performance of buildings can be directly evaluated. In addition, this performance-based design method can define simpler criteria such as repair cost, repair time, and casualties for seismic evaluation and decision-making process. The method is based on considering different sources of uncertainty in earthquake input and its intensity, structural response, associated damage, and repair cost, using the concepts of conditional probability and total probability theorem. In this method, the building is designed in such a way that it meets the expected and predetermined performance level in a specific level of seismic excitation. Since the performance levels of the building are determined based on the amount of damage caused to structural and non-structural members, one of the practical and effective ways to evaluate performance is to estimate the building repair cost. In the approach presented in FEMA P-58, the repair cost is defined in a probabilistic approach, as the cost needed to restore the damaged parts to their original state in the form of expected annual loss. In this research, first, three 4-, 12-, and 20-story office buildings with the lateral force resisting system of reinforced concrete special moment frames were selected in a high seismic risk area. Then, the nonlinear model of structures was provided in OpenSEES software. In order to reduce the computational cost and analysis time, the single-bay Substitute Frame model was used to simplify the multi-bay reinforced concrete moment frames. All four structures were subjected to Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) for 30 earthquake records. A probabilistic relationship between the spectral acceleration of the earthquake and the main damage parameter (i.e. the inter-story drift), as well as the collapse fragility curve, was obtained. Then, the repair cost including the cost of repairing structural members as well as beams and columns, the cost of repairing non-structural members as well as partition and curtain walls, and the cost of replacing collapsed structures was calculated as expected annual loss. The results show that the repair costs at the Design-Based Earthquake (DBE) for 4-, 12-, and 20-story buildings are 3%, 2.5%, and 10% of the building replacement cost and at Maximum Credible Earthquake (MCE) are 22%, 23%, and 38% of the building replacement cost, respectively. In addition, in short buildings, most of the cost is caused by repairing structural and non-structural members, and in tall buildings, most of the cost is caused by replacing collapsed or severely damaged structures. Considering two nonstructural elements (i.e. partition and curtain walls) in repair cost, the analysis results show that the cost of repairing structural elements is more than the cost of repairing non-structural elements.

---

Buried concrete tanks serve as critical components of public and military infrastructure, where structural damage can trigger severe social, security, and environmental crises. Consequently, designing these tanks to withstand shock loads from explosions is of paramount importance. Additionally, the behavior of layered clay soils under such loading conditions requires detailed examination. This study investigates the influence of burial depth on the performance of concrete tanks subjected to explosive loads in layered clay soils. The analysis was conducted using AUTODYN and FLAC 2D finite element software. Concrete tanks buried at depths of 3, 6, 8, and 10 meters were analyzed under surface explosions generated by 50, 100, and 200 kg of TNT, with defined pressure and distance parameters. The soil properties, structural characteristics, and internal fluid pressure were incorporated into the model. Results indicate that increasing the burial depth significantly reduces the displacement of the tank roof and floor due to the dissipation of explosion energy in the surrounding soil. For instance, with a 50 kg TNT charge, increasing the burial depth from 3 meters to 6, 8, and 10 meters resulted in roof displacement reductions of 54%, 70%, and 78%, respectively. These findings demonstrate the critical role of burial depth in enhancing structural resilience against explosive loads and mitigating damage.
 

---

Spilomena bobyjosei Girish Kumar & Amal sp. nov., a new species of aphid wasp in the genus Spilomena Shuckard, 1838, is described from the Southern Western Ghats of Kerala, India. This genus is rarely collected from the Indian subcontinent, and most species are described from a single specimen. The genus can be distinguished from closely related genera in having occipital carina absent, hind wing media not diverging before Cu-a, fore wing with marginal cell elongate (longer than stigma), one recurrent vein and two discoidal cells present, stigma large and pronotal collar with complete transverse carina. To date, ten species have been described from India. This paper adds an eleventh species. The differential diagnosis with its nearest species is provided. Additionally, a key to the Indian species of Spilomena is provided.

---

Aims: The postpartum period presents significant physical, emotional, and social challenges for mothers. One common issue is postpartum blues, which can negatively impact maternal well-being. This study aims to analyze the effect of yoga exercises on preventing postpartum blues in postpartum mothers using family health media as an intervention.
Instrument & Methods: A quantitative analytical study with a quasi-experimental approach was conducted. The study involved postpartum mothers at the Alisah Clinic, utilizing a total population sampling technique. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and interviews, then analyzed statistically using SEM-PLS to evaluate the relationship between yoga practice frequency, duration, family support, and postpartum blues prevention.
Findings: The results show that yoga exercise significantly reduces postpartum blues symptoms. Higher frequency and longer duration of yoga sessions contribute to better mental and physical well-being. Additionally, the quality of family health media plays a crucial role in enhancing knowledge and promoting behavioral changes supportive of yoga practice. Family support was found to positively influence the consistency of yoga practice.
Conclusion: Yoga exercises, when practiced regularly with adequate duration and supported by quality health media and family involvement, are effective in preventing postpartum blues. These findings highlight the importance of accessible and structured yoga programs as part of postpartum mental health care.
 

---

In this study, the effect of fructooligosaccharide as a prebiotic on the growth and density of lactobacillus in intestine of stellate (Acipenser stellatus) has been investigated. To do this, 90 individuals of stellate fingerlings (ten in each replications) were prepared with an average weight of 30.16 ± 0.14 gr from International Sturgeon Research Institute. This study was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications in fiberglass tanks with 2000 liters volume. They were fed with feed containing 0, 1 and 2 percents of fructooligosaccharide (Raftilos P95, Sigma Company). Results indicated that feed with one percent fructooligosaccharide had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on weight gain, SGR, FCR, FE, PER and HI. The number of colonies regarding to lactobacillus showed a significant increase compared to the control (in one percent fructooligosaccharide). Results indicated that fructooligosaccharide as a prebiotic (in level of one percent in feed) caused good growth capabilities and feed efficiency through increasing the density of lactobacillus in intestine.

---

Aims: Adolescence is one the most precarious periods of life, concerning the drug abuse. The social cost of the drug abuse and injury among adolescents is extraordinary and requires intervention. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is perhaps the most influential theory for prediction of social and health behaviors including drug abuse. This study aimed at designing and implementing a curriculum based on the TPB for preventing adolescents from drug abuse. Methods and Materials: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in Hamadan, west Iran. We recruited 140 male high school students from randomly selected schools: they were divided into experimental group, n = 70 and control group, n = 70. The experimental group received 20 hours educational program based on the TPB. The control group receives no intervention. Findings: Compared to the control group, experimental group have significantly elevated post test scores for attitude (19.07 vs. 15.28, p < .001), subjective norm (18.08 vs. 16.45, p < .001), perceived behavioral control (51.67 vs. 54.82, p < .001); and their intention to use drug significantly decreased(p = 0.082) Conclusions: The TPB-based educational program may be effective in prevention of substance abuse among adolescents.

---

Aims: Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction (PS) is one of the most essential factors in improving the quality of healthcare systems. The aim of this study is to determine the norms and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Najmiyeh Outpatients Satisfaction Questionnaire (NOSQ). Methods and Materials: This study has been conducted on 240 outpatients in Najmiyeh subspecialty hospital (Tehran-Iran) in 2011. They were selected using the proportional simple random sampling method. Following the confirmation of the content validity, we considered the construct validity and reliability applying Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Cronbach's Alpha. Also, SPSS and AMOS version 18 were used for data analysis. Findings: The sample population consisted of 240 subjects, including 132 females (55.1%) and 108 males (44.9%). The EFA reported three important factors in this regard, with a variance of 54% and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index of 0.82, all approved by the CFA (RMSEA= 0.04, CFI= 0.96). The outpatients' satisfaction factors were: “hospital information system, treatment and conditions”. The reliability of the questionnaire was reported at %71 based on the Cronbach's alpha. Conclusions: Both validity and the reliability indexes of the NOSQ have been reported at a desirable level; therefore it can be used as a valid and reliable instrument to measure the outpatients' satisfaction.

---

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of social factors on generalized social confidence among Urmia residents. The population of this study included all members of families who lived in city of Urmia in Iran and, at the time of investigation, were more than 18 years old. Among this population a sample of 300 people were selected and were asked to complete a questionnaire constructed for this investigation. Using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis, the results indicate that the independent variables of articulated interactions, expansion of relations, social obligations, and social acceptance influence the dependent variable of generalized confidence. It has been concluded that, the theory of social confidence that considers human being as both rational and emotional and investigates social confidence on this suggestion has been experimentally supported. Finally, it is of our findings that level of generalized social confidence among Urmia residents was shown to be low.

---

This paper is a sociological study of heamong female students. A sample of 110 female students (62 students from Alzahra alth, illness, and health-related behaviors -a single sex university located in Tehran- and 48 students from University of Tehran) were deeply interviewed. Using grounded theory the interview-based information was analyzed. Findings suggest that health is believed to be the most important issue in life in terms of both mental and physical meanings. The female students who were interviewed describe illness differently. While one group knows it as something reducing the quality of life, the other group views it as a kind of God punishment. Regarding health-related behaviors, according to the results, female students ignore illness symptoms, kill pain temporarily and, by appearing beautiful, try to indicate they are mentally healthy. These lead to further dominance of male culture, risky life style and threaten social health. The above described views and behaviors among female students are influenced by low self-esteem, socialization, family interdependence and industrial life.

---