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Besides the main elements such as setting, theme, plot, and conflicts, any narrative or story requires another key element called character. It is the character that adds meaning and life to each of these elements, transforming a narrative into a compelling story. Characterization is essentially the process of bringing life and creating human figures from the elements of a narrative discourse. Creating and developing characters in the realm of storytelling and art is a delicate and novel task referred to as “characterization.” This process results in the creation of characters that are believable, engaging, and understandable for the audience. Characterization establishes a bridge of communication between the reader’s or viewer’s mind and the world of the story, enabling them to empathize with the characters, understand their emotions, and become curious about their actions and motivations, thereby increasing audience engagement.The corpus of this research consists of short stories by the Afghan author Mohammad Asef Soltanzadeh. The present study, relying on Soltanzadeh’s ability to utilize and develop story characters, is conducted in a descriptive-analytical manner. The aim has been to analyze the use of the element of characterization and the interaction between pragmatics and stylistics in three short stories from the collection “Nowruz is Only Splendid in Kabul,” considering Culpeper’s theoretical framework (2017). The results of this study indicate that characterization consistently follows three elements: the degree of narrative control, the dialectic of self and other, and explicit and implicit meanings within the overall narrative discourse, which the author skillfully employs.
 

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Narrative discourse and the arrangement of its components that reflect the narrative world provide the accessibility terms to the ideology and hidden values in the text; hence, it is important in the multilateral understanding of literary texts. Because the experiences and comprehension of the authors in interaction with the surrounding world do not have a similar effect on their perception, the narrative discourse changes from one narrative type to another.In “Biroon Az Gozashteh” by “Mehri Bahrami”various worlds coexist, there is no border between reality and fantasy, and the multiverse idea helps to understand the narrative discourse of the story. The main objective of this article is to show the selection of elements of the discourse through which the author constructs the story and the dominant ideology of the text, by investigating the narrative discourse of the novel. This research is text-oriented and has been done using text analyzing method. The main focus of this article is to investigate criteria such as the narration type’ various kinds of narratorsand their relation with the characters’ embodied experiences the narrator and characters and in line with it the formation of aesthetic and symbolic objects and hidden location in the narration. In this novel, the narrator’s subjective functions and her connection to other constructive elements of the text have an identity function and reflect the ideology of a text that tries to depict a woman who wants to pass behind her cultural-historical past and create a new self of herself.

 

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This study aimed to identify the optimal red currant cultivars for mechanized harvesting by evaluating the bush's morphological structure and the berries' mechanical parameters. Fourteen red currant cultivars were assessed during the 2021-2022 season, and their berry quality indicators and mechanical parameters, including separation force (Fs) and crushing force (Fc), were measured. The results showed that the cultivar plays an important role on the bush's morphological structure, while the berries' mechanical parameters impact the efficiency of harvesting process. The high correlation between Fs and Fc allowed for predicting the optimal harvesting periods of the cultivars. Among the cultivars, 'Rolan', 'Jonkheer Van Tets', 'Rovada', 'Red Lake', 'Asya', 'Vika', and 'Niva' were considered as technological cultivars and suitable for mechanized harvesting. This study emphasizes the importance of considering genetic and morphological factors when selecting red currant cultivars for mechanized harvesting and provides valuable insights for breeding and developing new cultivars adapted to mechanized harvesting.
 

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The relationship between topography, soil factors, and distribution of ecological vegetation groups in the Nodoushan arid rangelands of Yazd province (Iran) was investigated. The present species were recorded in each vegetation group using a randomized-systematic sampling method. Plant cover and density were estimated quantitatively using the transect and quadrate methods, and the two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), after which vegetation was classified into different groups. Soil samples were taken from 0–30 cm in each quadrat. In each vegetation group, 20 environmental variables including altitude, slope, aspect, percentage of bare rock, grazing intensity, percentage of gravel, soluble ions (Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+), total nitrogen, organic matter, lime, gypsum, EC, pH, and percentage of sand, silt and clay were measured. Multivariate techniques including detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) were used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that the vegetation distribution was related to elevation, slope, and soil characteristics such as texture, organic matter, gypsum, acidity, lime, and gravity percentage.

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The effect of soil and phanerogam characteristics on bryophytes composition, richness, abundance and functional groups were investigated in order to understand the factors responsible for bryophytes distribution patterns. Three different sand dunes were selected: untouched, artificial sod-covered and planted by Ammophila. Along 10 transects perpendicular to the shore, a total of 142 permanent relevés, located in three sand dunes, were sampled. In each plot, total cover of vascular herbaceous and bryophytes, and the percentage of litter were estimated. The average of vascular herbaceous height was measured. In each plot, EC, pH, CaCo3, texture and organic matter content of the upper 5 cm layer were also measured. Analyses using DCA and GLM showed that bryophytes abundance was decreased by EC and phanerogam abundance, while pH increased the species richness of bryophytes. EC increased the relative abundance of sexual species while decreased the relative abundance of asexual bryophytes species. The relative abundance of colonists increased in planted Ammophila sand dune while the relative abundance of perennial stayers was the highest in untouched sand dune. The successional stage should also be important in distribution pattern of bryophytes.

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The relationship between Iran and Africa has had a long history including various aspects specially cultural issues. Their relationship, despite its ups and downs, has continued to work. The cultural relationship between the two countries has undergone many changes. These transformations have occurred both in Iran, Africa as well as the whole world. This study intends to examine and evaluate this era and the nature of these relations before and after Islamic revolution in Iran. The main question raised in this regard is that considering the good historical back ground, what has been the orientation of Iran's foreign policy in these periods? Studies point out that the relations between Iran and African countries affected by domestic or international approaches have had ups and downs. Apparently, during Pahlavi's regime, in spite of some measures taken to establish relations with African countries, these relations didn't have coherent policy and the relations with the North African countries has had more priorities over relations with sub-Saharan countries. Moreover, Iran’s relations with some countries such as the Apartheid government, or its military and financial support for some governments have provoked skepticism towards Iran among the other African countries, and has led to the cut off of the relations with Iran. However, victory of the revolution in Iran created a new development in relations with Africa, and considering  the approaches and goals of this revolution, relations with Africa has been placed in the highest foreign policies of IRI. Although, even in this age, these relationships have  gone under lots of  ups and downs  at the time of the ruling of    various governments in IRI.
 

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Re-vegetation of bare soil is believed to increase, or at least maintain the organic matter levels of soil. The aim of this study was to investigate the soil characteristics changes, nutrient pool sizes and their availability under mid canopy, and canopy gap positions of saltbush in an area re-vegetated with Atriplex lentiformis. Some of the physical and chemical soil characteristics (the particle size distribution, soil bulk density, EC, pH, Na, K, organic C, N, P, C/N ratio and C/P ratio) were measured in two different soil depths at both planted shrublands and control area. The results from samples analysis showed that the soil of the control area is significantly different from the Atriplex shrublands area. Maximum of K and Na proportion were measured in 0 to 20 cm under mid canopy in the planted sites. K and Na in different soil layer showed a significant difference between ungrazed area, grazing area and control area (P

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This paper examines the Quranic stories in a narratological approach.First the problem of the research is explained and the hypothesis is raised that there is no relationship between the Quranic stories and narratology.The paper then reviews the literary on the litrary approaches to the Quran and the Holy Book.Then the genealogy of the words related to Quranic stories is given.In the next part,the components of narratology i.e. story and text levels are described and then some Quranic stories are studied in a narratological approach,using these components.Finally,more than 10 findings are proposed as the results and the paper concludes that there is a positive relationship between the Quranic stories and narratology.

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Background: Socio demographic characteristics of nurses who work in hospitals may impact on their quality of life. This study aimed to assess the relationship between quality of life of nursing staff with chronic nonspecific low back and their socio demographic characteristics. Materials and Methods: This study was a cross section study. A total of 119 nurses were participated in this study. The 36-item short-form health survey questionnaire (SF-36) was used to assess Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of the participants. SPSS software version18 was applied to analyze data by appropriate statistical tests. Results: Totally 119 nurses including 93 female (78.1%) were participated in the study. The study showed that there was a significant relationship between age and physical function (P < 0.0001). Also there was significant relationship between income and physical role (P < 0.0001) as well as bodily pain (P = 0.015), mental health (P = 0.015), and social function (P = 0.03. ( Conclusions: The socio demographic characteristics of nurses could be considered while their QOL are assessed.

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The function of traditional characters in the modern poetry Arabic and Persian has different aspects, which using the  mask of characters is one of the most important of  them. Nowadays, the poets use the mask as an eloquent and artistic technic to explain about  their ideas. Sometimes, they apply  the mask of a religious character to confabulate with the  audiences by it. Shamlu and Adonis used “religious mask” in their poetic works to visualize their thought. Thus the fundamental function of  religious characters can be seen in their works because they wanted to benefit the actual and potential capacity of characters. This research is based on the analysis-narration criticism, and will study the fundamental  usage of religious mask in the poets of Shamlu and Adonis based on narrative structure and images of their works. For this purpose, firstly, we studied the concept and meaning of religious mask and the reasons of  its function in modern poetry; then we looked for the fundamental function of religious mask in the poets of Shamlu and Adonis to gain similar and different aspects of their application.        

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Reducing consumption of fossil fuel, is a key effort to promote sustainable development. Transportation sector is one of the most important parts of fuel consumers. Urban form is one of the most important and effective factors in fuel consumption in transportation sector. Urban form includes some criterions such as density, mix land use and internal development of city. In order to reduce fuel consumption in transportation sector, urban form should be changed. This issue is more necessary due to increasing urban population and urban sprawl. Resident’s use of private car increases with distance from city center and lack of proper public transport system. This not only causes increasing of the fuel consumption, but also it increases emission of greenhouse gases, noise pollution and traffic congestion.  The present study has followed explanation of relationship between urban form and energy consumption in transportation sector. For this purpose, the theory of urban form, including compact city, transit-oriented development and Neo-traditional development and studies in other countries are surveyed and analyzed. Research findings indicate that socio-economic characteristics and physical variables and urban form are affected the usage of private car and fuel consumption in transportation sector. This study which is based on the findings of survey and analysis, seeks to develop a general conceptual framework for understanding the effective factors in Households Fuel Consumption in Transportation Sector.

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Factors affecting the spatial variations of water quality of the Mazandaran coastal ecosystem was determined in summer 2012. For this purpose, water quality parameters (nutrients, temperature, conductivity, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll α and turbidity) were evaluated along 4 transects (Amirabad, Babolsar, Noshahr and Ramsar) in the depths of 5, 10, 20 and 50m, using multivariate analysis methods.  Based on the cluster analysis of data, the sampling sites could be classified into 5 distinct groups, including 35-50m water layer of station 50m in all transects, 0-5m layer in station 5m in all transects, Ramsar transect and the majority of surface and bottom layers of 3 transects including Noshahr, Babolsar and Amirabad. Based on discriminant analysis, 86.40% of the sampling sites were correctly classified. Factor analysis explained 87.53% of the total variance, the five principal components of which (viz. temperature, turbidity, nitrate, silica and ammonium) were considered as the most effective parameters on the spatial variation of water quality. This study suggests that the number of sampling locations can be reduced to two transects. Thermocline, transport of nutrients (specially phosphorus and ammonium) from rivers, sea floor, cage culture and the ctenophore, M. leidyi, were the most effective sources on spatial variations of water quality. Moreover, the multivariate statistical methods were found to be useful tools to recognize the spatial variations pattern along the Mazandaran coasts in summer.

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Aim: School bullying is a worldwide problem and crosses national boundaries. Students involved in bullying have a greater chance of developing emotional and behavioral disorders, as well as a higher risk of engaging in criminal behavior later in their lives. This study aims to examine the prevalence of bullying behavior and some of its associated factors among male middle school students in Tehran, Iran.
Methods: Overall, 1803 middle school students, aged 11 to 15, were enrolled in the study between January and March, 2012. Bullying behavior of and on participants was evaluated using Persian version of the revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ). Findings: More than 55% of students reported being involved in bullying behaviors in school, either as a victim (51%), a bully (31%) or both a bully and a victim (18%).  The most common subtypes of bullying were verbal (61.3%), physical (47.6%), and indirect (50.3%) bullying. In a regression analysis, the number of students' close friends, their age, their father's education level and home atmosphere were the only significant predictors of bullying behavior.
Conclusion: The prevalence of bullying among Iranian middle school students is highly concerning; hence, implementation of a comprehensive, school-based anti-bullying program is an urgent need because students, who are involved in bullying behavior, are at higher risk for developing psychosocial disorders and engaging in criminal behavior later in their lives.

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The Persian works of Abdalrauf Fitrat-e Bukharaie (1886-1938) in Transoxania (mā wara` an-nahr) are of the first new prose and poetry instances of Tajiki Farsi in this region. The Monäzere (Debate) of Modarres-e Bukharaie with a European in India on the new schools, known as Monäzere (Istanbul, 1910), in addition to be the first prose and narrative work of this writer and poet of Transoxania, is the first independent Tajiki Farsi work in new Tajiki Farsi literature in this region, that describes the conflict between modernity and tradition in the form of short novel/long short story. This book is classified under thesis novels, i.e. problem novels so far as content is concerned. The present article tries to criticize and analyze the Monäzere from the view point of structure and story elements and further explore its outstanding role in founding dramatic literature and forming or establishing the new Tajiki Farsi literature in the Bukhara in the early twentieth century.

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The narratological approach in studying the fictional narrations structure provides an organized ground and a systematic pattern for analyzing the main elements of the narrative text, i.e. story and text. In the present research, the Do Donya (Two Worlds) is analyzed in a narratological approach and the first hypothesis of the research about the possibility of applying the structural of narratology for the modern fictional narration of Do Donya is tested. The reason for choosing the Do Donya fiction in the matters of deep structure, time, place and focusing is the conflicts and discrepancies which exist between death and life. The results indicate that the narratological approach with its componenets (including story level elements, such as time elements consisting of order, continuation and frequency; place elements consisting of fiction place and text place; characterization covering direct and indirect characterizations (action, speech, visual figure, environment and names deductions); focalization (internal and external); aspects of focalization conceptive, psychological and ideological)); narrating (the narrative levels (metafictional and subfictional), the narrative layers (internal and external)); representation of speech and thought (narration, crucibles (scenario, merely briefed scenario, indirect repetition of content, free indirect speech)) can present a structural analysis of all aspects of the narration of Do Donya story.

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The article is a study of the structure of "Zal and Roodabeh" (in Ferdowsi's Shahname). To do so, it presents a description of the story at first and then of its structure. It continues to seek for these features in the texts of "Zal and Roodabeh" by presenting some proves while analyzing these elements of structure and determining the appropriateness of them. The conclusion is that the text is narrated – dramatized in which the story elements are used for promoting the story. A design including cause relations of it from the beginning to the end and strengthen it. 

 

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Among the various critical approaches to literary works, psychoanalytical criticism is of special eminence. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was able to introduce a new reading of literary and mythical texts as well as art works to his readers, based on his new and innovatory perception of human mind and his discoveries of new aspects of human existence. His tendency to analyze the author's psyche through his/her work(s) is his greatest achievement in this field. After him, psychoanalytical criticism was subject to many developments. Jung, Adler, Ernest Jones, and Erik Erikson were amongst those whose activities have had magnificent effects on the development and evolution of this critical method. As a result of these developments, the practice of analyzing the characters of a literary work from a psychoanalytic perspective was pursued by Freud's pupils, and in particular by Ernest Jones and this critical approach became one of the most remarkable methods of literary work analysis.Due to its dynamic and structured nature, the method still remains a pre-eminent and well-known trend in modern psychoanalytical criticism. Thus in this study we have tried to analyze and scrutinize the character of "Zal" in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh from a psychoanalytical viewpoint in order to shed light on his psychic features. We have chosen Alfred Adler's psychoanalytic speculations on the inferiority complex, superiority, and compensation as our methodological guideline.

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Six belonolaim species were collected from grasslands of Sabalan region. The found species belong to genera Amplimerlinius, Merlinius, Nagelus, Neodolichorhynchus, Paramerlinius and Tylenchorhynchus. Among the found species, Neodolichorhynchus judithae is reported for the first time from Iran and is characterized byhaving offset head, cuticule with 16 longitudinal ridges, delicate stylet 21-23 µm long, presence of post intestinal sac and tail with annulated terminus.

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The study was carried out to investigate the effective soil and topographic features on distribution of plant types in Sanib Taftan Watershed in Sistan-and-Balouchestan Province, Iran. Initially, land units map was specified by combining three maps of slope, aspect and altitude. Five types including Artemisia santolina- Hammada salicornica, Artemisia sieberi- Amygdalus lycioides, Artemisia lehmaniana- Amygdalu slycioides, Amygdalus lycioides-Amygdalus scoparia, Pistacia atlantica- Amygdalus scoparia were identified. Sampling of vegetation in the land units was conducted using linear transect method, so that presence and absence of the plant species, canopy cover, stone and pebbles, litter and bare soil percent were catculated in 50 or 100 m transects (2-4 m2 plots) in a randomized systematic method. Soil sampling was done with respect to the width of each land unit (from 0-30 cm depth). Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on vegetation and plant type-environmental variables matrix. The most important and effective factors in vegetation distribution of the studied area were slope, altitude, soil texture (silt and sand) and total nitrogen and the factors related to topography (slope and altitude) were more effective than those related to the soil.