The pattern of institutional factors related to the level of implementation of redistributive policies(Study case: Iran's state-owned specialized trading mother company)

AbstractThe aim of the current research was to present the model of institutional factors related to the implementation of redistributive policies in Iran's specialized state-owned commercial parent company. This research was conducted qualitatively using thematic analysis method. The participants of this research were upstream documents in the library department, and managers and employees of Iran's specialized state-owned commercial mother company in the field department. People were selected by targeted sampling with the criteria of at least 10 years of teaching, research and management experience in different academic courses. Sampling was done with the participation of 30 experts. The data collection tool consisted of two parts, review and exploration of research literature and upstream documents in the library part, and semi-structured interview in the field part. The semi-structured interview with the participants continued until the theoretical saturation stage. The method of analyzing the interviews was done using thematic analysis method (basic, organizing and inclusive themes). The process of coding and textual analysis of the interviews was conducted in MAXQDA 2018 qualitative data analysis software. The results showed that the model of institutional factors related to the implementation of redistributive policies consists of four dimensions of legal, cognitive, normative and guiding factors and 15 components.Extended AbstractIntroductionThe state of income distribution in different societies is not only important in economic terms, but is important also in political and social dimensions. The past and diverse experiences of growth and development also state the fact that the success of long-term and sustainable actions of governments in the field of economic growth and development of society is conditional on considering the distributional effects and consequences of policies, including the fair distribution of income in society; because the wide difference in the income of the rich and the poor is mainly caused by the very unequal initial distribution of productive wealth (such as land and capital). (Marques & Zakharov, 2022)Similarly, the policies of the government in the field of production boom includes carrying out commercial activities in the field of market regulation, procurement, storage, purchase, sale and distribution of basic, sensitive and necessary goods and any related and necessary activities, as well as control and supervision of all the silos of the private sector, flour factories and bakers in the covered provinces, which are carried out by Iran's state-owned specialized trading company. The policies as the will of the political system should be consisting of the government, the parliament and the judiciary in organizing affairs and interacting with the citizens. laws, regulations, instructions, circulars, and generally public policies is implemented during a process, followed by series of taken place events, happenings, events and activities. There is a presupposition that policies seek to create public interest, but the interests in different societies are not the same, and each individual and group can have separate and different interests from others (Alejandro et al., 2020).Institution is sometimes referred to organizations, sometimes to basic laws, sometimes to a person or a situation, and sometimes even to minor things like a contract. Different definitions of institutions remind us of different perceptions of the nature of social reality and social order (Arasti et al., 2012). North states that institutions are the rules of the game in society. As a result, institutions cause the motivations hidden in human exchanges to be structured, whether these exchanges are political, economic or social. In a general interpretation, institutions include beliefs, behaviors (rational or non-rational), traditions, rules and legal regulations that form a coordinated set around a core (North, 1990). On the other hand, policy making has a long history in the world, including in our country Iran. Although theoretical studies and research about the process of policy making in general, and the elements and stages of policy making in particular, have been relatively long in Western countries, in Iran, the study and research in policy making is still in its early stages. The review of past studies has shown that very few studies have been done in the field of institutional factors related to the implementation of redistributive policies. Therefore, the main question of the research is: what are the characteristics of the institutional factors related to the implementation of redistributive policies in Iran's specialized state-owned commercial parent company?Theoretical literatureThe literal meaning of policy is statute, creed, method and procedure. The first word that comes to mind from policy is politics. But sometimes the meaning of a word is not directly deduced from the word itself, such as the word motivation, which is often used in management instead of purpose, intention, and determination, but in Arabic, it means stimulus, and movement is hidden within it (Shahabi, 2019). From a point of view, policy-making is equivalent to decision-making, that is, it can be considered a type of decision-making because when a policy is determined, a decision has been made in the same position (Rezaian, 2018).The institutional perspective argues that in addition to the conditions and characteristics of organizations and industry structure, organizations need to consider the effects of other factors such as laws and regulations and the culture of societies in their management choices and activities (Peng, 2013). Institutions can determine formally; such as political and economic laws, laws, contracts, or informally; such as behavior, attitudes, values, behavioral norms and contracts, and in short, the culture of a society.According to North's theory (1990), formal institutions are dependent on informal institutions, in the sense that they are used as predicted from the structure of society's interactions in line with the cultural values and guidelines of formal institutions (Nawaz, 2015). Stenhelm et al. (2013) have added another dimension called the guiding dimension of the environment to the three normative, legal and cognitive dimensions of Scott (1995). The guiding dimension is a set of fertile conditions and industries including access to customers and suppliers and proximity to top universities, which affects the type of opportunities exploited in a system and provides the necessary ground for productive, innovative entrepreneurship with high growth potential.Research methodologyThe research method of this article is qualitative. The present research is applicable-developmental in terms of the goal, and in the category of qualitative research of content analysis type in terms of the research method (qualitative content analysis can be a research method for the subjective interpretation of the content of textual data through the processes of systematic classification, coding, and thematization or designing of known patterns). After taking the interviews from the participants and writing line by line the text related to the interviews, the researcher analyzed the texts; in fact, in this method, codes and concepts and identified categories were identified through the process of systematic classification, and then the institutional factors related to the implementation of redistributive policies have been identified. In the present research, semi-structured interviews were used to present the model of institutional factors related to the implementation of redistributive policies in Iran's specialized trading company. This is the reason for using semi-structured interviewResearch FindingsData analysis has been done using Max Kyoda. The research findings showedThe model of institutional factors related to the level of implementation of redistributive policies in Iran's state-owned specialized commercial parent company includes these dimensions: legal, cognitive, normative, guiding factors; and the research components include: formulation of an effective law for the presence of intermediaries, sufficient, necessary and specific laws, protective laws, creating a safe and legal platform, harmonizing the laws of related bodies, creating stability and clarity in the laws, promoting the knowledge of elites, promoting social knowledge, providing a scientific and technological environment, promoting creativity and ideation, providing a context of using the experiences of other countries, social norms, values and beliefs, providing economic infrastructure, correct and appropriate use of all kinds of advertisements.ConclusionThe purpose of this research was to identify the dimensions and components of institutional factors related to the implementation of redistributive policies in Iran's specialized state-owned commercial parent company. The results showed that the dimensions of the model include: legal, cognitive, normative, and guiding factors; and the research components include: drafting an effective law for the presence of intermediaries, sufficient, necessary and specific laws, protective laws, creating a safe and legal platform, harmonization of laws related bodies, creating stability and clarity in laws, promoting the knowledge of elites, promoting social knowledge, providing a scientific and technological environment, promoting creativity and ideation, providing a context for using the experiences of other countries, social norms, values and beliefs, providing economic infrastructure, the correct and appropriate use of all kinds of advertisements. The findings of this research in the legal dimension, in the factor of sufficient, necessary and specific laws, are consistent with the findings of the research conducted by Zarei & Parsa Mehr (2018), Vali Beigi (2009), and Akhavan & Dehghani (2014). In the factor of protective laws, it is consistent with the research results of Vali Beigi (2009) and Zarei & Parsa Mehr (2018). In the normative aspect, the findings of Heidari et al, (2021) confirm the factors of social norms, values and beliefs of the present study in the normative dimension. Based on the findings of this research, it is suggested that managers in the practical field try to take steps to implement the policies of Iran's specialized trading company with greater convergence among institutions. By supporting the commercial company, the government should provide the necessary financial resources and infrastructure for its success

Effects of Atorvastatin in Patients with Acute Spinal Cord Injury

Study DesignClinical trial study.PurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on sensory and motor function in patients with acute spinal cord injury.Overview of LiteratureThe prevalence and incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury are increasing. Statins are well established for use in hypercholesterolemia as well as during anti-inflammatory events.MethodsThis clinical trial study included 60 patients with acute spinal cord injury. These were randomly divided into two groups: the case group which received atorvastatin and also underwent surgical therapy and the control group which only underwent surgical therapy.ResultsThe severity of spinal cord lesions was evaluated based on the Frankel grade at three periods; this showed no significant difference between the two groups. Comparisons of the levels of pain between the groups based on a Visual Analog Scale system showed no significant difference at the three periods.ConclusionsWe observed no improvement at the 3- and 6-month follow-up in patients who were administered atorvastatin. However, a comparison of the two groups based on pain severity demonstrated a significant difference, suggesting that atorvastatin had a positive effect on patients with spinal cord injury

Iranian clinical practice guideline for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegeneration involving motor neurons. The 3–5 years that patients have to live is marked by day-to-day loss of motor and sometimes cognitive abilities. Enormous amounts of healthcare services and resources are necessary to support patients and their caregivers during this relatively short but burdensome journey. Organization and management of these resources need to best meet patients' expectations and health system efficiency mandates. This can only occur in the setting of multidisciplinary ALS clinics which are known as the gold standard of ALS care worldwide. To introduce this standard to the care of Iranian ALS patients, which is an inevitable quality milestone, a national ALS clinical practice guideline is the necessary first step. The National ALS guideline will serve as the knowledge base for the development of local clinical pathways to guide patient journeys in multidisciplinary ALS clinics. To this end, we gathered a team of national neuromuscular experts as well as experts in related specialties necessary for delivering multidisciplinary care to ALS patients to develop the Iranian ALS clinical practice guideline. Clinical questions were prepared in the Patient, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) format to serve as a guide for the literature search. Considering the lack of adequate national/local studies at this time, a consensus-based approach was taken to evaluate the quality of the retrieved evidence and summarize recommendations

Evaluation of Antimicrobial and Anti-Quorum Sensing Activity of Mazouj and Ghalghaf Galls Extracts of Oak against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Background and Objectives: Infections caused by resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains mostly originate from hospitals, and its prevalence is increasing in many countries of the world. Therefore, many efforts have been made to find new active plant compounds as an appropriate substitute for antibiotics. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the active compounds, antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of aqueous and methanol extracts of Mazuj and Ghalghaf galls against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methods: This study was performed on standard strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and a number of clinical strains. The methanol and aqueous extract of Mazuj and Ghalghaf galls, were prepared by Soxhlet method. Antibacterial activity of the extracts was assessed by well diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by microdilution method. The anti-quorum sensing activity of methanol and aqueous extracts of Mazuj and Ghalghaf galls was investigated on anti-biofilm activity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results: The methanol and aqueous extracts of Mazuj and Ghalghaf galls showed antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The MIC values of the extracts were obtained to be 6.25 - 25 mg/ml. The extracts of Mazuj and Ghalghaf galls inhibited the formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms in concentrations higher than 6.25. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the extracts of Mazuj gall have appropriate antibacterial activity against the studied bacteria. Also, the methanol extract had higher antibacterial activity than the aqueous extract. Therefore, it is suggested that more extensive research be conducted on the identification of its antimicrobial compounds as a suitable alternative to antibiotics for the treatment of diseases

Attention control learning in the decision space using state estimation

The main goal of this paper is modelling attention while using it in efficient path planning of mobile robots. The key challenge in concurrently aiming these two goals is how to make an optimal, or near-optimal, decision in spite of time and processing power limitations, which inherently exist in a typical multi-sensor real-world robotic application. To efficiently recognise the environment under these two limitations, attention of an intelligent agent is controlled by employing the reinforcement learning framework. We propose an estimation method using estimated mixture-of-experts task and attention learning in perceptual space. An agent learns how to employ its sensory resources, and when to stop observing, by estimating its perceptual space. In this paper, static estimation of the state space in a learning task problem, which is examined in the WebotsTM simulator, is performed. Simulation results show that a robot learns how to achieve an optimal policy with a controlled cost by estimating the state space instead of continually updating sensory information

The effects of panax ginseng on lipid profile, pro-oxidant: Antioxidant status and high-sensitivity c reactive protein levels in hyperlipidemic patients in Iran

Background: Because of the conflicting results from previous studies regarding the efficacy of ginseng on lipid profile and anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative activities of its components, we aimed to evaluate the effects of Panax ginseng on lipid profile, pro-oxidant - anti-oxidant status and high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels. Methods: Forty Iranian hyperlipidemic patients were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 20) or control (n = 20) groups in this double-blind randomized controlled trial. The ginseng or placebo was taken two capsules twice a day for 8 weeks. Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting blood glucose, serum creatinine and hs-CRP levels and pro-oxidant - anti-oxidant balance (PAB) were estimated before and after intervention. Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to changes in serum TG, LDL-C, HDL-C, and TC/HDL-C levels. Nor were there significant differences between the two groups with respect to changes in hs-CRP level and PAB from baseline to week 8. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that ginseng does not have significant effects on lipid profile, Hs-CRP level and PAB. Further clinical studies, with a larger sample size, more prolonged period of therapy are needed to investigate the therapeutic effects of ginseng

Iranian clinical practice guideline for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegeneration involving motor neurons. The 3-5 years that patients have to live is marked by day-to-day loss of motor and sometimes cognitive abilities. Enormous amounts of healthcare services and resources are necessary to support patients and their caregivers during this relatively short but burdensome journey. Organization and management of these resources need to best meet patients' expectations and health system efficiency mandates. This can only occur in the setting of multidisciplinary ALS clinics which are known as the gold standard of ALS care worldwide. To introduce this standard to the care of Iranian ALS patients, which is an inevitable quality milestone, a national ALS clinical practice guideline is the necessary first step. The National ALS guideline will serve as the knowledge base for the development of local clinical pathways to guide patient journeys in multidisciplinary ALS clinics. To this end, we gathered a team of national neuromuscular experts as well as experts in related specialties necessary for delivering multidisciplinary care to ALS patients to develop the Iranian ALS clinical practice guideline. Clinical questions were prepared in the Patient, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) format to serve as a guide for the literature search. Considering the lack of adequate national/local studies at this time, a consensus-based approach was taken to evaluate the quality of the retrieved evidence and summarize recommendations