Intertextual Relations of “Hereafter” in Nahj al-Balagha and the Quran

Intertextuality is a theory of interaction or relation between texts, which results in the creation of a novel idea. On this theory, every text or writing is derived from other texts, and there is no writing apart from other writings. The Quran, as the guidebook of humankind, affects the hadiths of the Prophet and Shiite Imams (a), which is why the latter frequently cite the former. One text of hadiths, which bears an intertextual relation with Quranic verses, is Nahj al-Balagha. Focused on the theme of the “hereafter,” this research adopts a descriptive-analytical method to answer the following question: How to analyze the intertextual relations between Nahj al-Balagha and the Quran on the theme of the “hereafter”? The results show that there are only two cases of full intertextuality in Nahj al-Balagha. In several parts of Nahj al-Balagha, there is modified intertextuality, but there is widespread allusive intertextuality in the words of Imam ʿAlī (a), as he frequently talks about the hereafter using themes from Quranic verses

The Generic Structure of Book Acknowledgements

Studies on the generic structure of thesis and dissertation acknowledgments have resulted in some influential models such as Hyland’s (2004) and Al-Ali’s (2010) models. Few studies, if any, have investigated the generic structure of acknowledgments in books. Therefore, the present study was an attempt to find out whether the acknowledgments of books follow an organizational pattern. To this end, 200 books (100 written by native and 100 by non-native speakers of English) which included acknowledgements section, from a mass of 1000 books, were considered. The data were analyzed with reference to Hyland’s (2004) scheme. The results obtained from the analysis of the acknowledgments written by both native and non-native writers of English revealed that the overall structure of the acknowledgements section of the books follows an organizational pattern which is a combination of two models: Hyland’s (2004) scheme (all moves and steps), Al-Ali’s (2010) model (Praising and Thanking God Step and Signing off Move) and two new moves: Copyright Move and Commenting Move. The findings suggest that a full appreciation of this organizational pattern can help writers to enjoy this unique space for thanking all those who have contributed to completion of their work and academic identity formation

A review of electrical and thermal conductivities of epoxy resin systems reinforced with carbon nanotubes and graphene-based nanoparticles

Epoxy (EP) resins exhibit desirable mechanical and thermal properties, low shrinkage during cuing, and high chemical resistance. Therefore, they are useful for various applications, such as coatings, adhesives, paints, etc. On the other hand, carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene (Gr), and their derivatives have become reinforcements of choice for EP-based nanocomposites because of their extraordinary mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. Herein, we provide an overview of the last decade's advances in research on improving the thermal and electrical conductivities of EP resin systems modified with CNT, Gr, their derivatives, and hybrids. We further report on the surface modification of these reinforcements as a means to improve the nanofiller dispersion in the EP resins, thereby enhancing the thermal and electrical conductivities of the resulting nanocomposites

Global, regional, and national cancer incidence, mortality, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-Adjusted life-years for 29 cancer groups, 1990 to 2017 : A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study

Importance: Cancer and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are now widely recognized as a threat to global development. The latest United Nations high-level meeting on NCDs reaffirmed this observation and also highlighted the slow progress in meeting the 2011 Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and the third Sustainable Development Goal. Lack of situational analyses, priority setting, and budgeting have been identified as major obstacles in achieving these goals. All of these have in common that they require information on the local cancer epidemiology. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is uniquely poised to provide these crucial data. Objective: To describe cancer burden for 29 cancer groups in 195 countries from 1990 through 2017 to provide data needed for cancer control planning. Evidence Review: We used the GBD study estimation methods to describe cancer incidence, mortality, years lived with disability, years of life lost, and disability-Adjusted life-years (DALYs). Results are presented at the national level as well as by Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income, educational attainment, and total fertility rate. We also analyzed the influence of the epidemiological vs the demographic transition on cancer incidence. Findings: In 2017, there were 24.5 million incident cancer cases worldwide (16.8 million without nonmelanoma skin cancer [NMSC]) and 9.6 million cancer deaths. The majority of cancer DALYs came from years of life lost (97%), and only 3% came from years lived with disability. The odds of developing cancer were the lowest in the low SDI quintile (1 in 7) and the highest in the high SDI quintile (1 in 2) for both sexes. In 2017, the most common incident cancers in men were NMSC (4.3 million incident cases); tracheal, bronchus, and lung (TBL) cancer (1.5 million incident cases); and prostate cancer (1.3 million incident cases). The most common causes of cancer deaths and DALYs for men were TBL cancer (1.3 million deaths and 28.4 million DALYs), liver cancer (572000 deaths and 15.2 million DALYs), and stomach cancer (542000 deaths and 12.2 million DALYs). For women in 2017, the most common incident cancers were NMSC (3.3 million incident cases), breast cancer (1.9 million incident cases), and colorectal cancer (819000 incident cases). The leading causes of cancer deaths and DALYs for women were breast cancer (601000 deaths and 17.4 million DALYs), TBL cancer (596000 deaths and 12.6 million DALYs), and colorectal cancer (414000 deaths and 8.3 million DALYs). Conclusions and Relevance: The national epidemiological profiles of cancer burden in the GBD study show large heterogeneities, which are a reflection of different exposures to risk factors, economic settings, lifestyles, and access to care and screening. The GBD study can be used by policy makers and other stakeholders to develop and improve national and local cancer control in order to achieve the global targets and improve equity in cancer care. © 2019 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Academic-Scholarly Publications in the Iranian Applied Linguistics Journals (2008-2019): A Comprehensive Review

The first step in the optimization of research is to analyze and review the conducted research to gain a comprehensive overview. Therefore, this study was set to delve into the contributions made to Iranian Applied Linguistics Journals approved by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology from 2008 to 2019. To analyze the data, frequency analyses were run on 1419 publications. The findings indicated that TEFL-related topics received the most coverage (88%) compared to the other prevalent majors: Linguistics, Translation, and Literature. The study revealed that male contributions (63.7%) far outweighed those of females (34.4%). Furthermore, it came to light that co-authorship (59.95%) was more appreciated among contributors to Iranian applied linguistics journals. Moreover, Islamic Azad University collectively (25.34%) followed by University of Shiraz (11.3%) and University of Isfahan (10.25%) had the highest number of publications. Assistant (32.12%) and associate professors (21.86%) had the highest number of publications. It was also found that the US contributors (28.75%) followed by Australian and Malaysian contributors (13.75%) made the highest number of foreign contributions to the Iranian EFL journals.  Finally, it was revealed that writing-related topics was the most frequently-explored topic (n=164). Corpus-related studies (n=132) and teacher education (n=118) came second and third respectively. The study provides practitioners and researchers with relevant and missing information about the most frequently-explored topics, the most prolific authors, the most productive universities, and the number of foreign contributions

The relationship between emotional intelligence with administrators’ performance at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

Background: The leadership of an organization requires specific features to adapt to changes and to survive and grow in new environments, and emotional intelligence is one of the most important attributes that can help leaders and managers respond to these changes. Objective: This study aimed to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence with administrators' performance at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 basic and middle managers of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran who were selected by census method in 2016. The instrument of data collecting was the "Inventory Shrinkage", and the "Organizational performance evaluation forms". The data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 using descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation. Results: The results showed there was a significant negative correlation between emotional intelligence and organizational performance in administrators (r=-0.214, p=0.032). The findings also showed that among the components of emotional intelligence and administrators’ performance, only components of empathy, was there a significant negative correlation (r=-0.199, p=0.047). Also, there was no statistically significant relationship between emotional intelligence and demographic variables such as work experience, age, marital status and education level (p>0.05). There was no significant relationship between organizational performance and demographic variables, either (p>0.05). But between the components of emotional intelligence, only for social skills and work place of administrators, a significant positive correlation was confirmed (r=0.203, p=0.043). Conclusions: The results of this study showed that there was a negative and significant correlation between the components of emotional intelligence and administrators’ performance of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences administrators, only in the empathy component

Alkyl chain length effect on construction of copper(II) complexes with tridentate Schiff base ligand and DNA interaction

<p>Two tridentate Schiff base ligands were synthesized by condensation of equimolar amounts of benzoylacetone and 2-amino-1-ethanol or 3-amino-1-propanol, H₂L¹ and H₂L², respectively. The reaction of the Schiff base ligands with Cu(CH₃COO)₂ in methanol leads to (CuL¹)₄, <b>1</b> and (CuL²)₂, <b>2</b>. In the tetranuclear cubane species, the tridentate H₂L has both a chelating and a bridging mode, after double deprotonation of the enolic OH groups. The copper(II) centers are five-coordinate with a NO₄ donor set from the ligands. The coordination geometry around each copper ion is essentially square pyramidal with one nitrogen and two oxygens from one ligand and two oxygens of adjacent ligands from the next unit of the cubane. In dinuclear <b>2</b>, H₂L² has chelating and bridging modes after double deprotonation of the enolic OH groups. The dianionic form of the Schiff base coordinates forming a six-membered chelate ring with Cu(II). Two such monomeric CuL² entities are eventually linked through the alkoxo bridges to produce dinuclear <b>2</b>. The absorption spectra strongly suggest that <b>2</b> interacts with CT-DNA. Both <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> appear to be more efficient than the parent compound in DNA cleavage.</p

Insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder: A meta-analysis on interrelated association (n = 57,618) and prevalence (n = 573,665)

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common mental disorder, which is strongly associated with insomnia, yet their epidemiological overlap is poorly understood. To determine the convergent quantitative magnitude of their relationship, PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, PubPsych, and PsycINFO were searched to identify studies that either reported the correlation or frequency of insomnia symptoms in PTSD and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), or both. Out of 3714 records, 75 studies met selection criteria and aggregate effect size (ES) estimates were generated for the correlations (K=44, comprising 57,618 subjects) and frequencies (K=33, comprising 573,665 subjects with PTSD/PTSS) of insomnia symptoms in PTSD/PTSS. A medium-size significant correlation was found [ES: 0.52 (CI: 0.47–0.57)] with moderating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and military service as causes of trauma. The prevalence of insomnia in PTSD/PTSS was 63% [CI: 45%−78%] and was moderated by the cause of trauma as well as the PTSD/PTSS assessment scale. The findings from this meta-analysis highlight the importance of screening and managing insomnia in PTSD patients