Understanding the policy instruments mix in higher education r&d : a policy scale development

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the policy instruments mix in higher education research and development (HERD) using structural equation modeling. This modeling helps us to understand the total structure of the factors affecting the policy mix as well as its main actors in a political system. Design/Methodology/Approach: Thirty two identified actors (official institutions) through upstream documents were designed by the method of social network analysis in the form of a political network and their role in policy instruments mix was investigated through their amount of centrality in the network. Also, indicators affecting policy instrument mix were identified using the view of 13 Iranian higher education policy experts. These indicators were categorized in the form of causal, contextual, intervening factors, main phenomena, mechanisms and outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to confirm the model. Findings: According to the results, the lack of policy logic is the main reason for the lack of justice in the policy instruments mix. Choosing a logic or theory of justice that is the basis of all the instruments in research and development decisions can lead to the integration of concepts and instruments mix. Practical Implications: There is no doubt that the dominant range of thought can have a greater impact on politics in any state, but choosing observers from other aspects of thought will always lead to more effective policies. Originality/Value: How to form policy instruments mix in policymakers' mind has not been investigated in any study so far, and this study explores the indicators governing policy instrument mix.peer-reviewe

Investigation of Relationship between Ownership Concentration and Auditing Fees in listed firms of Tehran Stock Exchange

This study investigates the relationship between ownership concentration and auditing fees of listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. The level and nature of external audit fees requested by organizations, depends on three descriptive elements such as the firm size, complexity of operations and audit risk. Researches indicated that ownership structure of company as one of the key components of corporate governance can impact on audit fees through impacting on these three descriptive elements. Since every classes of investors have different goals and motivations for their investment; in this investigation, the Ownership concentration, as two effective group of shareholders in ownership structure, was investigated from the two aspects of Institutional and managerial; and 114 listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange in a period of 2007-2012 years were chosen as a sample. This study is descriptive correlation based on panel data analyzing, the results showed that the negative relation between institutional ownership concentration factor with the audit fee and a negative relation between concentration factor in the company's board of directors and the auditing fee is accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange

Dental implant placement with flapless and flapped technique: A systematic review

Aim: This study was aimed to systematically review and compare implant treatment outcome including success and survival rates, marginal bone loss and post-operative pain between flapped and flapless techniques of implant insertion. Material and Methods: An internet search was performed in PubMed and Cochrane Library in June 2018 using relevant keywords limited to human studies and English language. Clinical studies evaluating the survival rate, marginal bone loss (MBL) and rate of complications between flapped and flapless techniques for implant insertion were included. The review process was performed by two reviewers and the relevant data was extracted from the included studies. Data was compared in a qualitative manner. Results: Electronic search resulted in 1872 studies out of which 32 (21 RCTs) were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria including 1528 patients and 3047 implants. No significant difference was found between success and survival rate of implants using two techniques except for one study that reported higher success rate in flapless group. Twelve studies reported higher MBL in the flapped groups while two studies showed higher MBL in the flapless group. Less pain following flapless technique was reported in 9 studies. One study, however, showed more pain in flapless technique. Conclusion: Implant survival rate using flapped and flapless technique is comparable. Also, MBL using flapless technique is similar or less than flapped technique. Concerning post-operative complications, flapless technique would probably have less post-operative pai

AN INVESTIGATION ON THE CRACK GROWTH RESISTANCE OF HUMAN TOOTH ENAMEL: ANISOTROPY, MICROSTRUCTURE AND TOUGHENING

The enamel of human teeth is generally regarded as a brittle material with low fracture toughness. Consequently, the contributions of this tissue in resisting tooth fracture and the importance of its complex microstructure have been largely overlooked. The primary objective of this dissertation is to characterize the role of enamel's microstructure and degree of decussation on the fracture behavior of human enamel. The importance of the protein content and aging on the fracture toughness of enamel were also explored. Incremental crack growth in sections of human enamel was achieved using a special inset Compact Tension (CT) specimen configuration. Crack extension was achieved in two orthogonal directions, i.e. longitudinal and transverse to the prism axes. Fracture surfaces and the path of crack growth path were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the fundamental mechanisms of crack growth extension. Furthermore, a hybrid approach was adopted to quantify the contribution of toughening mechanisms to the overall toughness. Results of this investigations showed that human enamel exhibits rising R-curve for both directions of crack extension. Cracks extending transverse to the rods in the outer enamel achieved lower rise in toughness with crack extension, and significantly lower toughness (1.23 � 0.20 MPa*m0.5) than in the inner enamel (1.96 � 0.28 MPa*m0.5) and in the longitudinal direction (2.01 � 0.21 MPa*m0.5). The crack growth resistance exhibited both anisotropy and inhomogeneity, which arise from the complex hierarchical microstructure and the decussated prism structure. Decussation causes deflection of cracks extending from the enamel surface inwards, and facilitates a continuation of transverse crack extension within the outer enamel. This process dissipates fracture energy and averts cracks from extending toward the dentin and vital pulp. This study is the first to investigate the importance of proteins and the effect of aging on the fracture resistance of this highly mineralized tissue. Results showed that although the organic content is small, it plays an important role in the toughness of enamel. The deproteinized enamel underwent a significant reduction in the crack growth resistance with respect to proteinized control, with fracture toughness in the longitudinal (1.24 � 0.24 MPa*m0.5) and transverse directions (0.95 � 0.20 MPa*m0.5) approximately 40% lower than the control. Removal of the proteins also resulted in a loss of anisotropy, which reduces enamel's unique ability to invoke crack deflection. Additionally, results showed that aging results in a significant reduction in the fracture toughness. In the longitudinal direction the fracture toughness of old enamel was 1.38 � 0.35 MPa*m0.5, which is more than 30% lower than that of the control. Microscopic observation of crack extension in the enamel specimens showed that crack growth toughening occurred by a combination of extrinsic toughening mechanism including crack bridging, crack deflection and crack bifurcation. The cohesive zone analysis confirmed that enamel is primarily extrinsically toughened, with intrinsic and extrinsic toughening contributing approximately 5% and 30% of the total energy to fracture in the decussated enamel, respectively. However, the contribution of the extrinsic toughening in the outer enamel was negligible. For the deproteinized and old enamel, the degree of extrinsic toughening was 75%, and 30% lower, respectively, in comparison to the young proteinized enamel. The degradation in extrinsic toughening was attributed to embrittlement of the bridging ligaments. The organic substance at the rod boundaries was found to be essential in the crack growth toughening of enamel through the formation of unbroken ligaments and crack bridging, microcracking along the rod boundaries and in the process of crack bifurcation. The effectiveness of these mechanisms is most dominant in the decussated enamel due to the higher organic content. Through these findings the present investigation provides new understanding on the fracture resistance of enamel, which is essential to advancements in the field of restorative dentistry, as well as in the design of new restorative and bio-inspired materials

Trading Volume and Return from Contrarian and Momentum Strategies in Tehran Stock Exchange

One of the most challenging observations in financial markets is that the common stock return, In contrast with the efficient market hypothesis, has special behaviors in various time intervals. One of these abnormal behaviors is as a result of momentum and contrarian strategies . This study investigates the effect of trading volume on contrarian and momentum strategies performance using a sample of 108 listed firms' data in Tehran Stock Exchange during 2003-2011. The sample data were collected from Tadbir Pardaz and Rahavard Nouvin software. The research hypothesis was tested using mean comparison, ANOVA and Tokay tests. The results showed that the momentum strategy in high and medium trading volume is profitable quarterly. Also the momentum return will increase when the trading volume is increased

DataSheet1_Synthesis and characterization of an Fe-MOF@Fe3O4 nanocatalyst and its application as an organic nanocatalyst for one-pot synthesis of dihydropyrano[2,3-c]chromenes.DOCX

In this study, the recyclable heterogeneous cluster bud Fe-MOF@Fe3O4 ‘nanoflower’ composite (CB Fe-MOF@Fe3O4 NFC) was successfully synthesized using Fe(NO3)3·9H2O, 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate monohydrate, and Fe3O4 nanoparticles by microwave irradiation. The as-prepared CB Fe-MOF@Fe3O4 NFC was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), vibrational sampling magnetometry (VSM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The CB Fe-MOF@Fe3O4 NFC samples proved to have excellent catalytic activity. The activity of the CB Fe-MOF@Fe3O4 NFC nanocatalyst was explored in the synthesis of dihydropyrano[3, 2-c]chromene derivatives via a three-component reaction of 4-hydroxycoumarin, malononitrile, and a wide range of aromatic aldehyde compounds. Optimized reaction conditions had several advantages, including the use of water as a green solvent, environmental compatibility, simple work-up, reusability of the catalyst, low catalyst loading, faster reaction time, and higher yields.</p

Investigating the effect of organizational culture dimensions on financial performance: In case study of pharmaceutical companies listed on the tehran stock exchange

Organizational culture is the force that have people to act and has a strong and penetrating effect on all components of the organization, hence the recognition of organizational culture to create an innovative organization and benefit from the creativity of the staff is important. The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of organizational culture on financial performance. The method used in the current study was surveyed, and we used Cameron &amp; Quinn questionnaire (2006), to measure the organizational culture variable as an independent variable, and from the functional data of the accepted pharmaceutical companies in Tehran Stock Exchange in 2014, to measure the financial performance variable as a dependent variable.&nbsp; The software used in this research included Excel and SPSS, so that in Excel, necessary calculations, and in SPSS the data analysis were done. Also, Regression has been used to investigate the direct effect of the research variables. Based on the standard coefficient and the significance level obtained, there is not any significant relationship between variables. The results of statistical analysis indicate that there is no significant relationship between studied cultures and financial performance