Identification and ranking of factors affecting behavioral economics in Iran

Purpose- Since economics is the science of choice and if we conside the human being as a selector, it should be noted how the function of selection is formed and how it can psychologically measure and analyze activities such as intentions, motives, opinions, attitudes and expectations. The aims of this study were to identify and rank the factors affecting behavioral economics and its use. Design/methodology/approach- In this deseriptive -analytic study, 385 in dividuals were selected using the Cochran formula. Data were gathered through a questionnaire and analyzed using arachnoid diagram rating and spss software package. Findings- Generally, fairness, risk and inequity aversion dimensions have more important roles in behavioral economics of Iran community, while, mimicry, sel fishness and economic intelligence have less significant roles. All hypotheses of the study were confirmed (p<0.05) and although the hypothesis related to selfishness was rejected, according to the participants, role of selfishness dimen-sion is high among Iran community. Research limitations/implications- It can be concluded that the behavior and habits of other people have no significant role in behavioral economy of Iran community, that might be due to the fact that the effects of these two items on economy is not so important; hence respondents don’t consider high amount of significance for these dimensions in Iran community. More over, in behavioral economics of Iran community the amount of reciprocal friendship, inequity aversion and fairness is low that can be attributed to the lack of trust between people in regard to their economic decisions. Practical implications- One of the most important applications of this research, is offering behavioral economy in general scheme, and as regards to few research in this field, it’s one of the main prob-lems of executives when refer to this field of science, because they don’t have appropriate image of the current situation in Iran and by this image they will be able planning decisions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of Iranian society. Originality/value- Firstly, similar research in the field of behavioral economics has not been carried out in Iran, and this study can be considered grounds for starting research in this field. Furthermore, dispite the long time has passed, since the introduction of behavioral economics theory , no research has been focused on this issue in Iran and presented profile in this research , is the first image of be-havioral economics in Iran. Research paper Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ahmadi, S.A.A., Salamzadeh, Y., and Ranjbar, L. (2013). “Identification and ranking of factors affecting behavioral economics in Iran”, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, Vol. 1 No. 1/2, pp. 101–124

Antioxidant Activity of Iranian Echium amoenum Fisch & C.A. Mey Flower Decoction in Humans: A cross-sectional Before/After Clinical Trial

Medicinal plants are recognized as sources of natural antioxidants that can protect from biological system oxidative stress. The present cross-sectional before/after clinical trial was carried out to investigate the antioxidant properties of the decoction of the flowers of Echium amoenum Fisch & C.A. Mey in humans. A group of 38 healthy subjects was invited to use the E. amoenum (7 mg kg(−1)) twice daily for 14 days. Blood samples before and after entering the study were measured for lipid peroxidation level (LPO), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total thiol (SH) molecules. A significant reduction of blood LPO (24.65 ± 11.3 versus 19.05 ± 9.7, P = 0.029) was observed after 14 days of E. amoenum consumption. Blood TAC (1.46 ± 0.51 versus 1.70 ± 0.36, P = 0.018) and total thiol molecules (0.49 ± 0.11 versus 0.56 ± 0.12, P = 0.001) increased after 14 days of E. amoenum consumption. In conclusion, this antioxidative stress potential of E. amoenum may be due to its bioactive antioxidant components, especially rosmarinic acid and flavonoids. In recent years the importance of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of many human disorders has been confirmed, thus use of this plant as a dietary supplement is highly recommended

Perceived social support, depression, and perceived stress in university students

      Psychological disorders are universally common problems. Social support contributes much to the health of individuals. Focusing upon social support and upon vicissitudes of life can help prevent the depression-induced disorders. The present paper investigated the relationship between perceived social support, depression and perceived stress in university students.The descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 390 students living in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sceince campus, whom were selected based on a simple random selection method. The related questionnaires of multidimensional scales of perceived social support, Beck’s depression, and perceived stress then were distributed during midterm among students to collect the necessary data. Data was fed into SPSS 16 and analysed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, Chi-square, and Fisher exact test.Our results indicated that 49.7 per cent of students suffered from specific degrees of depression. 30.5 per cent of students had given educational progress and employment as sources of stress in living in the campus. The perceived social support scores were 28.32±9.56, depression, 12.10±9.02, and for perceived stress was 26.84±8.27. A significant relationship was shown to be between perceived social support, depression, and perceived stress (p<0.001) The conclusion made in the paper is that considering depression and stress is crucial to the health of the students. Also, forming workgroups to increase social support for students can help alleviates depression and stress in university students

Updating the Curriculum of Ph.D by Research Training Courses in Medical Sciences in Iran

Background & Objective: Ph.D by research is one of the highest post-graduate education degrees in Iran. There are educational and research-based courses in this program. There was a need for revision in these courses because of some controversies in running the program. This study aimed to determine the required courses, their credit and objective of each course in the program. Methods: The study was done by the Delphi approach in two rounds. In the first round, the current program was evaluated by an internet survey and an expert panel. The expert panel consisted of professors and PhD by research students of medical sciences universities in Iran. At the end of the first round, the curriculum of the program was prepared. The curriculum consisted of course titles, credits, objective and core or non-core curriculums. In the second round, the curriculum was sent to PhD by research supervisors and students and their feedbacks were collected via e-mail. Results: At the end of the study, the list of current courses (per credit) was confirmed. Advanced statistics (3), advanced research (2), ethics in research (1) and documentation (2) were considered as core courses. This was suggested to change project management (2) and research projects (4) to non-core courses. The electronic data management (2), knowledge transfer (2), laboratory techniques (2) and course thesis were suggested to consider as non-core courses. Conclusion: The essential courses that students need for their research were considered as core and the courses which require the educational center point of view were considered as non-core courses. Keywords Delphi approach PhD by research Revision Curriculu

Effects of Methadone on Liver Enzymes in Patients Undergoing Methadone Maintenance Treatment

Background: Methadone is currently the most frequently used substance in the treatment of short-term and particularly long-term opiate dependence. Patients' beliefs about the adverse effects of methadone on function of organs, especially liver, have widely affected the use of this substance. This study aimed to determine the effects of methadone on liver enzyme levels in patients on methadone maintenance treatment. Methods: In a retrospective study, a total of 94 patients undergoing methadone maintenance therapy were recruited from Shahid Beheshti Hospital (Kerman, Iran). Liver enzyme levels in all patients were tested every six months from the onset of treatment until 24 months. The relations between test results and age, gender, and methadone dose were then evaluated. Data was analyzed using logistic regression with random data plan. Findings: At the 24th month, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in 4 patients (4.3%) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels in 3 patients (3.2%) were above normal. Among 46 patients (50%) who had normal alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels after 24 months, 26 subjects were younger than 40 and 20 subjects were over 40 years of age. The mean age of subjects with abnormal ALP levels and the mean methadone dose were 39.9 years and 19.55 cc, respectively.Conclusion: The results of this study indicated the significant effect of methadone on ALP levels. These effects can account for cholestatic pattern liver injury (obstruction). Further prospective studies including greater samples of patients with heart and liver complications and encompassing other drugs are required to confirm our findings.Keywords: Methadone, Substance abuse, Liver, Alanine aminotransferase, Aspartate aminotransferase, Alkaline phosphatas

Varicella susceptibility in iran military conscripts: A study among military garrisons

peer reviewedBackground: Promoting varicella vaccination for military personnel and conscripts, as one of the susceptible and high-risk groups, is an important governmental approach in every society. The present study aimed to address the seroprevalence of this infection and its immunization level among Iranian military conscripts. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine seroprevalence of varicella infection and its immunization level among Iranian military conscripts. Methods: Four hundred and sixty-four conscripts, using cluster-stratified sampling, were selected from all military garrisons in Tehran. Seroprevalence of infection among each participant was determined by measuring varicella IgG antibody level via the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The mean antibody titer among the participants was 109.66127.47; 86.9% of studied samples were seropositive. Place of residence could somewhat predict the seropositivity against varicella; seropositivity was significantly higher in participants, who lived in the capital city than those wholived in other regions (OR: 4.008, 95%CI: 0.947 - 16.953, P=0.059). Age, education level, marital statusandduration of military were not associated with seropositivity. Conclusions: Susceptibility to varicella infection is considerably lower among military garrisons in Tehran and is mainly dependent on their place of residence. However, the current study could not provide a comprehensive picture of the immunological status of the varicella in Iran military garrisons, and we suggest further studies in more cities to aid with the design of immunization programs for these individuals

Applications Of neural networks in business and managerial forecasting and comparative with nonlinear models Case study: Iran wood industry

Often, the nature of many real life processes, especially in management and business fields are nonlinear. Forecasting the behavior of these processes requires accurate and effective forecasting tools. Shortages of such processes are removable by artificial neural network as an important modeling tool in business forecasting problems. In a comparing analyze, this paper shows the excellent performance of neural network in forecasting nonlinear processes rather than other forecasting models. For this, production, import and import value (dollar) data, related to wood industry of Iran, from 1961 to 2007 are studied. First, applying this data to neural network model and nonlinear models obtained from MATLAB software, the Iran wood industry was forecasted and then based on MAPE1, yielded outcomes from both models compared. Study findings show that in all cases neural network has more successful performance than models from MATLAB

Path Dependency as a Obstacle on the Way of Correct Public Policy Making; Case Study: Iran

Public policy requires collective action and, consequently, depends on the path. This issue has been less considered in policy-making, and we need to pay attention to and analyze its negative effects in this field, But how does path dependence cause these kinds of adverse effects? Route dependence on locking and subjugation now in the past prevents policies from changing due to changing circumstances and the passage of time. The present article, by searching in various books and articles, examines the negative consequences and examples of path-related processes as an important and effective obstacle in policy-making and shows how and in what context this factor will have an effect; how and by what mechanism it intervenes in decision-making and non-decision-making. Also by giving examples of the negative effects of this factor in economic and political contexts over time; Its destructive effects have been mentioned. Since the dependence on the path in economics and transiently in management has been dealt with, so this has been the stimulus for the regulation of the forthcoming writing, to draw attention to the above factor in policy

Syllabic Length Effect in Visual Word Recognition

Studies on visual word recognition have resulted in different and sometimes contradictory proposals as Multi-Trace Memory Model (MTM), Dual-Route Cascaded Model (DRC), and Parallel Distribution Processing Model (PDP). The role of the number of syllables in word recognition was examined by the use of five groups of English words and non-words. The reaction time of the participants to these words was measured using reaction time measuring software. The results indicated that there was syllabic effect on recognition of both high and low frequency words. The pattern was incremental in terms of syllable number. This pattern prevailed in high and low frequency words and non-words except in one syllable words. In general, the results are in line with the PDP model which claims that a single processing mechanism is used in both words and non-words recognition. In other words, the findings suggest that lexical items are mainly processed via a lexical route.  A pedagogical implication of the findings would be that reading in English as a foreign language involves analytical processing of the syllable of the words.