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This paper aims to investigate the impact of different parameters on promoting the role of cycling as a daily mode of transport. In the first step of the analyses, binary logistic regression was used to examine the impact of different parameters on using or not using the bicycle as a transportation mode in weekly trips. Then by text mining, the main reasons for not using a bicycle in weekly trips are outlined. Finally, for those who use bicycles for at least one utilitarian trip a week, the effect of different factors on the popularity of this mode is investigated by structural equation modeling. Tehran, as a big city in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, was considered as the case study. The results suggest that it is necessary to work on social norms about cycling, especially among those with higher education levels and income. Women use bicycles less than men and it is also necessary to rethink attitudes and regulations in relation to women cycling in Islamic countries. Bicycle promotion should aim to facilitate more positive attitudes among women. Providing more facilities such as safe bicycle paths, bicycle parking, and bike-sharing facilities have significant impacts on using this mode and its popularity. In highly congested cities, alongside facilitating cycling, it is important to set restrictions on private car use. The United Nations has outlined sustainable development goals (SDGs), which among other important aspects focus on transportation systems in the cities. Attracting citizens to bicycles can be an effective step to establish a more sustainable future transport system. To contribute toward this objective, the current study aims to investigate the impact of different parameters on increasing the popularity of cycling and proposing countermeasures to attract more people to this mode. Tehran, the capital of Iran as a big Middle East and North Africa (MENA) city in a developing country with substantial sustainability challenges, was considered as the case study and 1,074 people in different districts of the city were surveyed. The practical results suggest that it is necessary to work on social norms about cycling, especially among those with higher education levels and income. Women use bicycles less than men and it is necessary to rethink attitudes and regulations in relation to women cycling in Islamic countries. Bicycle promotion should aim to facilitate more positive attitudes among females. Providing more facilities such as safe bicycle paths, bicycle parking, and bike-sharing facilities have significant impacts on using this mode and its popularity. In highly congested cities, alongside facilitating cycling, it is important to set restrictions on private car use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to reflect on some theoretical and practical issues raised at the Conference “Common Foreign and Security Policy of European Union. Middle East and Iran,” organized by Allameh Tabataba’i University, with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (EU Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency – EACEA). The conference took place in Tehran, Iran, on 21 December 2020. The paper looks into aspects of the conceptual platforms for EastWest cooperation, global and regional integration projects, and is intended as an appeal for intensifying pluralistic joint academic research, culturally and politically unbiased, to theoretically generalize, compare and make available to a wider public the experience of the EU and other institutionalized regional communities, in order to foresee the possible and most viable forms of coordination of strategic (and tactical) policies within the developing regionalization processes. The main proposed methods of academic research are typologization, comparative and contrasting analysis, extrapolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between managerial ability and earnings classification shifting of firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The paper consists of a sample of 1,875 firm-year observations after applying systematic elimination sampling method during a period of fifteen years, from 2005 to 2019. This study used the multivariate panel data regression for testing the links between variables. The results of this study provide that there is a positive relationship between managerial ability and earnings classification shifting. The obtained results indicate that there is a negative relationship between managerial ability and real earnings management and no relationship between managerial ability and AEM. In addition, managerial ability mitigates the negative effect of earnings management on future firm performance. Furthermore, managerial ability affects its agency cost positively due to the reduction in earnings management. This paper contributes to developing management literature and financial reporting literature. The study focuses on links managerial ability and earnings classification shifting and agency cost in a developing country like Iran, and the results of the paper can fill distance theory and practice by empirical test. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate in an emerging market, namely, Iran, that has a political business environment among the other countries of the Middle East, managerial ability can release Iranian firms on economic sanctions and financial pressures. This paper is the first study of its type in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper incorporates a study of “re-ghettoization” among the Armenian Christians of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It focuses on how legal marginalization has led to the emergence of an entirely separate existence from the Muslim majority in Tehran among Armenians born after the revolution. By focusing on the spatial and social divisions of the hayashatner (Armenian neighborhoods) and the “social” ghetto of the Ararat Compound, this article addresses the question: what are the social implications for religious discrimination in the Muslim Middle East? This paper is based on three extensive blocks of fieldwork carried out in Iran from 2010 to 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Autoimmune liver diseases (AILD) are increasing and common forms of chronic liver disease (CLD) with different clinical responses and characteristics which can result in cirrhosis. This study aimed to investigate the natural history and characteristics of AILD in an Iranian population. Methods: Patients with AILD [Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH), Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC), Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) and Overlap Syndrome (OS)] referred to Middle East Liver Diseases (MELD) center, Tehran, Iran, between January 2002 and December 2022 were included in this retrospective cohort study. The main features of natural history (the trends of liver functional tests (LFT), Auto-Antibodies, response to treatment and cirrhotic status) along with demographic data were studied. Results: Two hundred sixty-five patients (160 (60.4%) AIH, 37 (14.0%) PBC, 20 (7.5%) PSC, 48 (18.1%) overlap syndrome) with a median follow-up time of 5 years (IQR 4 to 8 years) were included. Baseline laboratory tests revealed that patients with AIH exhibit elevated transaminase levels. However, patients suffering from PBC and PSC displayed increased alkaline phosphatase levels. Conversely, in overlap syndrome patients, both transaminases and alkaline phosphatase were observed at high levels. Autoantibodies represented themselves as important diagnostic markers for the AIH and PBC but not for PSC. The complete response occurred in 112 (70%) of and 28 (58.4%) patients with AIH and overlap syndrome respectively and 21 patients 11 (6.9%) of AIH and 10 (20.8%) of overlap syndrome) were non-responders. Other patients in these two categories were considered as insufficient responders. On the other side, 32 (91.9%) and 8 (40%) of patients with PBC and PSC biochemically responded to Ursodeoxycholic Acid (UDCA). Unpredictably, cirrhosis regression was observed in some AIH and PBC patients. Conclusion: Appropriate medication management for AILD patients may leads to regression from cirrhosis and improvement of manifestations; while discontinuation of medication may cause relapses. However, patient suffering from PSC showed limited response to treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1978 and 1979, the world was watching Iran, as millions of Iranians were on the streets of Tehran and not only, demanding free, democratic government and the end of the Pahlavi dynasty ruling. For the fine connoisseurs of Iranian societal specifics, it is no secret that Iranians have, sometimes, an exaggerated sense of their country's importance in the international system, but now, for once, they seemed to be right. The world was watching. Not just out of curiosity to see if the Pahlavi Shah would give in, but also because the consequences of his regime change would generate important changes in the geopolitical architecture of the Middle East. And then, when a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, seized the United States Embassy in Tehran and took the 52 diplomats and employees' prisoner, the world watched, for 444 days, the evolution of this crisis. So, the Revolution soon became a showdown between the ideas of the newly Islamic Republic and those of the West. And thus, after 1979, the revolution recast the face of the Middle East: as different as they were from their predecessor, the Shah, they took over his desire to transform Iran into a regional hegemon. Only this time they were doing it without the support of the West. In addition, Iran's new religious leadership overturned secularism and imposed a new Constitution based on exclusively religious beliefs. But for bona fide revolutionaries, freedom lasted, metaphorically speaking, three days. This article aims to present a theoretical perspective on Iranian Revolution and to deconstruct its conventional win-lose binary interpretations, that undermine the subtle but important victories of a nation who is not done yet fighting for their freedom and hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we provide an in-depth study of the link between global commodity prices and the shocks market. Many Middle East countries are exports dependent and rely heavily on the global price of their primary commodities to make rational economic decisions. It is against this background that this study investigates the level of interdependence between global commodities prices and stock market returns in selected Middle East countries. For this empirical investigation, the two largest stock markets were selected based on market capitalization namely Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) and Saudi Stock Exchange, TADAWUL (TASI). Specifically, we examined the relationship between global commodities prices and stock market returns and the direction of causality between the variables following Eagle Granger causality procedures. In addition, we determined the effect of global commodities` price movement on stock market returns using the ARDL estimation technique. The results of our analyses show that there is a significant long-run relationship between global commodities prices and stock market returns. Also, there exists a largely bidirectional causal relationship between global commodities prices and stock market returns in the two markets. Furthermore, the results of ARDL estimation reveal that global commodities prices have short-run and long-run effects on stock market returns in the two markets. These findings are robust to a battery of robustness checks. These results support the investor's decisionmaking process. In addition, the results of this survey are important for policymakers to strengthen the stock market to drive economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports a characterization of PAHs-PM10, including associated health effects in the largest composting facility in Tehran, Iran. Measured PAHs-PM10 stemmed primarily from petrogenic sources with mean concentrations between 231.19 to 401.25 ng m−3. The distribution pattern of PAHs (in terms of ring number) exhibited the following order when combining all sites: 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 2 rings. The average cumulative excess lifetime cancer risk values estimated for PAHs-PM10 surpassed the U.S. EPA limit (1 × 10−6): refining site (3.31 × 10−4) > processing site (1.75 × 10−4) > aeration site (9.81 × 10−5). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollution of Iranian agricultural soils with trace elements (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) was assessed and compared with other agricultural soils around the world. Experimental data on trace element content in Iranian agricultural areas in the west and north were collected from the literature: 39 studies covered a total of 46 agricultural sites of 17 provinces in Iran, in order to characterize their patterns of accumulation of trace elements. Two pollution indices, namely, the pollution index (PI) and the integrated pollution index (IPI), were used to evaluate trace element accumulation. The data revealed a remarkable variation in trace element content among soils in different areas. Exploratory data analyses (EDAs) showed that a number of trace elements (Pb, Cu, and Zn) are asymmetrically distributed and scattered. Surveys indicated that 45.5% of the studied samples had elevated PI values for Cd, 13.0% for Cu, and 16.7% for Pb, clearly indicating an anthropogenic contribution of these three elements. The IPI of the agricultural soils also indicated that most areas are classified as having moderate and high pollution. Higher contents of trace elements (except for Mn) were found in some cities of the Isfahan, Hamadan, and Tehran provinces. Excessive application of conventional and organic fertilizers, pesticides, animal manure, and sewage sludge for enhancing crop production is responsible for high trace element content in Iran's agricultural soils. This in turn, through the food chain, is a threat to human health. Analysis of the correlation between trace elements exhibited that Cu, Pb, and Zn (Cd, Pb and Zn) were very closely associated with each other, showing that their prevalent sources are common and the efforts to regulate them linked in common actions. We consider this evaluation as a viable approach to other similar areas in the Middle East and beyond, which could be used by environmental scientists for risk assessment and decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to compare sociodemographic characteristics, smoking patterns, beliefs and perceptions, nicotine dependence, and psychological indicators between flavored waterpipe (WP) tobacco (FWT) and non-flavored WP tobacco (non-FWT) smokers in Iran. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 94 WP-serving venues surrounding Tehran and Ardabil metropolitans in Iran. Convenience sampling was applied to select 900 current WP smokers [508 (56%) FWT-only and 392 (44%) non-FWT-only smokers] aged 18 years and older. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the independent characteristics of FWT and non-FWT smokers. Compared to non-FWT smokers, FWT smokers were younger (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87–0.90) and more likely to have ≥ 1 sibling who smoked WP (AOR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.06–2.24), share WP with others (AOR=2.52, 95% CI: 1.68–3.77), report current cigarette smoking (AOR=2.05, 95% CI: 1.23–3.42), and report confidence in quitting at any time (AOR=3.64, 95% CI: 2.45–5.39). FWT smokers were less likely to have seen (AOR=0.40, 95% CI: 0.27–0.60) or read (AOR=0.44, 95% CI: 0.24–0.80) warning messages on WP tobacco packages relative to non-FTW smokers. The most common self-reported reason for smoking WP was entertainment for both groups, followed by stress relief for non-FWT smokers and the escape from loneliness for FWT smokers. FWT-only smokers differ from non-FWT-only smokers in several aspects including being younger, having more positive beliefs and perceptions regarding WP use, and having higher cigarette smoking prevalence. These findings will help in developing more effective and targeted policies and cessation interventions for WP smokers according to flavor type they use, especially in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the 30-years separation of Egypt and Iran in the Middle East. It notes that Cairo in Egypt and Tehran in Iran have traced their histories to the glorious and ancient civilizations which created a strong sense of nationalisms for both countries. It tells that most Egyptians claim regional power with the perception that their country in the leading Arab state. Similarly, the Iranians perceive that their history and political culture have been suppressed by the conspiracy of the foreign powers including Russia, Great Britain, and the U.S.