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Showing 12 results for Vahdani


Volume 7, Issue 28 (11-2019)
Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of folk culture in Joseph Arthur Gobino's travel book entitled “Three Years in Asia” , based on the content analysis method in which he tries to divide these effect in six categories of hospitality, compliments, customs and types, Iranian art, architectural and urban features and the story of his trip to Iran. Superstitious thoughts were also studied and analyzed. The result of this study shows that although in his account of his trip to Iran Gobino was able to provide a detailed account of Iran's morality and behavior patterns, it would be impossible not to ignore the contrast between the European “I " and the oriental “other” that underlies his thoughts and descriptions of different aspects of Iranian life and customs. Conflicts that have a direct impact on the spectator's mind with the other and with what belongs to his territory, followed by his reports and descriptions.
 

Volume 8, Issue 35 (11-2020)
Abstract

Abstract
One areas of study in popular culture and literature concerns the beliefs of the tribes. The Turkmen are one of the Iranian tribes that have different beliefs. The common Turkmen beliefs stem from their thoughts, beliefs, ideals, feelings, emotions, and lifestyle. Since some popular beliefs and ideas are instructive and worth pondering, this study tries to introduce some of the different Turkmen tribes, and some of the common popular beliefs among the two Turkmen peoples (Goklan and Yumut), which are reflected in Nader Ebrahimi's novel Fire, without Smoke. This study employed a library-based and analytic-descriptive method. The results show that the popular beliefs of the two tribes could be grouped into 4 categories: 1. Philosophical and mythological beliefs, 2. Beliefs about life and its stages, 3. Medical beliefs and general treatment, and 4. Calendric and meteorological. Some of these beliefs are rooted in religious teachings. Some are derived from Iranian culture, which are found not only among Turkmen but also among other ethnic groups. Some others are due to the Turkmen way of life and are specific to the culture of this people, while still others are baseless and unrealistic beliefs that stem from superstitions.
Research background
There are several studies conducted on the novel Fire, without smoke. Azizi Nik (2003) found that the two tribes of Yamut and Goklan had conflicts with each other due to their superficial customs, and even in some cases, these differences and conflicts led to wars between them. Rezvanian and Nouri (2009) indicate that the narrator of this novel insists on taking each character home. Therefore, he leaves nothing to the mind of the audience.
Sadeghi et al. (2016) conducted an intertextual analysis of the novel concluding that the staging of the novel involved intertextual communication and linguistic effects in the selection of ancient words and grammatical, rhetorical features, and the tactical effects such as the speed of initiation as well as the intervention of the narrator.
In relation to the poetic language of the novel, Taheri and Askari (2017) showed that Ebrahimi adorned his novel’s superstructure with de-familiarizations and illustrations in order to immortalize the poetic and romantic revolutionary content of his novel in the reader's mind.
A more critical study is that of Miri et al. (2015), borrowing Fairclough and Michael Short's models to analyze the power relations in the novel. They have concluded that the way the two central characters of the novel deal with others in the dialogues is directly proportional along with many ups and downs as well as their life span. Galan's dialogues with those around him are limited to certain people, and over time, this circle gets narrower so much as with his death, his coercive domination ends. Alleni, on the other hand, not only engages in dialogue with all people, particularly women, but also forces them to be at the center of the dialogue. Therefore, as far as the authors of the present study are concerned, no particular research has been conducted on the popular beliefs of the two mentioned tribes in this novel.
Research aims and questions
The purpose of this study is to examine the common beliefs among the two tribes "Goklan" and "Yamut" which are reflected in the novel Fire, without Smoke, in order to understand the lifestyle, ideas, views, and thoughts of these two Turkmen tribes and get acquainted with their sociocultural manifestations.
To this aim, the following questions were raised:
1. What popular beliefs of the two Turkmen tribes "Goklan" and "Yamut" are reflected in the novel Fire, without Smoke?
2. Where do the beliefs of these two tribes stem from?
Results and discussion
The popular culture is a common phenomenon and is deeply rooted in people. It covers all the superstructure aspects of society such as: customs and traditions, rituals and mourning, celebrations, beliefs, knowledge, and do's and don'ts (Bakhtiari, 2003, p. 24). One of the manifestations of popular culture is the beliefs of tribes which lead to the creation of particular attitudes. Since these beliefs originate from a sole human spirit, there are sometimes common beliefs shared among different ethnic groups (Hedayat, 2000, p. 23). In the novel Fire, without Smoke, Nader Ebrahimi has written about the history, culture, and folklore of the Turkmen under various pretexts:  "In this novel, he speaks better than any Turkmen about their beliefs and combines the delineation of the infinity of nature with the sufferings and joys of the Turkmen" (Mir Abedini, 1998, p. 538). This study, however, examined the popular beliefs that are common among the two tribes "Goklan" and "Yamut" and are reflected in the novel. For a thorough scrutiny of these beliefs, they were classified into sub-categories such as: philosophical and mythological beliefs, beliefs related to life and its stages, medical beliefs and popular remedies, and chronology and popular meteorology. Given that Nader Ebrahimi lived among the Turkmen people for an extended period of time, the popular culture of the Turkmen was fully known to him. He used many of their ideas in his novel as he heard them all from the Turkmen elderly and had no involvement in them whatsoever. In addition to advancing the novel, these types of allusions help to make the events of the story more realistic for the contemporary readers.
The Turkmen people have popular beliefs on various issues of life due to their ancient culture and special way of life. Influenced by the age in which they lived, the two Turkmen tribes of Yamut and Goklan have embedded a number of popular beliefs into their lives that need to be explored in the context of popular culture, because these beliefs represent the thoughts and attitudes of these two tribes about the universe and also express their social lifestyle. Some beliefs of these two tribes are reflected in the novel Fire, without Smoke and are considered as the themes of this novel. In the present study, through analyzing different parts of the mentioned novel, we attempted to sketch out the reflection of popular beliefs among the tribes "Yamut" and "Goklan" in this novel. The result of this study shows the course of these popular beliefs in the depths of thoughts, feelings, initiatives, odd events as well as wonders in the life of Turkmen tribes. Some of these beliefs, such as marriage, having a daughter for a child, jinxing, music, and reddening of the sky are rooted in the religious and Islamic teachings. Some of them, such as human sins, belief in destiny, shedding innocent blood, and treating heartache are rooted in Iranian culture. Some others, such as the belief in horoscope, the simultaneous use of two new things that make the owner sad, the act of carrying gold which leads to the women's happiness, and the healing the sacred tree gives all stem from superstition.
Some beliefs such as Turkmens being made out of iron, horses’ loyalty to their owners, infant mortality, and mourning and burial of the dead are also common among these people, which are derived from their lifestyle. The formation of these types of beliefs are the result of spiritual and psychological forces. The two tribes have acquired them from their social environment.
All in all, Nader Ebrahimi is clearly influenced by the popular culture of these tribes in reflecting and scrutinizing the beliefs of their ideologies. He has fairly been successful in this area, due to the fact that he has narrated the beliefs of the Turkmen people through reports and quotations given by the characters wherever necessary. This has led to the creation of a true story that, besides its content and spiritual impact, makes enjoyment for the readers.
References
Azizi Nik, N. (2003). The story of a novel in the smokeless fire by Nader Ebrahimi. Fiction, 43, 43 - 47.
Bakhtiari, M. R. (2003). Folklore of folk literature. Adiban.
Hedayat, S. (2000). Folk culture of the Iranian people. Cheshmeh.
Mir Abedini, H. (1998). One hundred years of Iranian fiction (Vol. 1 & 2). Cheshmeh.


Volume 9, Issue 38 (5-2021)
Abstract

Lullabies are one of the most important and valuable branches of popular culture in any ethnic group. The theme of lullabies is the reflection of thoughts, beliefs, spiritual reflections, social and political concerns, emotions, prayers and individual and social aspirations that can affect the geographical, cultural, social, and political conditions of a society. Because lullabies are not specific to a particular culture or country, they can have a lot in common, which may be in terms of rhythm, theme, concepts, as well as religious topos, natural, social, geographical, and political motifs and themes. In this descriptive-analytical study, 40 written Sabzevari lullabies have been collected by the library method to be examined. While identifying the method of the motif formation in them, the most commonly used motifs are presented in order to introduce the native lullabies of Sabzevar and to understand the reflection of religious ideas, social conditions and personal concerns of mothers of that time. After examining the various motifs in these lullabies, we were able to divide them into four categories: religious motifs, nature, places and relatives. Among the motifs used, the motif "flower" (the name of different types of flowers) with 26 items and the motif "Baba" with 16 items had the highest frequency. The results of this study show that the speakers of these lullabies have used a variety of motifs to enrich the theme of their lullabies because their poets have based the existing images and themes on various motifs, most of which form a network of images, their intellectual and emotional themes. Without analyzing them, recognizing the main peculiarities of the concepts in these lullabies could not be understood.
 


Volume 9, Issue 42 (12-2021)
Abstract

Choosing the element in a work is directly related to the reader. This study aimed to investigate the themes of the tales of Sankhast from the suburban areas of northern Khorasan in order to figure out how tale tellers used the related theme to achieve their objectives. The findings showed that the tale tellers sometimes expressed the themes in their work and in other times represented them through moral lesson to not only have more impact on the reader but also improve the level of the folk tales from the normal clichés. In general, the method of selecting themes in the tales were discussed, but there were occasions in which the themes were prior to the tale. The themes in the Tati tales of Sankhast showed that most of them were selected based on the hearings, lifestyles, mentalities, and people's opinions. Also, despite the fact that these tales tried to create heroes, attraction, curiosity, and entertainment for the general public, but in fact their fundamental mentality and social aspects were advertising humanity, equality, brotherhood, and social justice.
F. Vahdani, H. Ghafoori , S. Sarikhan,
Volume 10, Issue 2 (Spring 2019)
Abstract

Hsp70 family members are central components of the cellular network of molecular chaperones and folding catalysts. The gene encoding a protein related to Hsp70 or DnaK in the domain bacteria is called dnaK. DnaK proteins are involved in de novo protein folding, formation, and disassembly of protein complexes and degradation of misfolded proteins. The gene dnaJ which codes for Hsp40 in bacteria, modulate the activities of DnaK by acting as co-chaperone. In the present study, we cloned and expressed DnaK from Bacillus halodurans Guj1 were identified. The dnaK gene of B. halodurans was successfully expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) using pET-28a+ expression system. The open reading frame of the cloned gene contained 1839bp and encoded 612 amino acid residues. Calculated molecular weight and pI of the protein were 66.18kDa and 4.55 respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence of B. halodurans Guj1 showed about 60% identity with the E. coli counterpart. The 3D structure of dnaK from B. halodurans was constructed using the crystal structure of human HSP70 chaperone BiP as the template, which showed an identity of 88.8% together. Partially purified recombinant DnaK by heat treatment showed a band at approximately 70kDa on SDS-PAGE. Our findings showed that the recombinant DnaK improved the refolding efficiency of the carbonic anhydrase by 27% after 60min at 54°C. According to the results obtained, DnaK from B. halodurans can potentially be used for improving the functional properties of enzymes and proteins in various applications.


Volume 11, Issue 51 (August and September 2023)
Abstract

Folk culture is a mysterious world, the analysis of which can open up different horizons. In the following study, focusing on cultural and common practice of people in the northern Khorasan, the ritual of Yovar was analyzed among Tat, Turk, Turkeman, and Kermanj people through interview with candidates concerning cultural issues of the area. Besides describing this ritual, the similarities and differences between the practice, function, and consequence of this exercise. The findings indicated that the Yovar ritual in the past was practiced similarly among groups of this region in terms of gathering the agricultural crops, housing, sheep’s ripping, weaving, among others. Some consequences of this practice is cooperation and solidarity among the people of this area, common understanding, and the expression of happiness and kindness.
 

Volume 12, Issue 59 (November-Desember 2024)
Abstract

One of the areas in folk culture is to analyze the common rituals among the ethnic groups, and their ways of doing so. Rituals are some of the cultural and social issues of a particular culture, the employment of which requires certain manners and styles, which are of significance in folk culture studies. Some rituals are vast among some ethnicities, in that they are performed in different occasions, the analysis of which show the culture and beliefs in that ethnicity. As some of the rituals related to rain pray are particular to the northern Khorasan ethnic groups (Turks, Tarts, Turkeman, and Kermanj), the current study aimed to identify the rain pray rituals and their performative manners related to each ethnic group as well as their aims through library study and interviews. The findings figured out the types of rain pray rituals among the focused ethnic groups, and their performances in the ritual which are almost similar among them, such as puppetry, singing rain pray songs in group, distributing strew or votive bread, sacrifice, and saying prayers. Some of these symbols in rain pray are rooted in religious beliefs and some others in mythological notions. The role of women and children is significant in the performances. Although the ritual of rain pray is different on the surface among the ethnic groups, in total, all follow the same aim. Moreover, the people who were performing such rituals believed in them by heart.
 

Volume 16, Issue 3 (5-2014)
Abstract

 The nutritive value of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) hay was evaluated based on its chemical composition, Gas production, fractioning of protein in CNCPS and AFRC systems, Metabolizable Energy (ME), rumen degradability through in situ technique and in vitro digestibility through Tilley and Terry method. The Crude Protein (CP), Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) and Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) values of grass pea hay amounted to 232.4, 397 and 300.6 (g kg-1 DM) respectively. Condensed Tannins (CTs) and β-N-Oxalyl –L-α, β-diAmino Propionic acid (ODAP) amounted 0.2 and 11.8 (g kg-1 DM) respectively. Grass pea estimated ME ranged from 6.86 (MJ kg-1 DM) to 12.03 (MJ kg-1 DM) by different methods. Metabolizable Protein (MP) content was found 534.7 g kg-1 of CP. A high level of CP and MP content followed by a high content of ME along with a high palatability, cause grass pea to be introduced as an alternative to sheep forage in drought conditions.

Volume 18, Issue 2 (7-2014)
Abstract

  The need for flexibility in manufacturing, increased competition, and quick response to meet customer demands in the right time are the necessary subject of discussion in a manufacturing area. There are a number of reasons that affect on a flexible manufacturing system. Scheduling is one significant reason, and affects on a policy that has a direct connection with the dispatching rules. The selection of a rule can be based on several criteria, in which each criterion influences the interactions between them. Thus, a model for the analytical network process (ANP) is needed to find an appropriate dispatching rule. Also, due to the problem nature and uncertainty in the process of pairwise comparison and interactions between the criteria, as well as the selection of dispatching rules, there is no single exact method to be used for solving the presented model. Therefore, considering the existing characteristics in multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) under uncertainty, the ANP model with the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy set is used. Then selection of the dispatching rules considering the view of industry experts is done. Finally, the appropriate ranking for this selection is proposed.    

Volume 19, Issue 5 (9-2017)
Abstract

The aim of this study was an investigation on chemical composition including phenolic profile, mineral and carbohydrate content of the Terfezia claveryi (black truffle) and Tirmania nivea (white truffle). The identification of carbohydrates and individual phenolic compounds was performed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Total protein was determined by Kjeldahl method. Our research showed that Tirmania nivea had higher contents of protein than Terfezia claveryi. Among studied carbohydrates, glucose was detected at higher levels in both truffles. The mineral analysis showed that potassium and iron concentrations were found at high levels compared with other minerals. Higher contents of the examined phenolic compounds were determined in extracts of Terfezia claveryi compared to those of Tirmania nivea. Overall, these results support further examination of biochemical characteristics and verification of nutritional value of both the truffles.

Volume 24, Issue 1 (4-2024)
Abstract

The four experimental samples of middle beam-column connection of the reinforced concrete moment resisting frame were made. In the stage of making the experimental specimens, the two main differences between the specimens were included the strength category of reinforcement and the semi-precast of connection. The two monolithic specimens (MO1 & MO2) were made using in-situ and continuous concreting in such a way that the reinforcement and concreting of the beam and column and the connection core were all done in one step; Two other specimens are semi-precast connection (SPC1 & SPC2). The semi-precast connection is built in such a way that coupler is used and does not require welding on the project site. In one of the monolithic specimens (MO1) is used S400 grade reinforcement, and in the other monolithic specimen (MO2) is used S500 grade reinforcement. In one of the semi-precast specimens (SPC1) are used S400 grade reinforcement, and in the other semi-precast specimen (SPC2) is used S500 grade reinforcement. In all of the four specimens, the cross-section of the column is square with dimensions of 30 cm; and the cross-section beams in all specimens is rectangular with a width of 30 cm and a height of 35 cm. In all specimens, 8 reinforcements with a diameter of 16 mm with uniform distribution in the column section are used for the longitudinal reinforcement of the column; The longitudinal reinforcement of the beams includes 4 reinforcements with a diameter of 16 mm at the bottom of beam and also 4 reinforcements with a diameter of 16 mm at the top of beam; reinforcements with a diameter of 10 mm have used for shear reinforcement in beams and columns; The shear reinforcements of column continue in the connection core. In the monolithic specimens, the bottom longitudinal reinforcements of the beam have continuously passed through the beam-column connection core, while in the two semi-precast specimens, the bottom longitudinal reinforcements of the beam have coupler in the connection core. Tests to determine the compressive strength of used concrete as well as tests to determine the tensile strength of used reinforcements have been done. After making and curing of specimens, cyclic load was applied according to ACI T1.1R-01; then parameters such as yield strength, ultimate strength, ductility and absorbed energy have been studied. In the range of variable parameters and materials used in this research, it is concluded that increasing in the strength of reinforcements has resulted in increasing the yield strength and ultimate strength of specimens; In such a way that the strength of monolithic specimens is increased by +8% and the strength of semi-precast specimens are increased by +32%. Increasing the strength of reinforcements has reduced the ductility of monolithic specimens by -36%. Increasing strength of reinforcements has resulted in decreasing the absorbed energy -18% of monolithic specimens and -15% of semi-precast specimens. The yield strength and ultimate strength of semi-precast specimens are smaller than monolithic specimens. When the S400 reinforcement is used on the specimens, the yield strength and ultimate strength of the semi-precast specimen is 23% smaller than and the ductility ratio is 28% smaller than the monolithic specimen. The energy absorbed in the semi-precast specimen is 28% smaller than it in monolithic specimen.


Volume 24, Issue 3 (8-2024)
Abstract

Although conventional earthquake-resistant systems such as moment frames and braced frames meet the requirements for the safety of a structure when an earthquake occurs, these systems have not guaranteed the prevention of damage to the structure after an earthquake occurs. So that sometimes the repair of some structures seems uneconomic due to these serious damages. Repairing the damage caused by the earthquake was expensive and caused business interruption. A highly effective solution in the new generation of seismic resistance is self-centering systems that eliminate and limit residual drift. The self-centering system's key features affected how the system behaves during earthquakes. The first crucial feature is the amount of post-tensioning (PT) force, which is often used for the standing position after the earthquake. Another one that is played the important role in the behavior of the self-centering system is the energy dissipater element. Employing the damper as a replaceable and cost-effective tool and fuse in self-centering frames to improve energy absorption and damping of structural systems under earthquakes has been considered. A system that can restore the structure to its original state after applying earthquake loads is necessary to minimize damage. Self-centering systems are elements that have the ability to minimize the residual drifts while enduring earthquakes of great intensity.
In this study, flexural damper as an energy dissipator system is employed in the self-centering steel moment frame connections to improve energy absorption, post yielding stiffness, and is easily replaceable after the earthquake. Moreover, providing the sufficient stiffness, strength, and ductility, while reducing permanent deformations in the self-centering steel moment frames subjected to seismic loading have been deliberated. In this paper, after validating the results from the FE model with the prior experimental PT connection, the behavior of the self-centering connection with the flexural damper has been analyzed. In the FE modeling, the geometric and material nonlinearities and preloading strands are contemplated in the modeling. Gap opening and closing action beside contact and sliding phenomena are involved in the models. To achieve this goal, a large-scale experimental test program of analyzed and designed models using the finite element method has been planned. Changing the height of the beam has a great effect on the performance of the moment capacity of self-centering connection. This issue has been tested much less in the experiments and researches carried out until today, but the numerical studies have confirmed this issue. In this research, the change in beam height has been evaluated as one of the main factors in the experiments. According to the test results, the beam and column remained in the elastic range. Also the damage is accumulated in the damper. Flexural dampers can enhance the post-yield stiffness and energy absorption of SF-MRF frames, while maintaining minimal permanent deformation at particular damper thicknesses. The obtained results show that in addition to reducing the residual drift to less than 0.5%, the effective energy the dissipation ratio, β, is also improved to 0.25%. Also, this improvement in the seismic performance of self-centering connection with the flexural damper has been achieved with an acceptable ratio of the moment capacity to the beam plastic moment capacity.

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