سمیه جباری

In traditional rhetoric, pun and saj’ (Persian rhymed prose) are two figures of speech that shape the beauty of language through musicality of speech. Abdolghaher Jorjani considers the merit of pun in conceptual requirement; it is well received when meaning calls for it. In Masnavi Ma'navi, by Jalaleddin Mohammad Balkhi aka. Rumi, the use of pun and saj’ is remarkable, but the linkage created between these figures of speech and meaning gives a distinctive feature to Rumi’s poetry. This can be observed, for instance, in binary oppositions which have made use of the literary device of pun and saj’. Accordingly, the hypothesis of this research is that many binary oppositions in Masnavi are related to those words which have pun or saj’ in them, and the opposition between verbal balance and conceptual distinction adds to the eloquence. As the theoretical background of the research, a structuralist approach to literary criticism is initially considered to extract binary oppositions, which are then are separated and classified based on the puns and saj/. The research method is descriptive and the results of analyses are as follows: (1) binary oppositions in Masnavi are accompanied by puns and saj’; (2) among all types of binary oppositions in pun and saj’, pun in different initial letters and parallel use of saj’, which both have the strongest sense of musicality,  show the most frequency; (3) many of the binary oppositions appearing in the words with pun or  saj’are not included in diction rules of the language and are Rumi’s poetical innovations; (4) the function of binary oppositions accompanied by pun and saj; is considerable in rhyme making or verse making.

In Saussure's and Structural linguistics, the binary oppositions stem from the bipolarity of the logic of human mind and language and then are used in other sign systems. Thus, in sign systems, such as literary texts, oppositions are one of the most fundamental signs and patterns of analysis that provide the basis for understanding the subjective concepts. In this essay, the micro-textual oppositions in the Masnavi and the sonnets of Shams were extracted using binary oppositions with macro symbols and then were analyzed and compared. The findings showed that the binary oppositions in Masnavi, which were made by the macro symbols, are often within a logical and natural relationship with each other and share common themes. In most cases, macro symbols symbolize the divine and spiritual spirit, and in these meanings Rumi puts the spiritual world in contrast with the physical world. But in the sonnets, the animals in opposition with hawk are different. Also, norm-breaking and the abnormal relationship in opposing relations are both more frequent and more prominent in terms of frequency and diversity, and consequently natural and abnormal interactive images are more frequent and more diverse. The abnormalities mostly refer to the elimination of opposites and the unification of opposing poles or the displacement of positive and negative poles in different ways. There are examples of conflict and abnormalities in both texts with similar and common themes and in some cases the oppositions have been processed only in one of the two texts studied.

Structuralists define the logic of human mind and language based on a bipolar structure; between the two sides of which there is a contrastive relationship. Subscribing to the central idea that there is a close relationship between the text generalities and its elements, structuralist critics seek the micro-contrasts of the texts in order to reach the macro-contrasts and interpret the implicit meanings or connotation of a work. In this study, the contrasts of Mathnavi and Ghazaliat of Shams are investigated and analyzed. The research methodology is based on four steps: first, delimiting the semantic field of the contrasts by considering macro-symbols in Mathnavi and Ghazaliat of Shams; second, extracting the contrasts made by Lion and Sun meta-contrasts; third, understanding the mutual relation of the contrasts; and fourth, analyzing the meaning and method of expression of the identified contrasts. The research findings indicate that in many cases natural and reasonable relations of contrasts in Mathnavi and Ghazaliat of Shams are common. Breaking away from the norms in contrastive relations is sometimes more in Mathnavi, and sometimes more in Ghazaliat of Shams. Besides, firstly, frequency and variety of departure from the norms in the contrasts of Ghazaliat are more outstanding; secondly, in some cases, conformity to the norms and departure from them are similar and common in the contrastive relation of binaries in Mathnavi and Ghazaliat; and thirdly, in a few cases, contrasts have been processed only in one of the texts.

GIS and satellite images have widely been used in natural resources assessment and management. Vegetation cover can be measured using remote sensing indices. The objective of present study was to investigate the application of AWiFS satellite images to measure vegetation cover percentage in Semirom- Isfahan province. Vegetation cover percentage was measured in 150 plots with size of 100 m2 each in 2009. Linear regression between field data and remote sensing vegetation indices was used to produce vegetation cover in the study area. Vegetation cover models were produced using different indices. According to the results, SAVI index had the highest correlation with field data (r = 0.74) and it was used to produce vegetation cover percentage map. Study area vegetation cover was classified in four classes: <20%, 20-30%, 30-40% and >40% using SAVI index. The produced vegetation map indicates that most of the region had low vegetation cover (<20% and 20-30%). The correlations of other measured vegetation indices including NDVI, PVI, RVI, TSAVI and MSAVI with vegetation cover percentage were 0.64, 0.69, 0.71, 0.72 and 0.70 respectively.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the pasture vegetation changes using satellite data in Semirom، Isfahan province. This study was conducted in 2004 as a wet year and 2009 as a dry year. The WiFS and AWiFS satellite images were acquired and used for the year 2004 and 2009، respectively. First، the vegetation percentage was simultaneously measured in the two years. Then، considering the environmental factors such as elevation، slope، and slope direction، climatic factors and vegetation indices were derived from the above satellite data and multiple regression equations were prepared using step-wise regression analysis. The intended regression model for each year was used to produce percentage of vegetation cover of the study area. For a suitable pasture vegetation map interpretation، the reclassification technique was used to separate the rangeland use from other land uses، and then the density slicing method was applied. Using suitable thresholds، the rangeland vegetation cover classes including 0-20، 20-30 and 30-40 percent canopy covers were determined. Results showed that the changes in vegetation classes were related to each other and by increasing the area of one class the other one decreased. It was found that the 30-40% and 20-30% classes changed most، and the maximum increase was observed in the 0-20% vegetation cover class due to the area degradation in the other two classes.