جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « ایران » در نشریات گروه « علوم اجتماعی »

A part of the identity and culture of the people of Iran has been preserved in the framework of native and local games. In Iran land, many local and diverse sports are performed in various ceremonies. Among these games that have gained a national aspect in Iranian culture is the game of polo, which has been passed down from one generation to the next and continues to exist. Polo has a high place in Iranian culture and has gone beyond a mere game and is connected with the value and intellectual system of Iranian society. Our understanding of the polo game relies more on historical texts, literature, and artifacts. But the gap that can be seen in this field is the examination of the phenomena and evidence of polo games from the perspective of intangible cultural heritage. Therefore, the purpose of the present article is to know the place, importance, and explanation of the polo match as one of the components of identity in the culture of Iranian people with a descriptive-analytical method. In order to achieve this goal, the game of polo has been considered in various fields of oral traditions, social customs, and performing arts. First, the toponyms that are connected with polo have been checked. Then, the evidence of playing polo among native and local games has been discussed. And it tried to identify the signs of polo and to express its similarities and differences among different regions. The result of the research showed that the polo game was customary not only among the nobles and elders but also among the ordinary people of Iran. Eleven places related to polo, as well as holding it in different regions of Iran, both on horseback and on foot, are a sign of people's deep connection with this game. The polo match has played an effective role not only as a national game but also as an efficient cultural element in the cultural and social life of Iranian society.This game has reflected the attitudes of Iranians in people's lives and has contributed to the continuity of their cultural traditions.

While the concept of social responsibility appeared in human sciences in the 1950s, the literature review indicates a significant gap in developing a measurement tool for this concept in social research. Accordingly, further scientific efforts are required to develop a more appropriate and comprehensive tool for measuring social responsibility, which is also the aim of this research.   The present research is based on exploratory factor analysis in SPSS-24 and confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS-25. The research data were obtained using the researcher-made questionnaire on the basis of a review of theoretical and empirical literature. The statistical pool included 2250 residents in Gorgan, from which a sample of 400 males and females were selected on the basis of the Cochran formula and the stratified sampling method who belong to 1340s, 1360s, and 1380s birth cohorts. According to the results of exploratory factor analysis, all measuring components of this research for social responsibility hold a significantly appropriate regression weight. Moreover, the results of this analysis for the regression weights are more than 0.3, which confirms a statistically meaningful and acceptable outcome. Furthermore, the results of this analysis, by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, show values ranging from 0.935 to 0.955 that support the validity of each component employed in this analysis to measure social responsibility. Finally, it is concluded that the model proposed here can serve as an appropriate tool to measure the concept of social responsibility and provide a basis for further development by future studies in the field of social responsibility.

Mass media broadcast social pathologies like suicide for different reasons. The main assumption is that the representation of suicide motivates audiences toward suicidal behavior based on social learning and observational learning theories. The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between macro mass media indicators and suicide.

This is a quantitative and longitudinal research in which was conducted using a time-series method with focusing the period of 1997-2022. The data were collected from Ministry of Culture & Islamic Guidance, Statistical Center of Iran, Legal Medicine Organization. To investigate the short-term and long-term relationship, the auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) was applied in Microfit software.

Based on the results, the number of mobile phone subscriptions (T-Ratio = 0.002, Prob. = 4365-4) and the number of films produced (T-Ratio = 0.001, Prob. = 4-5016) have a negative effect. And it has significance on the rate of death due to suicide, and with the increase in mobile phone subscriptions and the number of movies produced, the rate of suicide has decreased. The results of the research show that the percentage of people using the Internet (T-Ratio = 5538.3, Prob. = 0.006) and the number of cinemas available (T-Ratio = 0.000, Prob. = 6.0507) have a positive effect and it has had a significant effect on the death rate caused by suicide. And finally, the number of newspapers and the number of titles and circulation of books has no significant relationship with the rate of death due to suicide.

This research concludes that mobile subscription, and movies decrease the rate of suicide and the internet penetration and movie theaters increase it. Furthermore, the number of newspapers and books don’t impact

Nation branding is an emerging, interdisciplinary and very strategic research field, which has received much attention from academics and policymakers in recent years. Reviewing the Iranian researches conducted in this nascent field can provide an accurate view of the state of knowledge production and the main research approaches. For such a purpose, in this article, 50 selected scientific articles in the field of nation branding (from 1389 SH to 1402 SH) have been analyzed with the aim of recognizing the theoretical frameworks, methodologies, approaches and formal features, using the systematic review method. The findings show the nascent nature of nation branding field and the lack of formation of its frameworks and boundaries as an independent field of study. Also, conducting research in this field has not yet become a comprehensive issue in Iran and has not involved the Iranian academic community at different levels and stages and from different scientific perspectives. In addition, the significant weakness in the conceptual and theoretical literature as well as the gap in the use of some high-capacity methods in this field is evident. According to the current state of research in the field of nation branding in Iran, the most important solutions proposed in order to enrich future researches are: making the effort to conduct conceptual researches, branding this field through scientific publications and conferences, conducting researches from neglected and high-capacity scientific disciplines and perspectives, paying more attention to the relevant global indexes, moving towards analyzing discursive approaches in the field of nation branding, and using meta-analysis and meta-synthesis methods in order to evaluate and integrate the results of previous policy researches.

Cultural region is very important in regional and country studies; Because one of the necessities of studying culture is to know cultural characteristics, or so-called knowledge of "cultural regions". Entering the field of cultural regionalization requires explanation and interpretation of different dimensions and aspects of the concept of region. Because this concept is considered to be a pioneer of national macro-planning and strategic policies in the framework of culture. These policies should be presented in accordance with the cultural requirements and environmental capacities of different regions, so that within the framework of observing the principles of culture, it will cause more growth and prosperity of each region and provide the grounds for the development and expansion of spatial justice in the country.This research seeks to answer these questions: What are the concepts and definitions of cultural region? What are the necessity and goals of cultural conditioning? What are the indicators, components and methods in regionology? The answers to these questions have been obtained by documentary method and reference to library resources, the results of which are to achieve some of the most important elements of cultural region, including moods, region personality, historical and geographical capacities, which are formed in the social, cultural and historical context.

Governance, as a complex and multifaceted concept, plays a significant role in the development and efficiency of the national systems. The necessity of utilizing comprehensive analytical frameworks to identify and optimally allocate roles and responsibilities within the governance systems is evident. This study presents a theoretical framework for analyzing governance systems, focusing on four essential roles: policymaking, regulation, facilitation, and service provision. In this framework, roles and their sub-roles are precisely defined, enabling the identification and analysis of interactions among governance institutions. Specifically, in analyzing Iran's maritime transport governance system, the strengths and weaknesses of existing structures are identified, and conflicts and overlaps in duties are examined. The results indicate that a lack of coordination and inappropriate role allocation has led to decreased system efficiency. Accordingly, recommendations for revising structures and strengthening regulatory and facilitative roles are provided, which can improve performance and elevate Iran's standing in the international arena.

Individuals who assume significant responsibilities play a pivotal role in shaping the foreign policy of a nation. With the inauguration of the 13th government, there was a shift in the country’s foreign policy approach, mirroring the change in leadership. The new president, cognizant of the power transition in the international system from West to East, sought to balance his government’s foreign policy by enhancing engagement with the East, particularly the emerging Eastern powers, with China being a notable example.Assessing a government’s foreign policy provides a valuable lens to evaluate its performance and identify its strengths and weaknesses. However, there is a noticeable lack of such research concerning relations with China during the 13th government. This study aims to ascertain the significance of the Iran-China relationship through an analysis of President Raisi’s speeches and to identify the strategic components of this relationship within the government’s Asian policy.To conduct this research, Dr. Raisi’s perspectives, as a pivotal figure in shaping the government’s foreign policy on matters related to China, were extracted and analyzed using the thematic analysis method in MAXQDA software. Six organizing themes were extracted: “Strategic Partnership”, “Political-Security”, “Economic”, “Cultural”, “Scientific and Research”, and “Health and Treatment”. These themes fall under a global theme titled “Strategic Components of Iran-China Relations”, which emerged from the research findings.

Considering the importance of the national brand, all countries try to strengthen the understanding of the people of other countries about their national brand by using various tools. Their most important tool is economic diplomacy, which helps governments consciously improve the ability and well-being of their citizens in the form of bilateral or multilateral relations at various regional and international levels through national branding.This article wants to answer this question: What is the position of national branding in the economic-commercial diplomacy of the 13th government of Iran? An attempt has been made to answer the question by using archival-documentary sources in a descriptive-analytical way. The 13th government by adopting principles such as supporting national production and trying to facilitate the process of marketing regional and international goods, resolving tension with neighbors and strengthening neighborhood policy and strengthening bilateral relations with Asian powers such as Russia and China made national branding the main goal of Iran's economic-commercial diplomacy in 2021-2024.

In recent years, where Syria is one of the most important countries targeted by Iran's foreign policy, the importance of cultural diplomacy has become increasingly apparent. The present study emphasizes the need to recognize the active cultural trends in Syria as an influential factor in the cultural changes and developments of the target community, thus providing a close examination of the challenges and opportunities of diplomacy through the relative recognition gained from the culture of the Syrian society. The country has a cultural background. The main question that this research seeks to answer is: What are the opportunities and challenges of cultural diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran with emphasis on active cultural trends in the country? The research method is qualitative. The data collected through interviews with the experts, specialists and activists in this field were analyzed by thematic analysis in three stages of descriptive, interpretive and integration coding. From 293 primary themes, 30 organizing themes and finally 6 universal themes were extracted. The overarching themes are: the cultural activity of Syrian currents, the active cultural trends in Syria, cultural approaches, the IRI's political needs in the Syrian cultural sphere, the IRI's political challenges in the Syrian cultural sphere, the cultural status of Syrian society. Finally, after categorizing the different challenges and opportunities of Iranian cultural diplomacy in Syria as regards the cultural flows of the country, a communication model is provided for each of them that determines how cultural planning is to have an effective cultural diplomacy.

This study aimed to compare social factors affecting the health-oriented lifestyle of mothers and female high school students in Sirjan city. The statistical population of the research includes female students of the second secondary level of Sirjan city along with their mothers. According to the statistics obtained from the education organization of Sirjan city, the number of female students was 3768. The sample size was calculated to be 350 people and sampling was done by cluster method. The tool used to collect information was a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS and Smart Pls software. The research findings showed that social support, social awareness, social capital and feeling of powerlessness have a significant and positive relationship with the health-oriented lifestyle of mothers and daughters. Comparing the statistical population of mothers and daughters, the effect of social support and social awareness on the health-oriented lifestyle of mothers was closer and stronger than girls. Also, the effect of the components of social capital and feeling of powerlessness on the health-oriented lifestyle of girls is closer and stronger than that of mothers. Considering that there was a significant relationship between social factors and the health-oriented lifestyle of mothers and daughters, it seems necessary that the relevant officials and policy makers should make more efforts to strengthen and promote these social factors.

Designing a model for Iran's progress in the contemporary period has been one of the main concerns of social science researchers. In the meantime, one of the neglected models that has native capabilities is the model of progress based on the school of Islam. The basis of the Islamic model of progress is that life systems are maintained and updated based on the Islamic tradition, and progress is achieved through this. Since the social tradition of Iran, especially in the world life of the Islamic Republic, has a religious nature, the foundations of the Islamic model of progress in the Islamic Republic were set based on indicators derived from religion in politics, economy, and culture. and the extent of its implementation in the first decade. The revolution was evaluated. In this research, while addressing the issue of what is the necessity of pursuing the single model of progress and specifying its fundamentals, the question was raised as to what are the basic indicators of the Islamic model of progress and to what extent have they been. It was noticed in the first decade of the revolution. Are governments located? In response, the results of the research showed that the basis of the Islamic model of progress and its limits and gaps based on Islamic sources and tradition, in all political, economic, cultural and social dimensions, is basically based on safeguarding fair achievements. It is from the status quo and preventing eating, balancing structures and maintaining social cohesion and integration.

Many theorists have addressed the issue of religious conversion. These theorists can be divided into two classical and modern groups. They separated converters into passive and active groups based on the type of their acts at the moment of their belief. One of the complete and classified theories that have dealt with the issue of religious conversion is the theory of Kilborn and Richardson, which is a combination of active and passive actions of converters. With the help of the semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 27 Christianized Iranian asylum-seeking women, the active-passive dual view of the converters’ actions is reviewed.This article presents an analysis of how the constantly dynamic process of religious conversion is presented so that a multi-dimensional view of this issue can be taken. Both, the active and passive actions of these women were related to the initial moment of a religious conversion or happening during the process of becoming a Christian. Consequently, 1. Religious conversion is an always dynamic process 2. Religious conversion can be active in some aspects and passive in some parts simultaneously, and this fluidity will happen forever, even after the establishment of the new religion 3. Religious conversion in active and passive terms has different types, which can be a combination of each of them according to the circumstances of each case.

Sexuality has been studied in different approaches and fields such as socio-cultural, bio-medical, psychological, legal and religious approaches.In this research, all domestic researches related to sexuality in Iran (95 researches) that have been published in the last 30 years have been studied in order to sum up the evidences of various studies regarding the sexuality in different groups of Iranian society, and to obtain the priority problems of this field.The result of the systematic review study is that although some emphasize the sexual crisis and sexual revolution in Iran, there are no signs of a sexual revolution in Iran, at the same time, the growth of sexual deviations in Iran is significant, which can facilitate the sexual revolution. The main sexual deviation in boys at a young age and between puberty and marriage is masturbation. In order of importance, the most popular users in cyberspace are pornographic clips, pornographic photos, pornographic stories, non-pornographic content,members' discussions and advertisements. At least one tenth of young women and about one third of young men in Iran have sex before marriage, and the average age of sex is 24 years.The majority of sexual abuse occurred under the age of 28 and decreased with age.

Iran, a large and diverse country with a rich multicultural tapestry, is home to various ethnic groups. The coexistence of these diverse ethnicities poses the potential to weaken the nation's collective identity and unity. Neglecting these differences can have detrimental consequences, leading to social disintegration. Embracing a sense of belonging to a broader national community is crucial for fostering social cohesion and averting political and social instability. The inclination to identify with the national community and derive a sense of identity from it is a vital indicator of social development in Iran. When individuals, despite their affiliations with smaller ethnic, religious, or class groups, prioritize membership in the national community and draw their identity from it, they are better positioned to contribute to the country's progress and respond voluntarily to societal crises, leveraging their abilities and resources to aid in problem-solving. Additionally, the manner, in which a society is governed, plays a significant role in reinforcing the inclination towards a national community. A fair and efficient government that aligns with the values of the society, comprising diverse smaller groups, can bolster the propensity towards the national community. This study aimed to assess the inclination towards the national community and the factors influencing it.

The data for this study were gathered through a survey designed to capture various dimensions of national community orientation, including cognition, emotion, and behavior, as well as social, historical, territorial, cultural, political, and economic aspects, along with perceptions of intergroup justice and a shared future. The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula, resulting in a sample of 384 individuals to achieve a 95% confidence level with a 5% margin of error. To ensure accuracy, 530 questionnaires were ultimately completed. The survey employed a two-stage sampling approach, utilizing cluster sampling to select localities and random sampling to select respondents. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software and internal consistency, construct validity, and Cronbach's alpha were assessed to ensure the reliability and validity of the indicators. Owing to space constraints, the internal correlation results were not presented in this article.

The findings indicated that the inclination towards the national community in Iran averaged at 4 out of 6 on a 6-point scale, signifying a substantial tendency. Specifically, there was a strong inclination in the social, cultural, historical, and territorial dimensions, while the political and economic dimensions showed a relatively lower sense of justice between groups and common destiny towards the national community. In terms of orientation, the emotional dimension of orientation to the national community was rated at 4.6 out of 6, indicating a high to very high level, but it exhibitd a weaker status in the cognitive and behavioral dimensions. This underscored the importance of enhancing knowledge and providing further training in understanding the national community as the individuals demonstrated a strong orientation towards it but lacked sufficient knowledge and exhibited weaker behavior in strengthening their national community. Another significant point pertained to commonalities within the national community, which were categorized into past, present, and future. The current survey revealed that people were more interested in commonalities originating from the past, including culture (4.7), history (4.8), and land (4.6), compared to the commonalities of the present (economy, politics, etc.) and the future. In other words, the tendency towards the national community based on the common past was stronger than the tendency based on the commonality of the present and the future. Commonalities related to the present and the future were more influenced by the efficiency of the government and alignment of values in the society. The government's acceptability in terms of efficiency and value orientation effectively increased orientation towards the national community. The variables investigated accounted for 65% of the changes in the tendency towards the national community.

Clans and traditional local divisions can lead to separations and social distancing within communities. In such cases, influential clan leaders may reinforce distinct local and cultural identities through rituals, genealogies, and historical narratives, which can intensify inter-clan competition. Mamasani Region, comprising Mamasani and Rostam counties in Fars Province, is home to 5 independent clans. As societies undergo political and social transformations, the relationships within Mamasani and Rostam counties can be analyzed through the lens of clan dynamics. Feelings of relative deprivation can contribute to the strengthening of ethnic and inter-ethnic divisions. Such perceptions of deprivation may reduce solidarity, cohesion, and social interaction among groups. In the multi-clan Mamasani region, it is important to investigate trends of divergence and convergence over time to inform policymaking and community management. Changes and developments in the economic, cultural, and social spheres of Mamasani and Rostam counties require a deeper understanding of the relationship between relative deprivation and clannish divergence. Given the lack of existing research on this topic, this study aimed to explore the connections between relative deprivation and the social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions of clannish divergence among the people living in the clans of Mamasani and Rostam counties.

This study employed a cross-sectional survey design. The target population was all individuals aged 20 years and above residing in Mamasani and Rostam counties, which comprised 5 distinct clans: Bekash, Javid, Domshanziari, Mahoor and Milati, and Rostam. A sample of 450 participants was selected using a random multi-stage cluster sampling approach. Data were collected through a self-administered, structured questionnaire containing closed-ended Likert scale items. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS version 26 software.

The findings revealed that the average levels of clannish divergence and perceived relative deprivation among residents of Mamasani and Rostam counties were higher than expected. There was a significant positive correlation between feelings of relative deprivation and clannish divergence, including its social, political, economic, and cultural dimensions. Interestingly, age was not significantly associated with clannish divergence. However, education level showed a significant relationship, with individuals having middle school or undergraduate education reporting the highest levels of clannish divergence and those with postgraduate or doctoral degrees reporting the lowest. Additionally, activity status was found to be a significant factor with students and workers exhibiting the highest levels of clannish divergence and the unemployed reporting the lowest. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that the independent variables explained 9.5% of the variance in the dependent variable of clannish divergence. Given the prominent role and importance of relative deprivation in the multi-clan Mamasani region, addressing this issue was crucial for promoting clannish convergence. Experts recommend evidence-based policy interventions focused on fostering distributive justice across political, social, economic, and cultural domains. Emphasizing meritocracy over particularism in the selection of managers and leaders and leveraging the natural and human capacities of different clans could be effective strategies for improving the sense of justice and social cohesion within the community of Mamasani Region.

Over the past fifty years, life expectancy at birth has risen significantly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Iran. Nonetheless, significant disparities persist across this region's nations. This study tries to clarify the difference in life expectancy at birth in Iran and Mena region by focusing on the relative contribution of age-sex groups and the causes of death. Utilizing a quantitative approach and secondary data analysis, this research draws upon 2019 mortality data by cause and age for Iran and MENA countries from the estimates of Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019. Life expectancy at birth for both Iran and MENA countries was calculated for 2019 using the life table technique, separately for each sex. Subsequently, the decomposition method was employed to assess the contribution of age groups and causes of death in the differences of life expectancy between Iran and MENA. Results indicate that life expectancy for Iranian men was 3.4 years and for women 3.5 years greater than the MENA regional averages. Positive contribution to Iranian higher life expectancy were observed across nearly all age groups, with the exception of the 15-19, 20-24, and 25-29 age groups in men. Child mortality under one year and cardiovascular diseases emerged as the most significant factors in Iran's elevated life expectancy relative to MENA countries. Conversely, traffic accidents were the sole cause of death adversely affecting Iranian men's life expectancy, with a calculated decrement of -0.05 years. Overall, the findings suggest that Iran is at a more advanced stage of epidemiological transition compared to average MENA countries, with life expectancy gains increasingly dependent on mitigating non-communicable disease mortality and addressing aging-related issues. The study also highlights the need for policy measures to reduce youth mortality from traffic accidents.

The increase in life expectancy from under 40 years globally two centuries ago to over 80 years in many developed nations has fundamentally enhanced the human condition (Milholland and Vijg 2020). This advancement occurred even though, before the mid-19th century, most infants did not survive to adulthood, with only a fortunate few living to an advanced age. Nonetheless, studies on the global burden of diseases reveals significant disparities among countries (Vas et al. 2020). These disparities are also evident at the national level within the Middle East and North Africa region. Over recent decades, these countries have achieved considerable progress in health system development and population health improvement. Yet, the region continues to confront substantial political, economic, social, and health challenges.
A comparison of mortality indices in Iran with global and regional standards indicates that Iran's mortality rates are comparatively favorable (Health Assessment and Evaluation Institute 2023). Analyzing the mechanisms underlying life expectancy differences at this juncture aids in assessing the health system's efficacy and Iran's potential to enhance life expectancy by pinpointing critical aspects of the mortality pattern. Therefore, this study endeavors to compare the life expectancies of Iran and the MENA region's countries, followed by an examination of the divergent life expectancy patterns, including age-sex distribution and causes of death. 

Methods and Data:

 The present study is a quantitative research, employing a secondary analysis of existing data. The data utilized herein are taken from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019's estimates. These data include all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality for Iran and MENA countries, by age and sex for the year 2019. Additionally, the exposed population figures were obtained from the same source. Subsequent to acquiring data on deaths and the exposed population, death rates for each age group (nmx) were calculated. Thereafter, life expectancy at birth for Iran and MENA nations in 2019 was determined using life table technique separately for each sex. finally, the decomposition technique was applied to ascertain the contributions of various age groups and causes of death to the disparities in life expectancy between Iran and the MENA region. 

 The estimated life expectancy at birth for MENA countries is 72.6 years for men and 76 years for women, while for Iranian men and women, it stands at 76 years and 79.57 years, respectively. These figures indicate that Iranian men and women enjoy a life expectancy that is 3.4 and 3.5 years longer, respectively, than their MENA counterparts. Within the MENA region, Yemen exhibits the lowest life expectancy rates, with Yemeni men and women having life expectancies of 65.72 and 69.94 years, respectively, in 2019. Furthermore, life expectancy at birth for both sexes is below the regional average in Yemen, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, and Syria, whereas it surpasses the average in other nations. In contrast, Iran has one of the highest life expectancies at birth for both genders. Specifically, Kuwait, Turkey, Jordan, Bahrain, and Qatar surpass Iran in male life expectancy, while Tunisia, Turkey, and Kuwait exceed Iran in female life expectancy.
 Decomposition analysis of life expectancy at birth between Iran and MENA countries by age reveals that all age groups, except for males aged 15-19, 20-24, and 25-29 years, have positively influenced Iranian life expectancy, contributing to its overall increase. Notably, mortality in children under one year has played the most significant role in the higher life expectancy in Iran compared to MENA countries, accounting for approximately 0.5 years of the difference (3.4 years for men and 3.5 years for women) in both genders. For males, mortality in the 15-19 and 20-24 age groups has slightly negative impact on Iran's life expectancy.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading contributors to the increased life expectancy of Iranian men and women, responsible for 1.43 and 1.36 additional years, respectively, compared to MENA countries. This equates to cardiovascular diseases accounting for 42% and 38% of the enhanced life expectancy in Iranian men and women. Digestive system diseases follow, contributing 0.36 years for men and 0.33 years for women to the life expectancy gains in Iran over MENA countries. Deaths from neoplasms, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, kidney diseases, respiratory infections, other non-communicable diseases, congenital anomalies, other unintentional injuries (excluding traffic accidents), and intentional injuries have also positively influenced life expectancy in Iran for both sexes in 2019. Among these causes, only traffic accidents have negatively affected the country's life expectancy in men, with a calculated impact of -0.05 years. The study found no significant gender-based differences in the contribution of various causes of death to the life expectancy disparity between Iran and MENA countries. 

All age groups, except the male youth and traffic accidents, have positively influenced life expectancy in Iran. This is attributed to the fact that the standard death rate from traffic accidents in Iran is one of the highest globally—at 22 deaths per 100,000 population in 2019—which also affects many countries in the region, including Kuwait, Turkey, and Qatar. Given that men are disproportionately impacted by traffic accidents, these incidents rank as the second leading cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) among Iranian men, whereas they are the sixth, eighth, and tenth leading causes of DALY in Qatar, Kuwait, and Turkey, respectively. The mortality rates among the youth and due to traffic accidents present significant opportunities to enhance life expectancy in Iran, requires special attention.
The most pronounced disparity in life expectancy between Iran and the MENA region is associated with older age groups and cardiovascular diseases. This may partly result from a higher incidence of unhealthy lifestyles in MENA countries, including smoking, alcohol consumption, and lack of physical activity. Overall, the research indicates that preventable causes of death have substantially contributed to the double burden of life expectancy disparities in Iran relative to MENA nations. Although Iran's life expectancy surpasses that of other regional countries, it remains below the figures for Kuwait and Turkey, with non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular conditions, being the predominant factors. Hence, the establishment of Iran's non-communicable diseases committee and the implementation of the 2015 national action plan targeting these diseases are crucial steps towards bridging this gap.

The size distribution of cities in an urban system indicates the quality of the urban system in terms of population distribution of cities, and shows the evolution of distribution over time. The main purpose of this paper is to study the city size distribution for the Iranian urban system for the period 1956-2016. In this regard, the two most important laws in the city size literature - Zipf's and Gibrat's laws- were examined. Analysis have been performed in two parts: large and all cities in the urban system of Iran. The results show that Zipf’s law does not hold for urban system of Iran. Furthermore, the absolute value of coefficient of rank-size is less than one and has a downward trend, which shows that city size distribution is becoming more unequal over time. The results of testing Gibrat's law show that from the year 1956 to 1986, Iran’s urban growth obeys Gibrat's law, while from 1986 onward, this rule does not hold, which indicates a divergence in the trend of growth rate of urbanization in Iran. Moreover, our results show that for the large cities, the urban growth follows the Gibrat's law and the distribution of city sizes is Zipifian with coefficient of one.

In studying any urban system, what is of paramount importance is the study of urban hierarchy. Studying the distribution of city sizes and the laws governing it helps in understanding the urban hierarchy and finding optimal conditions. The examination of the distribution of city sizes from the past to the present has received a great deal of attention from researchers. In fact, explaining how city size distribution works is recognized as one of the most important theoretical issues in analyzing urban and regional problems (O'sullivan, 2018). The distribution of city sizes, which actually represents the distribution of population among cities, can be a tool for understanding economic efficiency. If we define the size of each city by its population, the distribution of city sizes in an urban system reflects the manner and quality of the urban system in terms of population distribution and shows the trend of distribution changes over time. Zipf's and Gibrat's laws are among the most important and commonly used methods for studying the distribution of city sizes. This study reviews the complete studies conducted in this area and examines Zipf's and Gibrat's laws in the urban system of Iran.

Methods and Data:

This applied research analyzed secondary data from the national censuses of Iran. It focused on the population of cities in Iran from 1956 to 2016. The data and information were obtained from the General Population and Housing Census, conducted by Statistical Center of Iran.

The results will be presented in two sections: testing the Zipf’s rule and testing the Gibrat's law:1). Zipf’s Rule test: The Zipf coefficient has a significant difference from one in the urban system of Iran, and Zipf's Rule was not supported. The absolute value of the Zipf coefficient was below one in all years, indicating the divergence of urban growth trends in the urban system of Iran. Additionally, the Zipf coefficient decreased over time, revealing an increasing inequality in the city sizes distribution over time. This suggests that some cities grew too large, and the gap in city sizes in the urban hierarchy widened.
 
2). Gibrat's Law test: The results of this study showed thaat Gibrat's Law applied to cities with a population above 200,000 in all years. This implied that the growth of the size of these cities was independent of their initial size. However, for all cities, it is found that Gibrat's Law applied to the urban system of Iran from 1956 to 1986, but not after 1986, and we observed a divergence trend in the urban growth of the country in these years. In other words, since 1986, large cities have grown at a faster rate, and small cities have grown at a slower rate, resulting in an increase in the population (size) difference between small and large cities in the urban system of Iran. These results were consistent with the findings of the rank-size rule test.

Based on the most recent census in 2016, only 25 cities account for more than half of the urban population in the country. To be more specific, Iran had 1242 cities in 2016, of which 8 cities had over 1 million population, 90 cities had between 100,000 and 1 million population, and 1144 cities had less than 100,000 population. These facts indicate an uneven population distribution in Iran's urban system. The current study’s results show that the city size distribution in Iran's urban system is unequal and this inequality is growing over time. Additionally, the long-term urban growth trend is divergent. That is, larger cities have higher population growth rates while smaller cities have lower population growth rates, resulting in a divergent size of cities in the long term and agrowing population (size) gap between small and large cities over time. Based on the results and analyses of the current study, it can be argued that the government should implement effective policies to balance the distribution of city sizes.  Small cities are not big enough to enjoy economies of scale, and large cities in the urban system increase living costs such as congestion and pollution. Therefore, the overall urban system efficiency declines, and it is essential to implement policies to decrease the population of very large cities and increase the appeal of living for individuals and businesses in medium and smaller cities. By expanding infrastructure investments in medium and small cities and adopting suitable policies to attract population to them, the existing size difference between large cities and lower-ranked cities in the urban system can be reduced.

The relationship between housing and fertility has been documented in the global literature and home ownership had been introduced as one of the main effective mechanisms in this area. The research gap in domestic studies prompted the authors to investigate the effects of home ownership on the ideal time for the birth of the first child after marriage (i.e., transition to parenthood) using the information of the National Survey of Marriage in 2016-2017. The results of the event history analysis showed that there was a relationship between home ownership and the ideal time of childbeaqring; in that the ideal time of transition to parenthood was faster among couples living in paternal property than among both homeowners and tenants. This finding together with the fact that higher income of paternal family accelerates the desire to have children emphasizes the importance of paternal family by providing housing or other forms of financial support in attitudes related to having children in Iran. Facilitation of childbearing through intergenerational transfer of wealth (from parents to children) is not far-fetched considering the current economic conditions (including youth unemployment and high inflation). The paper also found a positive relationship between education and the preferred time of transition to parenthood, which can be considered as a reversal in the established relationship between education and childrberinag in Iran. Future studies can help to explain this phenomenon by examining the influencing factors. 

Demographic studies in the field of family and fertility have mainly focused on the two variables of education and employment in the past decades and have paid less attention to the issue of housing. One of the most important mechanisms of how housing affects couples' fertility and childbearing preferences is the homeownership or tenure (Vignoli et al, 2013), because most of couples prefer to provide high-quality and safe housing for life before having children. Nevertheless, the relationship between housing and childbearing in Iran has not been studied much. This is despite the fact that in line with the rapid fertility transition in the last three decades, the housing tenure status of Iranians has moved from being an owner to being a tenant. during which the percentage of people living in private (owner) residential houses has decreased from 73.4% in 1996 to 60.5% in 2016, while the percentage of people living in rented houses has almost doubled and reached from 15.4% to 30.7% in the mentioned period. (Statistical Centre of Iran, 1996-2016).
Therefore, the question arises whether there is a relationship between homeownership and the ideal time to become a parent in the context of Iran or not? This article tries to answer the above question by using the data of the national marriage survey conducted in 2016-2017.

Methods and Data:

This is a quantitative study that was conducted through a secondary analysis. The data used was taken from the National Marriage Survey, which was compiled by the Iranian Civil Registry Organization in 2016 and 2017. The data collection of the survey has been done from all provincial centers (except Tehran province) and the statistical population included couples who went to laboratories for pre-marriage tests.
Multivariate analysis was done using the event history analysis in Stata (version 17), and our statistical model was the proportional hazards or the Cox regressions. Therefore, in this article, the relationship between homeownership and the ideal time for the birth of the first child after marriage has been investigated with Cox regression and by controlling other variables that can be theoretically influential.

The survival function using the Kaplan-Meier estimator shows that the preference for the birth of the first child is significantly more common in the early years of family formation, so that about 68% of the observations tend to have their first child one year after marriage. Also, the output in terms of the type of homeownership shows that there is no significant difference between the time preference of the transition to parenthood among homeowners and renters. On the other hand, the "other" and “paternal” group had a significant difference in this regard, which seems that living in paternal property after marriage is associated with the desire to have children faster.
In the next step, we ran Cox regression models to control and explain the influence of the social, demographic and economic characteristics of the sample in this relationship. Generally, it can be said that the most important finding of the regression models was that no significant difference was found between homeowners and renters in the attitude towards the ideal time for the birth of the first child, and this relationship in Iran's special socio-cultural context can be seen between homeowner couples and those who live in their father's property after marriage. This finding and another one about the desire to have children faster among people whose father's family has a higher income, emphasizes the importance of intergenerational wealth flow in fertility and its difference with the famous theory of John Caldwell (1976 and 2005) in the context of Iran. In this way, the transfer of paternal inheritance to children and economic support from them leads to acceleration of childbearing and increase of fertility among the second generation (children). In other words, people who receive more economic support from the paternal family and more wealth and assets (such as housing and shelter) are transferred to them, will become parent faster.
Another interesting finding of this article was the positive relationship between education and the time preference of the transition to parenthood, which can be considered a sign of the reversal of the negative relationship between education and fertility in Iran. Future studies can help to explain this phenomenon by examining the factors affecting it.

Although our findings were not in line with some past studies in other countries, the way some variables such as ethnicity and income of the father's family influence in this analysis showed that the mechanism of influencing homeownership on childbearing in Iran can be related to cultural roots and intergenerational transfers, and this was actually the most important finding of the paper.
The results of this article can be an incentive to conduct other studies on how housing affects fertility in Iran. The interaction between childbearing and housing cannot be limited only to the issue of access to housing or the type of tenure; Therefore, future studies should be able to answer questions about access to suitable housing or access to housing that meets the current norms and desires of couples. Considering the economic conditions prevailing in Iran and the stunning growth of housing prices in recent years, the need to include the housing issue in Iranian fertility studies is felt more than ever as one of the possible obstacles to realizing the economic security of couples.

Through the political developments in Lebanon and the emergence of resistance in the south of this country, unprecedented opportunities have arisen in the field of cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Lebanese resistance in various dimensions, especially in the field of culture. Along with the existing opportunities, there are also threats from Iran's enemies and the Lebanese resistance, which can be turned into opportunities by adopting new approaches in the fields of cooperation between these two actors. The main goal of this research is to provide strategies to develop and deepen relations between Iran and Lebanon's resistance in the field of culture and help foreign policy institutions. Library and document research methods for data collection, and the SWOT method with a descriptive and analytical approach were used for data analysis. Based on the findings, the Islamic Republic of Iran is facing challenges in its interaction and cooperation with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, while the two actors have significant opportunities to develop and strengthen their relations. Therefore, by turning these strengths into opportunities, it is possible to develop and strengthen the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Lebanese resistance. One of the notable strengths is the coordinated leadership of Seyed Hassan Nasrallah with the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the solidarity between the Shiites of the two countries, which can lead to the promotion of Shiite identity and the culture of resistance against the Hebrew axis.

In order to be aware of the Covid-19 effect on mortality pattern in Iran, in this study, based on the published mortality data of the National Organization for Civil Registration, has been tried to estimate the level and pattern of age and sex of excess mortalityin Iran . Data onweekly mortality by age and sex from 2015 to 2021 from the National Organization for Civil Registration and data on weekly mortality due to Covid-19 from the weekly reports of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education were obtained and the excess mortality was estimated using the exponential smoothing regression prediction function. Results showed that the official statistics of deaths reported in the country do not include all deaths caused by Covid-19; this disease has also caused an increase of about 30 % in deaths since its outbreak The sex ratio of Covid-19 deaths in Iran is estimated at 1.1 and more than 80% of Covid-19 deaths have occured in the age group of 55 years and older. Like some developing countries in Iran, deaths due to Covid-19 are significantly reported less .The results of this study demonstrate the importance of rapid reporting all-cause mortality for epidemic monitoring.