نشریه نشاء علم
سال یازدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 22، خرداد 1400)

The scope of literacy influencing the quality of social life in a given society is to be defined where it is necessary that infrastructure required for its development be also outlined. Literacy in its broad context can be classified into three main categories: 1) General literacy and skills consisting of those that deal with reading, writing and numerical calculation, knowledge of computers and Internet usage. It also includes familiarity with the language and symbolism used in Internet facilities. General literacy in its broad spectrum includes also being current on the use of social communication channels such as newspapers and other similar tools that are an integral part of social life for maintaining quality of social life, high standard of social welfare and social living in the society. 2) Scientific literacy, including knowledge of concepts and theories used in the chosen field of the study. It includes, applying concepts and theories in outlining hypothesis aimed towards a solution for use in dealing significant problems in the chosen field of study. As an integral part of scientific knowledge, familiarity with methods and tools for use in generating scientific data along with optimal usage and in-depth analysis of such data and scientific information to be used for developing innovative solutions are considered to be an integral part of scientific literacy. 3) Rational and judgmental literacy and wisdom in which understanding of the underlying truth behind things in our world and realizing the true meaning of our life where by giving thanks to the Creator, a level of knowledge and literacy is reached that can be categorized as pure and universal literacy in line with divine knowledge. It is the knowledge necessary to give meaning to life in this world and the hereafter. To train and educate people in each categories of literacy as stated above in a given society, requires developing underlying structures that include: a) unified and cultured family, b) Schools that are equipped with necessary facilities and administered by teachers and educators of high knowledge. c) Universities and scientific centers that are run by educators having high knowledge in their field of study and finally by distinguished professors. As an integral part of literate society, it is necessary to have talented students, up-to-date educational and research facilities including laboratories, support facilities to carry out the required research works enabling development of high valued databases of scientific information for their analysis at the national, international and extraterrestrial scientific communication facilities. d) Academies of science and cultural centers where by the presence of eminent, experienced and high knowledge professors, it is possible to outline macro-scientific policies and guidelines for the advancement of knowledge, science and literature at the national and international level. e) Establishing official and private centers in the communities and in the society as a whole that are destined to support and promote knowledge and creativity in the society. Today, our students at universities and high schools are not being educated in line with guidelines and educational structures mentioned above. While most of them receive degree and a document certifying their education, they are still not satisfied. Considering facilities that are used currently, it is worthwhile to have proper management for a synergistic utilization of the existing resources for a meaningful and well-planned educational training of our children who are the main resource of future development of our society. Of course, this requires concerted efforts of both government and public sectors to achieve this goal.

The total number of scientific documents indexed by Iran on the Web of Science in 2020 database of Clarity Analytics has grown by about ten percent compared to the previous year, and Iran was able to reach 15th rank in the world in terms of the quantity of production of scientific documents. Over the past decade, not only our contribution of the world's scientific papers increased from one percent to two percent, but also Iran's position in terms of the quality of scientific papers has surpassed relative to quantity issue. In detail, the number of Iranian scientific documents was 52512 (2.22% of the world value and rank of 15; one rank higher compared to the previous year) in science, 4228 (0.95% of the world value and rank of 29; three ranks higher compared to the previous year) in social sciences, 294 (0.29% of the world value and rank of 37; three ranks higher compared to the previous year) in art and humanities, and 53902 (2.02% of the world value and rank of 15; one rank higher compared to the previous year) in total, in 2020. As before, USA, China and England were the ranks of one to three in the world due to their contributions of 25.7%, 21.7% and 6.8%, respectively, for scientific documents productions in 2020. University of Tehran, Tehran University of Medical Science, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, Tarbiat Modares University, and Iran University of Medical Science were the five top governmental universities in 2020 respectively. As before, 15.0% of scientific documents are related to all branches of Islamic Azad University in 2020. In Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), by recording 12877 indexes and 3.3 percent of contribution in the World, Iran is located in 9th rank as before. In terms of the quality of production of published scientific documents in Iran, the number of articles published in Q1 and top journals, the number of highly cited and hot articles in the country along with the number of citations have been grown, which shows the growth of the quality of scientific documents as signs of universities' special attention to the high-quality publishing.

Progress in any field is not possible without planning as well as improvement in science and technology. A prerequisite for any planning is to draw the current situation, describe the desired position, and explain the strategies, approaches, administrative policies, and executive-operational plans to reach the desired condition from the current situation. The Higher Education Plan draws up the current state of higher education in the country from various aspects and provides sufficient knowledge of the subsystems, student distribution, and faculty members at the provincial and national levels. The higher education plan is one of the most comprehensive reports in higher education in the country, which has been compiled in the framework of a comprehensive scientific map of the country. However, it requires revising and updating the data and information and, most importantly, monitoring the progress in quantitative indicators, especially quality and project objectives. This document can be a reasonable basis for planning and policy in various areas of higher education; however, the historical course of its compilation until its approval and implementation - the end of the life of 4 governments - shows the lack of belief of those involved in higher education in the country in such documents. Management and supervisory problems and limited financial resources are among the crucial factors in the unsuccessful implementation of this plan. In this article, the higher education plan has been explained and analyzed, and finally, by drawing the status of basic sciences, suggestions have been presented to strengthen and improve the quality of basic sciences.

Open Access (OA) movement has been started in the 1990s aiming to access to the all scholarly literature. In order to follow the OA in horizon 2020, it was scheduled that all scientific publications and related data that result from research funded by public grants must be accessed and shared to the whole society without any restrictions. In order to implementing this goal, an initiative for the OA publishing was launched in 2018, named Plan S, which was supported by Coalition S, an international consortium of research funding to make the OA to research publications. The idea introduced after the Berlin declaration on the OA (2004) that have emphasized to access and share research outputs and their related data. Therefore, national and international organizations made some decisions in order to support this plan. According to our evaluations, it is reveal that regarding to several actions in recent decades on the OA, some considerations on the publication copyrights and their ownerships especially outputs generated form publicly funded research are continued. On the other hand, with emphasize of Coalition S protocol to access to the research outputs and their related raw data, some critical considerations should be stated, include organizational, individual, legal, behavioral, and cultural parameters. Consequently, due to all of these challenges, it seems that universal demand on open science and access to the scientific literature has been increased in the recent years, therefore, research policy makers and funders might to consider their situation concerning this decision.

This article examines the history of establishing the research laboratories networks (RLN) and the consequences of their formation on higher education centers in Iran. The results of this study show we need more stable management for supporting the establishment of RLN. The laboratory networks that are currently active in the country are also generally service-oriented, and the established national laboratories are more active in this direction. The output of so-called national laboratories in the country should be improved relative to other countries. Due to the expansion of higher education centers and the increasing number of researchers, the presence active RLN is one of the main priorities and one of the important necessities of the country.

In recent years, technological developments and successive innovations in manufacturing processes have created profound changes in the world's industrial landscape. In the meantime, we have witnessed the emergence of the concept of the fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0 and researchers have also shown increasing attention to this issue. This new industrial paradigm, created by combining technologies based on physical cyber systems and digital transformation, transformational implications for industry and the economy. Today we are at the beginning of a revolution that is fundamentally changing our way of life, work and relationships. This phenomenon is not comparable to any of the past human experiences in terms of scale, coverage and complexity; and we are still a long way from fully understanding the speed and scope of this new revolution. What is clear is that effective action must be taken as soon as possible to take advantage of the positive effects and consequences and to counter the possible threats of this industrial revolution. The present article deals with the fundamental components of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and emerging changes in the fields of industry, products and services, business and market models, work environment and skills development.

Futurology is the scientific study of possible and desirable developments in the future, so as to provide the necessary insight to design its requirements. From the perspective of futurology, prediction of the future is not possible precisely. However, a comprehensive plan can be presented, in which all possible states with the potential to become the future can be explored and identified. On the other hand, research in the engineering futurology and analyzing the upcoming technologies is the investigation of science-based changes and the powerful challenges of innovation by focusing on the social issues and concerns. The analysis of the future-oriented engineering technologies is the identification of the complex and dynamic systems and processes in such a collective and interdisciplinary way that seeks to create a correct and clear understanding of the future for the stakeholders and provide a platform for sustainable development. In this paper, we briefly mention some important technological forces, which will change the future, and give us a vision of the superior technology roadmap.

Studying the biographies of great scientists helps a lot in understanding the intellectual path of researchers that can influence their scientific life and research methods. This article studies the biographies of Jaber bin Hayyan (Jaber) and Abu Rihan Biruni, as Iranian scientists and Marie Curie and Nikola Tesla as Western scientists. It is attempted to monitor the moral highlights and their lives as well.Jaber is the name of a Muslim and Iranian chemist. According to him, Alchemy was considered the king of all sciences. He believed the human history is comparable to a huge Alchemy that aims to reach perfection for human.Abu Rihan Biruni was worldwide Iranian knowledge man and multidimensional figures in science. He was an expert in various sciences such as mathematics, astronomy, calendars, anthropology, historiography, chronology, medicine, and natural sciences.Marie Curie was the first female scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Radioactivity. She was also the first lady to receive the Nobel Prize in physics and chemistry.Nikola Tesla had a special genius and talent that made him a mysterious figure in physics and electricity. Tesla's experiments show that he was ahead of the time he lived.

Vaccine production in Iran has a long history and its history dates back to more than 101 years ago. All these years, we have all been vaccinated with vaccines made in Iran against tuberculosis, hepatitis B, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, rubella and mumps. About a century has passed since the production of vaccines in Iran, which is ranked 10th worldwide in the production of vaccines. In addition to producing the vaccines needed to vaccinate children and adults, Iran has been able to export the same vaccines to Asian, African and some European countries. We are 97% self-sufficient in the production of livestock vaccines, but we import 70% in the field of poultry vaccines.

According to reports about the appearance of various mutations in the novel coronavirus 2019 (nCoV-2019), the main purpose of this article is to introduce the types of mutations and important variants around the world. This study mainly focuses on the surface protein of the virus, called Spike (S) protein. S protein has undergone the most known mutation to date and has been used as the main target by vaccine platforms. Therefore, considering the importance and role of S protein, an attempt has been made to discuss mutations, the emergence of new variants, and their possible consequences in design and development of drugs and vaccines. Furthermore, developed nCov-19 vaccine platforms (based on mRNA, inactivated virus, protein subunit, replicating viral vector, and virus-like particles) being introduced. Also, according to international standards, monitoring of each method is being performed, which based on accurate scientific analysis and better statistical models, the potentials of these methods can be used to reduce the effects of the epidemic.

The first attempt to organized nomenclature of the inorganic and organic chemicals dates back to the second half of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, the international standardization of chemical nomenclature came to the founding of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in 1919. Despite the use of the term catalysis with the concept of accelerating chemical reactions in the second half of the eighteenth century, the modern concept of catalysis was introduced in the third decade of the nineteenth century almost at the same time as the introduction of the first enzymatic activity. Nevertheless, the international standardization of enzymes nomenclature was delayed until the sixth decade of the century when the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB), (which was renamed as the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology or IUBMB) was founded at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century. The IUB began to publish reports on the classification and naming of enzymes based on the type of reaction, through organizing the Enzyme Commission (EC), first in consultation with and then in cooperation with the IUPAC. The result was the publication of six reports and 13 supplements naming and classifying enzymes by the end of the twentieth century. Based on this, enzymes were named and classified into 6 classes. Until, 70 years after the international and organized effort to name enzymes and 60 years after the publication of the first report of the Enzyme Commission, a group of enzymes were named as “Translocases” and classified in the seventh class (EC 7). Here, while informing about the addition of the seventh class to the pre-registered 6 classes of enzymes by the Enzyme nomenclature working group from of IUBMB (EN-IUBMB) and the IUBMB/IUPAC Joint Biochemical nomenclature commission (JCBN), the history of enzyme classification and nomenclature from the beginning to the present is reviewed.

Biomimetics and bioinspiration science is not only provide the quality improvement of technological products and processes, but also a promising solution for human beings to get out of the problems caused by modern technologies and lifestyles. One of the achievements of this knowledge is the efficient replacement of natural materials such as biopolymers with synthetic chemicals. One of the most abundant biopolymers is chitin and its deacetylate form, chitosan. Chitosan has unique characteristics including biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioactivity, non-toxicity, and antimicrobial activation. This biomaterial has found many biomimetics applications in biomedical today, including tissue engineering, wound dressing, drug delivery, bio imaging, and ophthalmology. Chitin is commonly extracted from the waste skin of shrimp and then converted to chitosan. In recent years, researchers have considered an important alternative source of chitin, including insects, due to the limited marine resources. This work reviews the sources, physicochemical, biological, and usages of chitosan in biomedical fields.

The Cypress of Abarkouh (Persian: ‎ Sarv-e Abarkouh), is a Cypresses sempervirens tree in Abarkouh in Yazd Province of Iran. This ancient tree with a height of 25 meters which is estimated to be over four thousand years, considered as one of the tree in Iran, was recognized as a national natural monument in 2003 and has been a major tourist attraction. This individual tree is located in central parts of Iran next to an old Qanat in the city of Abarkouh. This genetic reserve is unique not only from the aspect of age, botanical forms and beauty, but also from historical and ancient point of view. It has witnessed many events over the history both environmental and social, such as wars, global warming, and climate change. As a matter of fact, there are many more aspects to the study of this tree that reveal its value; namely ecological memory which provides us with valuable information on environmental factors of the past, and geological and evolutionary information. Anthecologists are investigating the hypothesis of having many Mediterranean cypress trees planted by Elamites around 5000 years ago which strongly admits the value of this tree in revealing historical information from the past.