مطالب

Award-winning novelist, cultural anthropologist, and environmental advocate, Amitav Gosh is well known for his Ibis trilogy: Sea of Poppies (2008), River Smoke (2011), and Flood of Fire (2015) wherein he dramatizes the First Opium War between England and China in the first half of the nineteenth century. His nonfictional Smoke and Ashes (2023) is the fruit of his research notes collected while writing the trilogy providing good background information for the trilogy’s intricate world. Besides Gosh’s scholars, the book will prove worthwhile for postcolonial historians and anyone interested in the complex machinery of the British Empire in nineteenth-century India and China. The book’s great intellectual charm and strength lie in its genre-defying quality. It synthesizes historical analysis with travel narrative, personal memoir, socio-cultural investigation, and the examination of artistic works related to the opium industry. In addition, it does not confine its analysis to the colonial past since it tracks the vicious consequences of the opium trade in modern times, in particular America. Indeed, the book is a scholarly endeavor to expose not only the fictionality of Western capitalism but also the depth of the British Empire’s gross injustice to subjugated people and their world through critical engagement with extensive colonial archives. He achieves his goal thanks to his lucid prose, powerful arguments, thorough research, and ethical stance.

Transfer of learning from English course to other contexts is one of the most fundamental objectives of English for Special Academic Purposes (ESAP) instruction. Providing opportunities to transfer the acquired knowledge from the ESAP writing course to writing tasks of specialized disciplines as well as analyzing students’ perceptions of transfer catalysts and barriers might suggest a foundation for future educational planning. This study examines how engineering graduate students who participated in an ESAP course assessed the four constructs of learning transfer inventory that might facilitate or inhibit the transfer of learning in discipline-specific academic writing programs. Sixty engineering graduate students participated in this study. During the ESAP course, collaboratively designed discipline-specific writing tasks were presented and practiced through multimodal input. The variation in participants’ writing skills throughout the semester was recorded and analyzed. The catalysts and the barriers to the learning transfer act were identified by administering the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI). The participants’ evaluations of the treatment they had received was assessed through a focus group interview. Results indicated that the students could obtain significant levels of academic writing skills and finally transfer their acquired instruction to authentic discipline practices. Furthermore, data analysis of the LTSI demonstrated that transfer of writing outcomes will be increased if more consideration of work-related factors is considered in higher education. All participants reported personal capacity as the main impediment induced by the work-related construct. Students’ positive attitudes toward three ability factors and all motivational factors suggested that an auspicious foundation for future educational planning exists if disciplinary and institutional considerations are embraced.

The aim of this research is to analyze and map international scientific publications related to Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). This study adopts an interpretive paradigm and employs a descriptive approach using a systematic review method. By utilizing specific search terms in the Web of Science database, covering the period from 1985 to 2024, and after thorough screening and qualitative assessment of the studies, the final analysis was conducted on 639 articles. An in-depth examination of the selected articles revealed a notable increase in international research in this field, particularly during the last twenty years. However, there have been periods of decreased research activity in years such as 2008, 2017, and 2023. The primary focus of this research has been on customer lifetime value and customer segmentation, with a significant association to the keyword "data mining," highlighting the importance of this technique in the discipline. Moreover, it was found that countries like Iran, Canada, and Turkey have lower average citation rates, whereas the United States, France, and Germany exhibit higher average citation rates. This suggests different patterns of co-authorship among these countries. By examining the most and least productive countries and researchers through scientometrics, new research opportunities in the field of customer lifetime value can be identified, providing insights for Iranian researchers to enhance the visibility of their findings on an international scale.

Forough Farrokhzad (1934-1966) emerged as a distinguished intellectual contemporary Iranian poet whose poetry, while embracing the notion of “tragic culture,” rejects every dualistic structure and gender essentialism. Instead, it posits the potential for human empathy, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of gender dynamics within the broader context of human experience. According to “Typology of Women” in Nietzsche's writings, the tragic vision is determined in the theory of the “Dionysian Woman” after passing through the stages of “desire for illusion” and “desire for truth.” On the other hand, this potentiality within Farrokhzad's poetic corpus exhibits a gradual and evolutionary character. In accordance with her aesthetic approach, it serves as a manifestation of the “transformations of the soul” delineated by Nietzsche. His conceptual framework posits a “transformative journey of the soul,” progressing from the stage of submission (camel) through rebellion and destruction (lion) to ultimately attain the stage of innocent creation (child). Employing an analytical-descriptive methodology, this study elucidates the manifestation of the transformative paradigm in Farrokhzad's poetry, primarily evident in her dual modes of "erotic" and "rebellious" poetic expressions, which reflect her engagement with metaphysical themes. Furthermore, an exploration of the imprint of the "love of fate" concept in Farrokhzad's verse is presented as a derivative outcome.

This study aimed to investigate the role of gender stereotypes in women's participation in sports. The present study was conducted with a qualitative, constructivist approach, serving its purpose. The participants in this study were 15 Iranian women and girls aged 15 to 55 who participated in sports recreationally or professionally and were selected as the final sample using a theoretical and purposive sampling method. Based on the results of the interviews, the focused codes extracted from the initial codes, which are presented in the form of theoretical codes of gender stereotypes in this study, include negative views of families towards girls' sports, social and cultural norms governing in sports, male dominance in some sports, breaking taboos in sports, dominant forces in sports, distrust of female athletes, and common stereotypes in sports that were identified. Therefore, changing social and cultural norms, educating and informing families through increased media coverage of women's sports, and role modeling will reduce gender stereotypes in sports and create conditions where women and girls can engage in sports without cultural and social restrictions.

The research utilizes bibliometric analysis and negative binomial regression to conduct a retrospective evaluation of the Journal of Sport & Tourism (JS&T), widely recognized as the oldest and most prominent publication in the industry. The objective is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the development and patterns seen in sports tourism area. We analyzed 243 articles published in Journal of Sport & Tourism from 2006 to 2022 (Volume 26, Issue 2). The first bibliometric analysis of Journal of Sport & Tourism reveals that the journal has significantly contributed to the sport tourism area for academics and professionals. For example, the percentage of female co-authors is, on average, 35.8%. However, a significant portion (42.38%) of all publications have been authored solely by men, with no female co-authors. These findings suggest an opportunity to enhance gender diversity in the journal's publications and research. In addition, the negative binomial regression results show that the article age variable positively correlates with citation, while the demeaned age squared variable displays a negative association. Also, we found a significant association between gender and citations per year but no significant relationship between gender and total citations. The detailed interpretation of these findings contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricate dynamics surrounding gender-related factors in scholarly impact, emphasising the importance of considering annualised and cumulative citation metrics for a comprehensive evaluation. As a results, the study provides a lens for academics and practitioners to follow to understand the evolution of sport tourism.

The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive model for strategic thinking in sports federations in Iran. This research is a qualitative exploratory study and a practical one that has been done using thematic analysis. The research population consisted of experts and elites in the field of strategic sport management, with having knowledge of the sport federations. The research participants based on the triangulation technique included: faculty members of sports management of universities, senior managers with the experience in the field of sports, as well as athletes and referees with experience of professional sports. 16 participants were interviewed through purposive and snowball sampling until reaching theoretical saturation. The tools used to collect data included a semi-structured interview based on the main questions and objectives of the research. To increase the accuracy and validity of the analysis at different stages, the codes, sub-themes and main themes were provided to research team as well as two interviewed experts and the necessary modifications were made in accordance with their opinions. The retest reliability method was used to ensure the reliability of the findings. Credibility, dependability, transformability, and confirmability were also used to confirm the validity. Finally, based on the six-stage thematic analysis model of Braun and Clarke (2006), the final research model was developed which included: “effective factors”, “strategic thinking elements” in sport federations, and “Strategic thinking consequences” in sports federations. Considering the findings of this study can pave the way for developing strategic thinking in sport federations.

In June 2025, Israeli airstrikes on Evin Prison in Tehran killed more than 80 civilians, including detainees, staff, and visiting family members. The attack provoked strong international condemnation, notably from France, due to its civilian toll and the absence of a credible military justification. The present article examines the strike's legality under international humanitarian law (IHL), with particular emphasis on the principles of distinction and proportionality as codified in Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, this paper argues that the Evin attack lacked a legitimate military objective and violated the fundamental requirement of Article 48 to distinguish between civilian and military targets. Israel’s claim of “symbolic” intent falls short of IHL standards and highlights the absence of lawful military necessity. While detention facilities may, in some contexts, be misused as human shields, no such justification existed in this case. The strike appears politically and psychologically motivated, potentially amounting to acts of terror against civilians. In accordance with Article 8 of the Rome Statute and relevant IHL instruments, the attack constitutes a war crime due to breaching the principles of proportionality and distinction. Rigorous legal analysis and comprehensive documentation are essential to advancing individual criminal responsibility, including through mechanisms such as universal jurisdiction.

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the performance of elite taekwondo athletes using machine learning approaches to achieve three objectives: categorizing performance into four clusters ranging from excellent to poor, identifying key physical characteristics influencing performance, and predicting medal-winning potential in world competitions. This study employs the National Olympic Academy dataset of Iranian taekwondo athletes’ physical fitness and anthropometric records from 1996 to 2019 to develop descriptive and predictive models. In datasets comprising 999 female and 1560 male records, SOM-means and SOM-spectral clustering algorithms achieved average test efficiencies of 80%, for Silhouette, and 20% for Davies-Bouldin in the female dataset, and 79% and 34% respectively, in the male dataset, identifying four performance clusters based on physical attributes and medal distribution. A semi-supervised learning model with the CPLE-Learning algorithm demonstrated medal prediction capabilities, with accuracy rates of 68%, 59%, and 73% for predicting gold, silver, and bronze medals in the female dataset, and 58%, 61%, and 54% in the male dataset. These findings highlight the effectiveness of machine learning in sports performance analysis, offering valuable insights for managing taekwondo athletes and enhancing physical preparation strategies.