مطالب

Purpose : The growth and development of social media have played a significant role in shaping and transforming brand strategies. This paper aims to evaluate the antecedents and consequences of brand-related content usage on social media and examine their impact on consumer behavior, brand equity, and purchase intentions. Method : To analyze and test the factors influencing user interactions with brands on social media, a structural model was designed. The study's statistical population comprised active social media users. Data were collected through a two-part questionnaire; the first part gathered demographic information of respondents, and the second part included 30 questions assessing the constructs of the conceptual model. All items for these constructs were adapted from previous research. In total, 223 usable questionnaires were obtained. Findings : Results indicated that factors such as information, Remuneration, and self-expression positively influence user interactions with brand content, while factors like entertainment and social interaction did not show significant effects. Additionally, Using Brand Related Content on Social Media significantly influenced brand equity and purchase intentions. Conclusion : This research demonstrates that brands should focus on providing reliable information, creating appealing incentives, and offering opportunities for user self-expression to enhance customer loyalty and maximize the visibility of brand content. Furthermore, leveraging authentic content and optimized interactive strategies can play a crucial role in boosting brand impact and enhancing brand equity.

This study investigates an integrated model linking Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ epistemological belief, metacognitive awareness, critical thinking abilities, and their professional development. Using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, the research tests a hypothesized model in which epistemological beliefs and metacognitive awareness predict critical thinking, which in turn mediates their relationships with professional development. Data were collected from 150 Iranian EFL teachers using some validated instruments. After assessing the measurement model, SEM was employed to test the direct and indirect pathways. The results supported the hypothesized model, revealing that critical thinking skills significantly mediated the relationship between epistemological beliefs and professional development. Furthermore, metacognitive awareness demonstrated both a direct effect on professional development and an indirect effect through critical thinking. The findings underscore the importance of fostering metacognitive and critical thinking skills in EFL teachers to enhance their professional growth. This study contributes to the literature by elucidating the cognitive mechanisms underlying teacher development, offering practical implications for designing teacher education and professional development programs in Iran and similar contexts.

Informal digital learning of English (IDLE) is now a routine part of many learners’ everyday media use, yet it remains unclear how these out-of-class digital practices translate into competence for real-world intercultural communication. Building on work that conceptualizes IDLE as both receptive and productive engagement, this study tested a mediation model in which EFL grit and classroom boredom help explain the link between IDLE and intercultural communicative competence (ICC). A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 219 intermediate Iranian EFL learners (aged 15–20) studying in private language schools in Urmia. After screening, 218 valid cases were retained for analysis. Measures included receptive and productive IDLE, ICC (25 items), EFL grit (18 items), and boredom in practical English classes (27 items). The hypothesized model was examined using partial least squares structural equation modelling with bootstrapped confidence intervals. Results indicated that both receptive and productive IDLE were positively associated with ICC. In addition, higher grit and lower classroom boredom partially mediated these relationships. The findings suggest that learners’ sustained effort (grit) and their classroom emotional experience (boredom) are key psychological routes through which everyday digital English engagement may contribute to intercultural development. Implications are discussed for connecting IDLE experiences to classroom reflection, reducing boredom, and supporting perseverance in EFL learning.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive philosophical critique of warfare in the contemporary era, focusing on ethical justifications and competing theoretical frameworks. It examines the extent to which classical just war theory remains applicable and explores how contemporary philosophers contribute to the redefinition of the ethics of war. Employing an applied, descriptive-analytical, qualitative approach, the study gathers data from library sources, theoretical literature, previous research, and scholarly articles. It reviews such sources to critically analyze the philosophical and ethical foundations of war. The findings show that states resort to war for reasons including the defense of human rights, protection of sovereignty, and response to significant threats. Just war theory distinguishes between conflicts that are ethically justified and those that are not. Although ethical principles invariably influence warfare, some conflicts can be justified on grounds of justice, rendering absolute pacifism impractical. Also the analysis reveals that classical frameworks, while foundational, are insufficient for addressing the moral complexities of contemporary warfare. Emerging forms of conflict challenge traditional notions of legitimacy and moral accountability, highlighting significant gaps in existing theories. Contemporary warfare necessitates a revised and integrative philosophical framework capable of accommodating new modes of violence and global security concerns. Such a framework should synthesize insights from just war theory, pacifism, and political realism to provide a robust basis for evaluating the morality of modern conflicts and international bodies must prioritize disarmament and ethically based legislation to safeguard human rights and dignity.

Background: Cryptocurrencies have a variety of unique qualities, from cutting-edge technology to highly secure architecture. Additionally, the ability to invest in cryptocurrency, as an asset or a function of its prosperity has made crypto-currencies attractive to venture capitalists, computer scientists, and statisticians. Aims: In this study, we concentrated on a collection of documents web-scrapped from the market section of CNBC, where each document is associated with a response variable. Methodology: These documents contain preprocessed words/terms of day-to-day reportage on cryptocurrency (Bitcoin). The corresponding response variables are the daily opening and closing price of Bitcoin prices. The Supervised Latent Dirichlet Allocation(sLDA), a statistical model of labeled documents, was used to analyze the textual data alongside their corresponding response variables, since our study aims to predict the response variable for unlabeled new documents. Results: Hidden Topics with their unique terms from the preprocessed articles were exposed through a Natural language processor. Mean absolute error (MAE), Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and Root mean square error (RMSE) graphs were constructed for the sLDA models with ‘k = 3,10,20,30,50,75,100 and 200 Topics’ values where the model with the best evaluation metric, was selected for prediction purpose. Conclusion: It was discovered that the sLDA model with k = 20. A posterior covariance matrix which shows the proportion of terms from the documents, making up a Topic. Coefficient values were generated in other to graphically visualize how important the discovered topics are and how they affect the market trend. Finally, the prediction of new labels (numeric-decoded closing prices) for the unlabeled documents was done and comparisons were made; the predicted labels follow a similar pattern to that of the time series closing price trend.