Publication Date: 2024
Globalization and Health (17448603)20(1)
Background: This study aims to expand on the concept of peace and health by drawing from Keynes' theory of the economic consequences of peace, in light of the global pandemic experienced in 2020 due to COVID_19. Methods: In this paper, I will elaborate on the concept of ‘security’, as an indicator of peace in the time of biological shocks, in order to expand the definition of Keynesian precautionary motivation. This puts forth a new monetary policy model developed to make contributions to achieving global peace. In so doing, I will calculate the optimal growth rate of discount rate through utilizing the Global Peace Index (GPI), adjusted by the Case Fatality Risk (CFR) of COVID-19 in a dynamic shopping time monetary model. This analysis is comprised of the top 15 GDP countries as well as the 10 most and least peaceful countries in 2020. Results: The results indicate that households in more peaceful and healthy countries tend to hold less money compared to those in less peaceful and healthy countries. Besides, the discount rate needs to be reduced due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the decrease in the level of peace in the economy. Conclusion: Insofar as the imposition of fines through international legal circles on countries with an insignificant health and peace policy will increase the cost of liquidity, other alternative methods of financing will be affor dable for the countries. © The Author(s) 2024.
Publication Date: 2009
EXCLI Journal (16112156)8pp. 190-194
Glutathione S-transferase is a family of multifunctional detoxification enzymes which are mainly cytosolic that detoxify natural and exogenous toxic compounds by conjugation with glutathione. Glutathione, an endogenous tripeptide, is important as either a reducing agent or a nucleophilic scavenger. This molecule alleviates the chemical toxicity in plants by reaction of glutathione S-transferase, and its conjugates can be transported to vacuole or apoplast. The plant soluble glutathione S-transferases grouped today into seven distinct Phi, Tau, Zeta, Theta, lambda, dehydroascorbate reductase, and tetrachlorohydroquinone dehalogenase classes. In this study, bioinformatics analysis of glutathione S-transferase gene in barley was carried out using Tau-class of barley glutathione S-transferase sequences in NCBI GenBank and isolated sequence. DNA extraction, primer design, PCR, electrophoresis, column purifica-tion, DNA sequencing and analysis by some software led to identify new sequences of Tau-class of glutathione S-transferase from barley, which is similar to Tau GST of the diploid wheat. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of the three barley GST genes showed that they have 99% identity with each other but only 45% identity with the new GST. This sequence was submitted to NCBI GenBank with FI131240 accession number.
Publication Date: 2024
Cogent Economics and Finance (23322039)12(1)
The expansion of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the introduction of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) are of great significance in terms of both politics and trade. This article aims to analyze the methodological shortcomings of traditional models and suggests a new model to evaluate the potential trade benefits of these corridors. The study discusses the reasoning for combining recursive analysis with GIS-network analysis in the logistical planning of international corridors. The authors have used a shopping time model that integrates distance and political risk index (PRI). They have then employed dynamic programming to assess and compare the changing opportunity cost (OPC) of retaining money. The findings suggest that the development of these corridors would provide differing degrees of benefits to different nations, with India being the country that would earn the greatest advantage by joining the IMEEC. Nevertheless, Iran enjoys the most significant benefits in comparison to other members of the INSTC. India stands to benefit somewhat more from its participation in the INSTC compared to the IMEEC. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Hacopian dolatabadi, S.,
Latify, M.A.,
Karshenas, H.R.,
Sharifi, A.M. Publication Date: 2023
IET GENERATION TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION (17518687)17(10)pp. 2401-2418
Economic efficiency is the ultimate goal of all markets, including the electricity market. Several technical and pecuniary restrictions known as externalities in economics literature can significantly affect the economic efficiency of the electricity market. Negative externalities resulting from the operational restrictions of generation units are inherent to electricity markets. In this paper, after reviewing the effects of externalities on the day-ahead electricity markets' economic efficiency using a unit commitment-based model, an innovative and theoretically efficient service-based procedure aimed at internalizing negative externalities in the day-ahead electricity markets is presented. In this way, a new service procured by the energy storage system to provide energy interchange possibilities in the electricity market is introduced. The proposed service uses both price and quantity adjustment methods to internalize externalities. A new discriminatory method for pricing the service and a bi-level optimization problem for determining the capacity of the energy storage system required to provide the service are considered. The consideration of the proposed method facilitates reaching the first-best optimal market solution by alleviating negative externalities existing in the sub-optimal second-best solution in the presence of generation sector operational constraints. Numerical case studies demonstrate the functioning of the proposed externalities internalization scheme.
Dehkordi, M.M.,
Azarbayjani, K.,
Nasrollahi, K.,
Tayebi, S.K. Publication Date: 2022
Iranian Economic Review (10266542)26(1)pp. 215-235
Economists have always noticed the immigration of laborers since it can change the economy of countries. In the literature of international economics, labor force immigration is studied by the mobility of factors of production and trade. In this case, empirical studies have found substitutive and complementary relationships between the two, which necessitate consideration of other elements influencing this relationship. One of the phenomena that can affect both labor force immigration and bilateral trade is the countries' financial crises. Therefore, this study analyzes the parametric effect of bilateral trade and the nonparametric impact of economic crises on labor force immigration in the Middle East and OECD countries from 1995 to 2017. For this purpose, two indices of banking market pressure and debt market pressure have been used to study financial crises such as banking crises and sovereign debt crises, and the semi-parametric gravity model of immigration has been estimated by using random effects. The estimation results show a substitution relationship between bilateral trade and labor force immigration, and both types of mentioned financial crises have a nonparametric impact on immigration. So that the effect of these two types of economic crises on labor force immigration has been upward for some periods and downward for other periods. Moreover, these financial crises have reduced the labor force immigration among business partners. In other words, there has been a nonlinear relationship between the two financial crises. © University of Tehran.
Publication Date: 2020
Preparative Biochemistry and Biotechnology (10826068)50(7)pp. 723-734
Herein, we describe a simple and efficient approach to produce recombinant human α-synuclein (hAS) with high purity from Escherichia coli (E. coli). The cDNA for hAS was inserted into plasmid pET32a and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) with an N-terminal tag containing E. coli thioredoxin (trx), followed by a histidine hexapeptide, and a tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease cleavage site (trx-6His-TEV). The fusion protein, trx-hAS, was initially released by osmotic shock treatment from the host cells and subsequently purified using a nickel affinity chromatography. A TEV protease cleavage step was performed to liberate the target protein, hAS, from the fusion partner, trx. Finally, an additional nickel affinity chromatography was performed to further purify the digested product. The yield of this method is ∼25 mg of tag-less protein (with ∼99% purity) per liter of culture volume. Reverse phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) and electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry confirmed the purity and authenticity of the purified protein. Thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence assay, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy demonstrated that the purified proteins form fibrils. Our protocol not only provides a convenient procedure for preparing highly pure hAS, but also requires very little specialized laboratory techniques. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Publication Date: 2014
Journal of Environmental Studies (23456922)40(1)pp. 247-254
Introduction: Air pollution is one of the critical challenges in metropolitans around the world. According to World Health Organization (WHO), three millions people die from air pollution annually. In some studies mortality costs by air pollution was estimated. Social cost of air pollution was estimated 28990 billions Rials in Tehran city. The mortality cost by air pollution was estimated about 4.31% of GDP in Singapore. Air pollution was increased the mortality rate by 868 in Manchester city annually in 1992-98, where the social cost was estimated about £572 million. Recently air pollution has become a serious crisis in Isfahan city in Iran In this study the mortality cost by air pollution as a social cost was estimated in this metropolitan in 2010-2011. Also mortality rate and long run effect of air pollution were estimated. Material and methods: Air pollution has short run and long run effect on the mortality. Air pollution accelerate patient' death and also can shorten life expectancy of other citizens. In most empirical studies only short run effect was investigated using dose response function. In this study, an ARMAX model was used to decompose short run and long run effect of air pollution on the mortality: (1+θ1L+θ2L 2)(log(MORT) - SMOOTH90 [log (MORT =α + (β, +β2L+β3L2)AQI + (β 4+β5L+β6L2)TEMP +(1+γ1L +γ2L2)e (1) Where, MORT is daily mortality rate, AQI is air quality index, TEMP is the average of daily temperature and e is an error term. Also seasonality effect of the mortality variable was smoothed with locally weighted least squares smoothing approach with a bandwidth of 90 days. Long run effect of AQI on the mortality rate was calculated as: LRE=(β1+β2+β3)/ (1+θ1+θ2) (2) Also, Long run elasticity of the mortality to air pollution was calculated as: LREL= [(β1+β2+β3)/1+θ 1 + θ2]AQI (3) Where, AQI is the average of daily air quality index in 2010-211. To estimate the social costs of air pollution for t=0, at first relative risk ratio was calculated: RRR = Exp((β 1) × AQI) (4) Total mortality was then divided by RRR. Difference of this figure with the total mortality yield the mortality in t=0 due to air pollution. For t= 1, the RRR was calculated as: RRR = Exp ((β2-β1×θ1) × AQI) (5) By multiplying mortality in t=0.1 by blood money gives the approximate social cost of air pollution. Results and discussion: Data on the daily mortality rate, daily mean temperature, and Air Quality Index (AQI) was taken from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan Metrological Organization and Isfahan Environmental Protection, respectively in 2010-2011. The data are described in Table 1. (Table Presented) For mortality variable the Phillips - Perron tests are able to reject the null hypothesis of unit root. The Phillips - Perron tests statistics was - 781.75 for the log(MORT) variable with a five percent critical value of-29.5. The econometric results are reported in Table 2. This model includes one lagged value of AQI and a twice lagged value of temperature. Air pollution had significant effect in the mortality rate (Table 3). (Table Presented) The social cost of air pollution: To estimate the annual social costs of air pollution, relative risk ratio (RRR) was calculated as Equ. 4 for t=0: RRR=Exp (0.00059*95.13)=1.09146 The total mortality (12015) was divided to this figure yield 11008 implying 1007 more deaths. Next to calculate the RRR for t=l, the lag coefficient was calculated: -0.00035+ (0.00059*0.67898)= 0.00005 The relative risk ratio was calculated: Exp(0.00005*13.95)= 1.0047 Dividing the total mortality (12015) by this figure yields 11958 impling 17 more deaths. Therefore, air pollution has caused 1024 deaths in 2010-11 (annually 512). Multiplying by blood money, the annual mortality cost was estimated 345 billion Rials. Conclusions: Air pollution has increased significantly in Isfahan city in recent years. In this study the short-run and log-run impacts of air pollution on the mortality rate was estimated in Isfahan city. For this purpose an ARMAX model was used to approximate the entire distributed lag impacts of changes in the level of air pollution on the mortality rate. Results showed that, annually, air pollution has increased the mortality rate about 8.5%. Accounting for this phenomenon the social cost has 346 billions for the residents of Isfahan. Also a 1% increase in air pollution increase 0.123% daily the mortality rate.
Saffari, B.,
Senemar, S.,
Karimi, M.,
Bahari, M.,
Jouyan, N.,
Yavarian, M. Publication Date: 2013
Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences (18125735)16(16)pp. 788-795
There have been many controversial debates on the role of Hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHcy) as an independent risk factor for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) during recent years. Furthermore, an alanine/valine (Ala/Val) gene polymorphism at 222nd amino acid of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) has been considered as a factor that could render this enzyme thermolabile and less active which in turn may yield a subsequent increase in plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) levels. To assess whether this polymorphism is associated with increased risk of CAD and plasma levels of tHcy in a population from southern Iran, a total of 457 patients with angiographically documented multi-vessel CAD were compared with a control group comprised of 371 subjects with <30% stenosis in all major vessels. Nevertheless our results failed to admit a significant difference between CAD individuals and control subjects for Ala/Val polymorphism and plasma Hcy concentrations. However, plasma Hcy concentrations were significantly higher in individuals with Val/Val genotype than subjects with Ala/Ala genotype, but it didn't show a significant association with CAD in our population. Moreover, as the multiple linear regression analysis indicated, smoking habit, folate levels and the MTHFR Val/Val genotype were the only major predictors of tHcy concentrations in the current investigation. © 2013 Asian Network for Scientific Information.
Mohammadi kharaji, A.,
Mousavi, S.A.,
Soltani koupai, S.,
Kiani, G.H. Publication Date: 2024
Environment, Development and Sustainability (1387585X)26(4)pp. 10807-10826
Over-grazing in rangelands leads to a drastic decline in non-forage functions. The rangelands are exploited with no concern for the incurred externality costs. The cost–benefit livestock grazing enterprise and the net profit obtained per animal unit are calculated initially. Following this, the 5 regulation services of rangeland are measured and assessed. The economic analysis of livestock grazing enterprise in rangeland is run for 3 reimbursement conditions for grazing: (1) Concerning the condition of the study area, almost no payment is made for grazing; thus, forage cost is of no concern, (2) the value of grazed forage obtained and added to the forage costs, and (3) the value of regulation services is obtained and considered in the cost–benefit analysis in livestock grazing business. The value of forage and regulation services of 18 vegetation types, separated by the floristic physiognomy method, is obtained. The change in the value of regulation services in the rangelands subject to overstocking and proper stocking conditions is analyzed. The three conditions mentioned above benefit to cost ratios per animal unit are 2.01, 1.2, and 0.46, respectively, indicating that the third case lacks economic justification. Regarding the vegetation types with over-stocking, there are 6.5 units of negative externality effects per animal unit, which will be incurred on the society. The findings indicate the importance of externalities in economic justification of rangeland enterprises, which further could be used to correct the utilization process in the rangelands with poor economic justification. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023.
Publication Date: 2016
Iranian Economic Review (10266542)20(4)pp. 581-598
While economic deterrence models are fully based on maximizing economic utility; social psychology models explain human behavior by examining the underlying attitudes, norms and beliefs. Tax morale is defined as the intrinsic motivation to pay taxes. However, determinants of tax morale need to be investigated for a more comprehensive understanding of tax morale. In this paper we analyze the most important determinants of tax morale in Iran using data from World Values Surveys (WVS). Determinants of tax morale are categorized into four main groups: social capital, conditional cooperation, demographic factors and economic situation of the respondents. Estimating ordered probit model, we find that conditional cooperation and economic situation have the most important effects on tax morality. However, some of the social capital variables like importance of politics and religion and demographic factors like gender and marital status don’t have significant effect on tax morale in Iran. © 2016, University of Teheran. All right reserved.
Publication Date: 2022
Global Economy Journal (15245861)22(3)
In this study, in order to investigate the different forms of capital flow between developing and developed countries in the steady state, a two-country dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, under asymmetric information, is developed. For simulating countries, the parameters of previous studies are used. The results showed that international risk-sharing can explain the Lucas paradox. In both symmetric and asymmetric information structures, net foreign assets in the forms of stocks in steady state are negative for developing countries. In other words, in the steady state, capital exits from the developing country in the form of bonds and enters these countries in the form of stocks. Besides, net capital inflows in the form of stocks and net outflows of capital in the form of bonds in the present model under asymmetric information are larger than that under symmetric information structure. Furthermore, impulse function results show that the two countries are highly correlated. So, the occurrence of a shock in one country changes the production and consumption of another country. But the impact of the shock on macro variables in the country itself is greater than in another. © 2022 World Scientific Publishing Company.
Publication Date: 2015
2025 29th International Computer Conference, Computer Society of Iran, CSICC 2025
The present study tends to analyze the impact of the development of stock market, as an index for electronic business, on the investment in Iran over the period 1981-2012. In this regard, the stock index variable to GDP has been used as an e-business index ARDL methods used to determine the presence or absence of short-Term and long-Term relationship of each independent variable on the dependent variable; to process data, Eviews 7 software is applied. The main findings of this study indicate that the stock index, as an index of e-business, has a significant positive effect on investment. In other words, the stock composes a portion of the wealth of people in the society and its increase coincides with rising incomes and, thus, it raises investment. © 2015 IEEE.
Publication Date: 2013
Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science (22313354)3(3)pp. 112-116
Present investigation was aimed to identify natural products of plant-origin as novel antibiotic resistance reversal agents. Aqueous and methanol extracts of Piper longum (fruits) were tested against multiple drug resistant (MDR) clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella sonnei, as well as reference-plasmid-harboring strains of Escherichia coli (RP4) and Bacillus subtilis (pUB110). The crude methanol extract showed significant antibacterial activity with a minimal inhibitory concentration of 400 μg/mL against Bacillus subtilis (harboring pUB110 plasmid). Methanol extract could reverse the antibiotic resistance in clinical isolates of Shigella sonnei, with a curing efficiency of 42%. In comparison with methanol extract, aqueous extract showed antibiotic resistance reversal efficiency against wider range of clinical isolates. Aqueous extract showed strong antibiotic resistance reversal activities against R-plasmid harboring strains of clinical origin- Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi with curing efficiencies of 64%, 50% and 32% respectively. This antibiotic resistance reversal may be attributed to the elimination of R-plasmids as the multiple antibiotic resistance genes are usually located on R-plasmids. Active biomolecules from P. longum may prove to be a source to develop MDR reversal agents of natural origin to contain the development and spread of plasmid borne multiple antibiotic resistance.
Publication Date: 2025
Cogent Economics and Finance (23322039)13(1)
This study aims to evaluate the ambiguities inherent in establishing the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) and their effect on the expected rate of return for member countries. We focus on six countries along the proposed maritime route—France, India, Italy, Greece, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. Our empirical methodology integrates a dynamic programming monetary model that incorporates shopping time with uncertainty, while the aggregated data on strategic indicators—namely, the Global Food Security Index, Resilience Index, and Service Area Index—is normalized and evaluated using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The results indicate that increased ambiguity leads to a reduction in the expected rate of return, with estimated declines of 12% for France, 15% for India, 19% for Italy, 21% for Greece, 30% for Israel, and 86% for the United Arab Emirates. These findings underscore the critical role of strategic information in mitigating uncertainty and highlight that policy measures, particularly those aimed at enhancing the service area infrastructure in the UAE, can significantly improve investment outcomes in the IMEEC. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Bapat, G.,
Azarbayjani, K.,
Labade, C.,
Ghuge, O.,
Tamhane, V.A.,
Zinjarde, S. Publication Date: 2022
Environmental Research (0013-9351)204
Diverse glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs) are produced by insect pests including Helicoverpa armigera (HaGSTs) for detoxification of insecticides or xenobiotic compounds that they encounter. In an earlier study, the HaGST-8 gene was isolated from H. armigera larvae exposed to pesticide mixtures and the recombinant protein was expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris. In this investigation, HaGST-8 was successfully immobilized on glutaraldehyde-activated APTES functionalized silica nanoparticles to obtain SiAPT-HaGST-8 nano-conjugates. Although enzyme activity associated with these conjugates was comparable to that of free HaGST-8, the specific activity of the former was found to be 1.25 times higher than the latter. In comparison with the free enzyme (that demonstrated a pH optimum of 9.0), for the nano-conjugates, the pH range was extended between pH 8.0 to 9.0. The optimum temperature for activity of both forms of the enzyme was found to be 30 °C. Stability of the enzyme was improved from 20 d for free HaGST-8 to 30 d for SiAPT-HaGST-8 nano-conjugates. Some loss in GST activity was detected after every reuse cycle of nano-conjugates and in all, 63% reduction was observed after three cycles. When 3 kinds of pesticides (namely, chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos and cypermethrin) were reacted with SiAPT-HaGST-8, more than 80% reduction in levels were observed. On the basis of the results obtained, the use of such silica nanoparticle-based systems for stable enzyme conjugation followed by effective removal of pesticides from aqueous media is envisaged. © 2021 Elsevier Inc.
Jouyan, N.,
Saffari, B.,
Davoudi-dehaghani, E.,
Saliani, N.,
Senemar, S.,
Bahari, M.,
Jouyan, N.,
Ostovan, M.A. Publication Date: 2015
Tehran University Medical Journal (16831764)72(12)pp. 838-846
Background: Polymorphisms of the upstream transcription factor 1 (USF1) have been associated with familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCHL), type 2 diabetes and coronary heart diseases (CHD). In the current investigation, the association of USF1s2 variant of human USF1 gene with premature coronary artery disease (PCAD) was evaluated in a population from southern Iran. USF1s2 has the best potential as a functional variant.in the USF1 gene. Methods: In a case-control study USF1s2 variant of human USF1 gene was determined by polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique using BsiHKA I restriction enzyme for 186 women under 55 years of age and 135 men less than 50 years of age who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography in Saadi, Nemazee and Kowsar Hospitals of Shiraz, between July 2009 and March 2012. Data on the history of familial myocardial infarction or other heart diseases, hypertension, and smoking habit were collected by a simple questionnaire. Blood sugar level and serum lipid profile of all participants were also obtained by measuring the levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL). Results: Frequencies of the major (G) and minor (A) alleles of usf1s2 gene variant were 0.74 and 0.26 in the whole population, respectively. Meanwhile, the prevalence of the minor allele was significantly higher in PCAD patients compared with control subjects. This difference remained significant even after adjustment for confounding parameters. Indeed, subjects with mutant homozygous genotype (AA) were about 5 times more likely to suffer from early-onset CAD than those with wild-type homozygous genotype (GG). Moreover, the baseline characteristics of the control subjects and patients were statistically similar for almost all parameters except for the number of male individuals; there was no significant difference among various genotypes in the patient group for any of these investigated variables. Conclusion: It appears that the usf1s2 variant in upstream transcription factor 1 gene is an independent predictor of premature coronary artery disease in our population and applies its effects without affecting blood sugar and lipid levels. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2024
Journal of Economic Asymmetries (17034949)30
We introduce a new concept of distance, and the way this could affect gravity-based trade modeling. Our motivation is twofold: a) global uncertainty in trade relations allows us to treat distance as an asymmetric shock in economic modeling; b) economies of scale in seaborne trade make geographical distance less relevant in trade models, substituted by economic distance, as this can be proxied by ocean freight rates. This, for instance, allows China to import iron ore from Brazil, at three times the distance compared to Australia. We enhance the New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model (DSGE) by incorporating a distance shock parameter into the transaction costs function. We test this on Iran's participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as well as in the International North-South Transport Corridor. We conclude that longer physical distances do not necessarily have a negative impact on trade. © 2024 The Authors
Publication Date: 2023
Results in Nonlinear Analysis (26367556)6(1)pp. 155-165
The formation of market interactions is directly affected by the decision-making of market players. This paper seeks to assess the presence of behavioral finance on the Iranian financial market as a factor influ-encing market participants’ decisions. The current study evaluates the existence of behavioral finance on the Iranian capital market by focusing on the phenomena of “price clustering” in the total index of the Tehran Stock Exchange. It proposes a new criterion for identifying behavioral bias in the financial market. One of the reasons for the lack of uniformity in the distribution of data in the total index of Tehran securities is the propensity of individuals to make individual decisions based on the index of total securities of Tehran. People use the total index as a criterion for making decisions, and when the total index reaches round numbers, their purchasing and selling behavior changes. The results of the study validate the phenomena of price clustering in round numbers in Tehran’s total stock index. In actuality, the lack of uniform distribution in the total index numbers of Tehran stock is an appropriate indicator of the existence of behavioral finance on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The main differentiating aspect of this study is the introduction of the overall index as a new measure compared to individual symbols for demonstrating behavioral bias in the financial market, which has been employed in previous studies. © 2023, Erdal Karapinar. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2020
Gulf Studies (26624494)1pp. 19-42
The Paris Agreement has identified climate change mitigation as a goal, aiming to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels” (Paris Agreement, art. 2.1). The Agreement also recognizes that the current need for adaptation necessary to achieve the said goal “is significant and that greater levels of mitigation can reduce the need for additional adaptation efforts, and that greater adaptation needs can involve greater adaptation costs” (UNFCCC in Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction, 2015 Art 7.4). Climate change mitigation and climate-resilient development require energy transition away from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy sources. Energy transition is happening in most countries, with different motivations and objectives. Adaptation measures, by contrast, are those changes that need to be introduced in response to the global adoption of climate change mitigation. This chapter examines how Kuwait can head toward energy transition and a larger economic diversification following a structural transformation of its economy. The energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables is necessary in order to reduce CO2 emissions and to free up hydrocarbon resources for export. Economic sustainability entails securing alternative sources of revenue to substitute for that generated by oil rents, which would be a solution to the intrinsically unsustainable nature of oil rents and the lack of diversification. Efficiency-enhancing structural change is required to achieve productivity growth in non-energy sectors that are also export-oriented—thereby achieving meaningful diversification. Policy reforms include competition and private sector reform. Moreover, energy pricing reform and revising energy subsidization are required in order to rationalize energy consumption, achieve energy efficiency, and encourage a more diversified growth while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. © 2020, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Farahmand, S.,
Hilmi, N.,
Cinar, M.,
Safa, A.,
Lam, V.W.,
Djoundourian, S.,
Shahin, W.,
Ben lamine, E.,
Schickele, A.,
Guidetti, P. Publication Date: 2023
Ecological Economics (09218009)211
Climate-induced projected range shifts of exploited species would lead to a redistribution of stocks. Evaluating the combined ecological and socio-economic consequences of projected changes in Mediterranean fisheries due to climate change has remained largely unexplored. This study aims to identify the most affected stocks by climate change and more vulnerable countries in the region. Thus, we calculated the species specific sensitivity per country for 17 harvested species of significant importance. Then, we evaluated the vulnerability index for Mediterranean countries. Results show that temperate-cold species, i.e., Sprattus sprattus and Solea solea appear the most sensitive species. In contrast, temperate-warm species like the bogue showed the lowest sensitivity. Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya are the most vulnerable countries due to their comparatively high exposure to global warming and low adaptive capacity. At the same time, Slovenia, France, and Croatia have the lowest vulnerability because of their low exposure and sensitivity and remarkably high adaptive capacity. The southern Mediterranean countries would be the most vulnerable to climate-induced effects on marine fisheries. The region seriously needs adequate and adopted on-time adaptation and mitigation policies to lessen potential risks to harvested species and stocks and guarantee the contribution of fisheries to the economy and food security in the long-term. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.
Publication Date: 2019
Journal of Process Control (09591524)84pp. 168-170
This letter provides a comment on the results given in Zeng et al. (2017) [2]. It indicates an error in the calculation of false alarm rate (FAR) and missed alarm rate (MAR) for a generalized delay-timer in alarm systems. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd
Publication Date: 2020
Journal of Economic Structures (21932409)9(1)
There are many reports on investigating the influences of institutional factors and Piketty’s Hypothesis on income inequality; nonetheless, the inequality effects of both factors are seemingly investigated separately. We hypothesize that economic freedom viewed as an institutional improvement or distortion has comparatively larger effects on inequality than the forces of income divergence introduced by Thomas Piketty. This article revisits the income inequality–(r–g) nexus and uncovers the role of economic freedom as an institutional indicator in explaining the relationship. Considering the latest inequality data of World Inequality Database (WID) and Standardized World Income Inequality (SWIID) for 82 countries over 2000–2017, an inequality model is estimated that explicitly captures the interaction effect of (r−g) and economic freedom. Reaffirming that economic freedom affects inequality in a non-linear form, we also found evidence that (r−g) raises inequality in the short run, demonstrating that preexisting holders of capital derive greater shares of income. Nevertheless, the effect of (r–g) is not as strong as that of economic freedom and is insignificant in highly unequal countries. This implies that institutional factors play a more important role than Piketty’s Hypothesis in the presence of high inequality. Furthermore, variables of inflation, gross savings rate, trade openness, and unemployment rate are shown to be the most consistently positive and significant factor and GDP per capita, government spending, natural resource rent, and tax revenue variables have negative and significant effects on the baseline estimations. © 2020, The Author(s).
Publication Date: 2013
Iranian Economic Review (10266542)17(1)pp. 69-91
Economic convergence is one of the important topics of new macroeconomics. It refers to tendency of income per capita of countries (regions) to converge to their steady-state value. There are two kinds of convergence: conditional and absolute convergence. This paper examines income convergence between 22 MENA countries during the period of 1970-2003 by using the neoclassical growth model of Barro-Salla-i-Martin for both kinds of convergence. Non-linearity of the underlying relationships, the restrictiveness of assumptions of functional forms and econometric problems in the estimation and application of theoretical models advocate for the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) algorithms. We show that by changing the quantitative tools of analysis and using ANN, the results become more precise. Results show that absolute convergence and conditional convergence are significant but the rate of convergence is low.
Publication Date: 2009
Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics (1672-0229)7(3)pp. 87-95
Leishmania is associated with a broad spectrum of diseases, ranging from simple cutaneous to invasive visceral leishmaniasis. Here, the sequences of ten cysteine proteases of types A, B and C of Leishmania major were obtained from GeneDB database. Prediction of MHC class I epitopes of these cysteine proteases was performed by NetCTL program version 1.2. In addition, by using BcePred server, different structural properties of the proteins were predicted to find out their potential B cell epitopes. According to this computational analysis, nine regions were predicted as B cell epitopes. The results provide useful information for designing peptide-based vaccines. © 2009 Beijing Genomics Institute.
Publication Date: 2021
ACS Chemical Neuroscience (19487193)12(21)pp. 4037-4057
The aggregation of human alpha-synuclein (hαS) is pivotally implicated in the development of most types of synucleinopathies. Molecules that can inhibit or reverse the aggregation process of amyloidogenic proteins have potential therapeutic value. The anti-aggregating activity of multiple carotenoid compounds has been reported over the past decades against a growing list of amyloidogenic polypeptides. Here, we aimed to determine whether crocin, the main carotenoid glycoside component of saffron, would inhibit hαS aggregation or could disassemble its preformed fibrils. By employing a series of biochemical and biophysical techniques, crocin was exhibited to inhibit hαS fibrillation in a dose-dependent fashion by stabilizing very early aggregation intermediates in off-pathway non-toxic conformations with little β-sheet content. We also observed that crocin at high concentrations could efficiently destabilize mature fibrils and disassemble them into seeding-incompetent intermediates by altering their β-sheet conformation and reshaping their structure. Our atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations demonstrated that crocin molecules bind to both the non amyloid-β component (NAC) region and C-terminal domain of hαS. These interactions could thereby stabilize the autoinhibitory conformation of the protein and prevent it from adopting aggregation-prone structures. MD simulations further suggested that ligand molecules prefer to reside longitudinally along the fibril axis onto the edges of the inter-protofilament interface where they establish hydrogen and hydrophobic bonds with steric zipper stabilizing residues. These interactions turned out to destabilize hαS fibrils by altering the interstrand twist angles, increasing the rigidity of the fibril core, and elevating its radius of gyration. Our findings suggest the potential pharmaceutical implication of crocin in synucleinopathies. ©
Publication Date: 2013
Iranian Economic Review (10266542)17(2)pp. 51-64
Public sector decision-makers are faced with the task of allocating resources among different alternative subject due budgetary constraints. In this paper Official Development Assistance (ODA) data have been considered as foreign aid. ODA is channeled through the public sector of recipient countries and, hence, the ultimate effect of ODA on savings or economic growth depends on how governments respond to it. This paper tries to explore the impact of official development assistance on public sector behavior in selected developing countries and contribute to the fiscal response literature on two main grounds. First, it specifies a fiscal response model. Second, using panel data model for a sample of 25 aid recipient countries in Asia and Latin America over the period 1991-2010. Empirical results indicate that official development assistance has a positive and significant effect on government investment expenditure, but it has not significantly impact on government current expenditures. Results also show that ODA crowds out both government revenue and public borrowing. © 2013, University of Teheran. All rights reserved.
Pangal, A.,
Rasool, I.,
Sheikh, K.,
Tambe, P.,
Bhagat, S.,
Azarbayjani, K.,
Phadatare, A.,
Ahmed, K. Publication Date: 2025
Letters in Applied NanoBioScience (22846808)14(2)
Six new hydrazones of 3-acetyldaphnetin were synthesized from 3-acetyldaphnetin (1) with different hydrazides and were tested for anti-proliferative activity against the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using an MTT assay. These hydrazones were computationally evaluated for ADMET and drug-likeness studies using online tools. Molecular docking methodology was applied to study the mode of interaction between the estrogen receptor (PDB ID: 3ERT), progesterone receptor (PDB ID: 3G8O), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (PDB ID: 3PP0). All the compounds showed promising anti-proliferative activity against the MCF-7 cell line, with IC50 values ranging from 5.76 to 32.45 µM. The ADMET properties of the compound 2c were determined, and this compound had accurate pharmacokinetic profiles. This hydrazone possesses good ADMET properties and showed drug-like properties with a strong affinity towards HER2, evidenced by its high binding energy compared to the other two targets. © 2025 by the authors.
