Exploring the Nature of Near-Death Experiences in Iranian Experiencers: A Case Study of the Participants in the Life after Life TV Series.

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are complex and challenging. The development of research on NDEs helps to understand and recognize this complex human phenomenon more effectively. The present study sought to explore the nature of NDEs in the lived experiences of Iranian who experienced near-death incidents (NDErs) using a qualitative phenomenological approach. The participants were 34 persons selected from Iranian NDErs. The collected data were analyzed using Colaizzi's seven-step content analysis with MAXQDA software (version 2021). The data revealed 11 semantic codes about the nature of NDEs reported by Iranian NDErs. Overall, the results showed that the components of NDEs in many cases are similar to the nature of NDEs of the world. However, the type and quality of the positive and negative NDEs reported by Iranian people are different in terms of the feedback of actions and the return to the body compared to other NDEs reported by people in other countries.

Correlation of parents' religious behavior with family's emotional relations and students' self-actualization.

The main goal of this research is to study the relationship between parents' religious behavior, emotional relations inside family, and self-actualization of male and female high school students of district 2 in Kerman city. Research method is descriptive and of correlative type. Questionnaires of parent's religious behavior, emotional relations inside family, and students' self-actualization were used in the research. After collecting questionnaires, data were analyzed by SPSS, MINITAB, and EXCEL software. The sample volume in the research has been 309 students and their parents, and the sampling method was in the form of classification and then in the form of cluster in two stages. 1.29 % of students had a low self-actualization, 17.15 % had average, and 81.55 % of them had high self-actualization. Also the results showed that 9.4 % of emotional relations in families were undesirable, 55.3 % were relatively desirable, and 35.3 % were desirable. Moreover, 2.27 % of parents' religious behavior was inappropriate, 29.13 % was relatively appropriate, and 68.61 % was appropriate. The main results of the research are as follows: (1) There is a significant positive correlation between parents' religious behavior and emotional relations inside students' family. (2) There is not any significant correlational between parents' religious behavior and students' self-actualization. (3) There is a significant positive correlation between emotional relations inside family and students' self-actualization.

The relationship between religious commitment with meta-cognitive skills and philosophical mindedness of the graduate students of Kerman city universities in the academic year 2011-2012.

Religious commitment is one of the many factors that affect individual's characteristics, including perceptions affections, emotions, interpersonal relationships, and aspirations. The purpose of the present study was to examine for the possible relationship between religious commitment with meta-cognitive skills and philosophical mindedness among the graduate students. The target population was graduate students of Kerman universities during the academic year 2011-2012. The sample includes 394 graduate students who were selected using stratified random sampling with proportional allocation. Standardized questionnaires were employed and completed by the individuals to measure religious commitment (with subscales of religious commitment, duality, and non-commitment), meta-cognitive skills (with the Cognitive and Affective Subscales), and philosophical mindedness (with subscales of comprehensiveness, penetration, and flexibility). According to the most important findings of the study, there was a significant relationship between subscale of religious commitment and both the subscales and the total score of metacognition. In addition, there was significant relationship between both the subscale of religious commitment and its total score with the subscales and the total score of philosophical mindedness. Moreover, there was significant and negative relationship between the subscale of religious duality with the subscales and the total score of philosophical mindedness. Finally, multiple linear regression analysis showed that religious commitment subscale was the significant predictor of Cognitive and Affective Subscale of meta-cognitive skills and its total score. The subscale of duality was also the most important and significant predicators of the subscales and total score of philosophical mindedness.

Development of Local Software for Automatic Measurement of Geometric Parameters in the Proximal Femur Using a Combination of a Deep Learning Approach and an Active Shape Model on X-ray Images.

Proximal femur geometry is an important risk factor for diagnosing and predicting hip and femur injuries. Hence, the development of an automated approach for measuring these parameters could help physicians with the early identification of hip and femur ailments. This paper presents a technique that combines the active shape model (ASM) and deep learning methodologies. First, the femur boundary is extracted by a deep learning neural network. Then, the femur's anatomical landmarks are fitted to the extracted border using the ASM method. Finally, the geometric parameters of the proximal femur, including femur neck axis length (FNAL), femur head diameter (FHD), femur neck width (FNW), shaft width (SW), neck shaft angle (NSA), and alpha angle (AA), are calculated by measuring the distances and angles between the landmarks. The dataset of hip radiographic images consisted of 428 images, with 208 men and 220 women. These images were split into training and testing sets for analysis. The deep learning network and ASM were subsequently trained on the training dataset. In the testing dataset, the automatic measurement of FNAL, FHD, FNW, SW, NSA, and AA parameters resulted in mean errors of 1.19%, 1.46%, 2.28%, 2.43%, 1.95%, and 4.53%, respectively.

The Role of Self-esteem in Tendency towards Drugs, Theft and Prostitution.

BACKGROUND: Addiction, theft and Prostitution are of the most important problems of contemporary society. On the other hand, self-esteem is one of the most important variables and concepts that might have a meaningful influence on these problems. This study aims to investigate the role of self-esteem in the individuals' tendency to addiction, theft and prostitution in Kerman city, Iran. METHODS: The statistical population of this study is those individuals who had a record of addiction, theft and prostitution in Kerman prison, and the ordinary individuals. The research sample consisted of 300 individuals, 200 of whom were those with record of addiction, theft and prostitution in the central prison of Kerman city, and 100 ordinary people. Because some of the research questionnaires were not returned, only 283 questionnaires were analyzed. The instrument for determining the respondents' self-esteem was Eysenck Self-esteem Inventory. FINDINGS: Self-esteem had a meaningful role in the individual's tendency to addiction, theft and prostitution. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the research results, it can be concluded that those who are involved in addiction, theft and prostitution have a lower self-esteem compared with the ordinary person. Thus, it is necessary to increase an individual's self-esteem in order to decrease their tendency to addiction, theft and prostitution.