Frequencies and discourse functions of grammatical subject types were investigated in a corpus of forty results and discussion sections selected from four disciplines (Applied Linguistics, Psychology, Chemistry, and Environmental Engineering). The results and discussion sections were selected from research articles that were published in 2008-2012 issues of prestigious high journals of the four disciplines. The results and discussion sections were analyzed for realizations and discourse functions of grammatical subject types adopting the taxonomy suggested by Ebrahimi (2014). The results suggested that the selections, frequencies and discourse functions of grammatical subject types were highly imposed by the macro functions of the results and discussion sections and the conventional rules of writing in the disciplines. One immediate implication for the outcome of this study is that writers and instructors need to keep in mind that they must be fully aware (and follow suit) of how the implementation of grammatical subjects are imposed and restricted by disciplinary conventions.

There has been increasing interest in utilizing corpora in linguistic research and pedagogy in recent years. Rhetorical organization of different sections of research articles may appear similar in various disciplines, but close examination may show subtle differences nonetheless. One of the features that have been at the center of attention especially in recent years is the idiomaticity of a discourse which can be examined from the perspective of multi-word units captured by the automatic retrieval of lexical bundles. This study takes a corpusbased approach for the identification of lexical bundles. A corpus of 801, 894 words from 790 articles was collected. In order to fulfill the purposes of the present study, ABBYY FineReader 10 professional edition, Total Assistant, Antconc 3. 2. 3, and WordSmith Tools 5 were used to identify lexical bundles. Then these bundles were classified structurally and functionally based on the presented taxonomies in the literature. The results of the current study indicated that the writers of medical research articles mostly rely on textoriented bundles in the discussion section of research articles to establish academic discourse.

Metadiscourse markers help writers make coherent and reader- friendly texts, which is of considerable importance in academic writing. The main aim of this study was to investigate how interactive and interactional meta-discourse markers are used by Iranian EFL learners. An inquiry was carried out to investigate cross-cultural similarities and differences in the use of meta-discourse markers in the Discussion and Conclusion sections of the master theses of three categories: native English speakers, native Persian speakers, and non-native English speakers. Following Hyland' s (2005) meta-discourse taxonomy, a corpus of sixty master theses was investigated to search for meta-discourse markers.The results showed that native English writers used more interactive and interactional meta-discourse markers than native Persian and EFL learners which might stem from the insufficient awareness of EFL learners of the role of the metadiscourse markers, intercultural differences, and the fact that they do not usually receive explicit instruction on these devices in Persian academic context.

Background: The rate of caesarean section (C-section) in Iran is too high, so having a plan to control it is cru-cial. Since one of the most important reasons for inclination of providers to do C-section is financial issues, the purpose of this study was offering financial solutions for increasing normal vaginal delivery (NVD) and decreasing non-indicated C-section. Methods: This analytical-descriptive research, used game theory for offering financial mechanisms. The game was a dynamic one in which the backward induction was used to obtain a Nash equilibrium. Financial structure and the mean number of NVD and C-section in a certain period of time in comparison with standards were as the main influential factors on financial dimensions and were included in the model. Results: The effect of financial structure was shown through a specified insurance for childbirth, existence of a monitoring department and tariffs. Conclusion: The main solution for controlling C-section in designed game was taxes and fines for physician or hospital in non-indicated cases and giving reward otherwise.

In a taxonomic study on the genus Podosphaera sect. Sphaerotheca, several newly collected specimens and all specimens from fungus collection of the Ministry of Jihad-e- Agriculture, were examined. A total of 13 taxa including Podosphaera aphanis var. aphanis, P. aphanis var. hyalina, P. balsaminae, P. dipsacacearum, P. erodii, P. euphorbiae, P. ferruginea, P. fugax, P. fusca, P. macularis, P. plantaginis, P. pannosa and P. xanthii were identified. Morphology of the thin-walled apical portion of the asci (oculus) was examined among taxa. The results revealed the usefulness of this feature for identification of some taxa as shown by other researchers. On the basis of morphological characteristics of P. aphanis var. hyalina, it was shown that taxon differrs from type variety in having short appendages, ascus size as well as wider oculi. It seems there is enough evidence to raise this variety as a separate species. Hence, it is necessary to investigate more characteristics especially ribosomal DNA or other genes sequencing to make an indisputable decision. Plant species viz. Hieracium sp., Potentilla hirta and Scabiosa persica are recorded as new hosts for Erysiphaceae of Iran. A key for the Iranian taxa of this section is provided.

The study of lexical bundles, among types of text analysis, is gaining importance over the others in the last century. The present study employed a frequency-based analysis approach to the use of lexical bundles. The discussion section of 60 political science articles, with corpora around 253,063 words were investigated in three aspects of structure, form, and function of lexical bundles. The present study selected its data pool out of scholarly articles from qualified journals  in the field of political sciences. One part of the data pool was made up of 30 articles written by American native speakers. The second half of the data comprised the 30 articles written by Iranian scholars in political sciences. The findings showed that native and Persian-speaking writers employed the same forms of lexical bundles, and there were significant differences concerning the nativeness and functions. Bearing in mind the findings of the present study, material developers would think of the possibility of the addition of lexical clusters into the materials. It can similarly be valuable for the development of the second language writing strategies, for those who need to write in academic contexts especially political contexts.

The most significant aspect of scientific discourse is to weigh evidence and draw conclusions from data. Academic writers need to present their claims cautiously, accurately and modestly in order to meet the expectations of the corresponding discourse community and to enter a dialogue with their audience. Hedges can serve as the interactive elements which bridge between text information and author's interpretation. The present study examined the impact of language/culture on the use of hedging strategies in academic writing of English and Persian Native Speakers in English applied linguistics research articles. To this end, 108 applied linguistics research articles written by English and Persian Native Speakers were selected on the basis of stratified sampling randomization. The discussion section of experimental and descriptive research articles were compared for the amounts and types of hedges through chi-square analysis. The findings show that there are some significant differences between hedges used by English and Persian native speakers of English applied linguistics articles in the corpus. More specifically, English native speaker writers were found to use a variety of terms to express tentativeness and their degree of commitment towards their findings. The findings have theoretical and pedagogical implications for English for Academic/Specific Purposes.

This study reports on the way nonnative Iranian writers make use of verbs in the discussion section/chapter of their master theses in the field of English Language Teaching. Although verbs have been studied extensively in academic writing, there has been little attention given to the verbs in the discussion of theses written by English Foreign Language (EFL) students. To fill this gap, sixty M. A. theses were purposively selected and analyzed. These theses were first categorized based on the research approach they had employed. There were three broad categories of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method theses. The verbs in these theses were analyzed with reference to their reporting and nonreporting status. Then, other linguistic features; namely, tense, aspect, and voice were examined. Descriptive statistics was exploited to reveal differences among the theses representing each research approach. The findings indicated that there are no differences between the theses written within the three research approaches regarding the verbs used, except for the use of progressive aspect for the reporting verbs in the qualitative theses and the use of passive voice for the nonreporting verbs in the mixed methods theses. Suggestions for further studies on the issue and a number of implications are given at the end of this study.

Cohesive frames are linguistic elements that precede the grammatical subject in the main clause. This study investigated the frequencies and communicative purposes of cohesive frame types in results and discussion sections of research articles from 4 disciplines. To run this study, 40 results and discussion sections of research articles were selected from 4 disciplines, namely Applied Linguistics, Psychology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering (10 from each discipline). Then, the corpus was analyzed using Ebrahimi‟ s (2014) taxonomy of cohesive frame types. The results showed that frequencies and communicative purposes of cohesive frame types were imposed by the rhetorical functions of results and discussion sections and disciplinary conventions of writing. The results may have implications for teaching students in writing the results and discussion sections of research articles, particularly for nonnative novice writers of English.

Recently genre scholars have stated that writing research article is a challenging task assigned to the university students at both graduate and undergraduate levels, and it becomes more challenging if it has to be in a foreign language. On the other hand, recent research in the field of language teaching has shown that conscious knowledge of genre structures plays an important role in effective use of English in academic settings. That is, if the students become aware of genre conventions, they may combine the linguistic elements to serve their communicative purpose more effectively. Thus, following the Swalsian genre analysis, the present study investigated the move structure of the Discussion section of articles published in seven language teaching journals. The results indicated that there is a set of moves comprising the Discussion section of these articles. Moreover, the move structure of Discussion section is studied, the most frequent moves of the Discussion section are identified, and the move order of this section is determined. In addition, the most frequent grammatical forms associated with each move are presented.