Due to the importance of Tabriz in various historical periods after the Mongol’s invasion to the end of the Qajar period, as continuously being the capital city or the residence city of the prince, entrance to this city has been reflected in various reports. Most of the foreigners who entered Iran from European countries came from Caucasus Road to Tabriz and reported many buildings on their way. Moreover, this road was one of the most significant roadways for Caravans on the Silk Road, where various residential buildings have been constructed. Alaki caravansarai is one of the most important roadside accommodations in Northwest Iran, and so many reports about it and the quality of its façade decorations can be traced in the travelogues of foreigners who traveled to Iran. Its vastitude and elegant entrance gate nevertheless, this building has unfortunately been neglected and was about to be ruined in the 19th century and afterward. However, the beauty of its entrance gate has gained the attention of many people and has been reported in many sources. Based on the ornaments used, recent sources in the history of architecture have estimated its date to the 12th century and Ilkhanid Abū Saʿīd Bahādor Khan and the Timurid period. These sources based their estimation only on the type of ornaments used on its entrance gate and its probable that the existence of dated artworks of the Ilkhanid period nearby, such as the Mihrab of Marand’s Jame Mosque, has influenced this speculation. This article aims to meticulously study this building in various travelogues, al-Wqafīyya al-Rashīdīyya, and other sources in the history of architecture and discusses the ornament types used and their history. The detailed study of the documents and sources indicated that this building could belong to the presidency period of Ḵᵛāja Rašid-al-Din Fażl-Allāh, and based on his emphasis to establish this building, can be dated 1297-1309. The ornaments, moreover, indicate the transient period from brickwork to tilework which happened in the late 13th and early 14th centuries

Identifying the constraining factors of production and yield gap is very important. Therefore; this research was performed to identify the production constraining factors of local rice cultivars. All management practices from nursery preparation to harvesting stages for 100 paddy fields of local rice cultivars were recorded through field studies, in Sari, from 2015-2016. In the CPA, the actual and calculated potential yield were 4495 and 5703 kg/ha, respectively and the gap was 1221 kg/ha. The yield gap caused by number of top-dressing variables was 324 kg/ha, equal to 27% of the total yield gap. The yield gap related to previous year of legumes cultivation was 218 kg ha-1, equal to 18% of the total yield variation. Among the 10 variables entered in the CPA model, the effects of top-dress fertilizer application and its application frequency and foliar application were remarkable, which could compensate a significant part of the yield gap (444 kg/ha, 37% of total) in the farmers’ fields by managing these variables. According to boundary line analysis (BLA) finding, actual yield mean on the basis of optimal limit related to 12 variables under study was 5369 kg/ha, with 881 kg/ha yield gap . Mean Relative yield and Relative yield gap for 12 variables (transplanting date, seedling age, number of seedlings per hill, planting density, nitrogen and phosphorous per hectare, nitrogen before transplanting, harvesting date, lodging problem, pest problem, diseases problem and weeds problem) were 83.64 and 16.35 kg/ha, respectively. Based on the finding, it can be stated that the model precision is appropriate and can be applied for both estimation of the quantity of yield gap and determining the portion of each restricting yield variables.

Precise Point Positioning (PPP) is a technique to determine the position of a single receiver using un-differenced dual-frequency code and carrier phase observations. In this technique, the precise satellite orbit and clock products obtained from the GPS reference station network are also required. Unlike the Relative positioning techniques, the network needed for PPP is not necessary to be dense, and even a sparse network with long baselines like the International GNSS Service (IGS) network can be used. The IGS collects, archives, and distributes GPS observation data sets of sufficient accuracy to satisfy the objectives of a wide range of applications and experimentation. These data sets are used by the IGS to generate the data products which are made available to interested users through the IGS website. Moreover, in contrast to the Relative positioning techniques, PPP can provide a uniform accuracy throughout the world without having the reference station observations. In the last decade, PPP has been widely used for the static and kinematic applications. The use of this technique in various applications requires to know its accuracy, processing software requirements, and performing methods. The aim of this paper is to study the performance of PPP by using the static and kinematic observations in comparison with the double difference Relative solutions. For this purpose, the static observations of four dual-frequency receivers within Iranian Permanent GNSS Network (IPGN), namely AHVA, SFHN, SNDJ and TORQ, and the kinematic observations of GPS receiver installed on airplane were processed in the PPP and double difference Relative solutions by the Bernese GNSS software version 5.0. The Bernese GNSS Software is a scientific, high-precision, GNSS data processing software developed at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB). It is, e.g., used by Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) for its international (IGS) and European activities. In the double difference Relative solution, the coordinates of 10 IGS stations in ITRF2008, which have been located around Iran, have been chosen as the weighted constraints, where the accuracy of constraints for horizontal and vertical components has been taken equal to 1 mm and 2 mm, respectively. The double difference Relative results are assumed as reference values for comparisons. To find the optimum time interval of PPP for obtaining the accuracy better than 10 cm in the horizontal and vertical components, the various sessions have been taken in to account. The GPS station observations of each session are separately processed by the Bernese software in the PPP mode regarding the required parameters such as solid earth tide, ocean tidal loading, windup, antenna phase center offsets and variations for satellites and receivers, and satellite Differential Code Biases (DCBs). Then, the double difference Relative results as reference values are subtracted from the obtained PPP results in X, Y and Z coordinates. To show the performance of PPP in both of horizontal and vertical components, the coordinate differences from Earth Centered Earth Fixed (ECEF) reference frame are transferred to the Local Geodetic (LG) reference frame in order to provide Northing (N), Easting (E) and Up (U) coordinates. From the PPP static results, we find that the minimum required time interval of the GPS observations is one hourin order to obtain the accuracy better than 10 cm. For assessment of the PPP performance in kinematic mode, the GPS observations collected by mounted GPS receiver on airplane are processed in Relative and PPP modes. The duration of these observations is about 6 hours. In the Relative kinematic processing by the Bernese software, the observations of 4 GPS reference stations within IPGN and IGS precise satellite orbit and clock products are used. The outputs of this step are three coordinates of GPS antenna mounted on airplane in 30-second epochs, which are considered as reference values. Like the static mode, the reference values are subtracted from the PPP kinematic results in X, Y and Z coordinates and transferred to the LG frame. The results show that the accuracy better than 10 cm and 20 cm can be obtained using the PPP kinematic technique in the horizontal and vertical components, respectively. These accuracies are enough for many applications such as hydrography, aerial photogrammetry and navigation. As a result, this study shows that the PPP technique can be an adequate alternative for the Relative techniques.

Measuring international trade performance plays an important role in economic studies and helps analysts assess the effects of international trade on the economy. This information is essential for determining the position, making economic policies, planning development, and understanding the competitiveness of countries. The method of the present study is an input oriented Data Envelopment Analysis with constant returns to scale in the period 2014 to 2020. In this regard and after selecting the variables, trade efficiency has been measured with using a Window Model and the Malmquist index has been used to measure the growth of total trade factor productivity in 32 selected countries. According to the results, Hungary, Germany and the United States have the highest trade efficiency, and Turkey, Mexico and Pakistan are at the top of the growth of total trade factor productivity. Also, Iran is at the bottom of the tables of trade performance indicators. In order to improve Relative trade performance, countries must adopt more effective technology, combinations of inputs and reconsideration of some policies.

This paper presents an assessment of the small-sample performance of the three well-known estimators of components variance in random effects model for panel data. The estimators considered are Swamy-Arora, Wansbeek-Kaptayn and Wallace-Hussain. To this end, by simulating a one-way error component model in the form of random effects, small sample performance of three variance estimators is studied. The implications of these results for indentifying the model and its estimation are specified.In these simulations, conditions under which Swamy-Arora estimator is inferior to alternatives are expressed. It is shown that in small samples the estimator thus obtained can give highly wrong guidance. In one-way error component model this small sample size refers to the number of cross-sections.

Purpose: In the medium-term plan of improvement and development of public library, one of the key roles is the promotion of public participation's level. With this approach, this paper attemps to compare the Relative performance of institutional and participatory public libraries.Methodology: The method of this study is a descriptive- analytical method. Six input and three output indexes are extracted from statistical documentat. The statistical population is all provinces of Iran in 1389 and 1390. In addition, data envelopment analysis model is used for calculating of performance.Findings: The results show fixed position of Sistan Baloochestan and Hamedan in the top of performance provinces' list in participatory libraries and fixed position of Yazd, Azarbayjan Gharbi and Fars at the bottom of performance provinces' list in institutional libraries. Khorasan Jonoobi, Sistan-O- Baloochestan, IIam and sernnan have appropriate rank in overall. The changes are a sign of good management's deficiency in participatory libraries. The main reason of this result can be the yongness of these libraries.Conclusion: In general, it can be said that the participatory libraries are not stable structurally and organizationally yet; however, they are more efficient than institutional libraries.

This study investigates the effectiveness of the Kriging interpolation model and the Emission Weighted Proximity Model (EWPM) in assessing Relative exposure risk of air pollution using results from the American Meteorological Society/EPA Regulatory Model (AERMOD) as benchmarks. We used simulated exposure risk to SO2 in the Dallas area in Texas in this evaluation. Results suggest that the Relative exposure risks to SO2 at different locations in the study area as estimated by EWMP are closer to estimated risks from AERMOD when compared with the results calculated by Kriging. In addition, study results also indicate that the Relative exposure risks calculated by Kriging are similar to those from AERMOD when the density of emission sources in the area in question is high. It is therefore concluded that Relative exposure risks determined by both the Kriging interpolation method and the EWPM are acceptable when it is not possible to use AERMOD. In situations when the density of emission sources is low in the study area, EWPM is a better choice than Kriging.