In recent decades, analytical philosophers have argued for the ‘ meaning of life’ as a normative, independent category and hence have criticized the reductionist approaches based on two normative categories of ethics and happiness. Presenting the subjective and objective conditions, Susan Wolf attempts to offer a novel theory of ‘ meaning of life’ that dismantles the simplified relationship between this concept and two notions of ethics and happiness. She claims that to theorize the ‘ meaning of life’ we require to establish a set of particular values that allow a given individual human to go beyond her own narrow values and therefore generate a sense of satisfaction for herself. According to her, this establishment of empowering values is a necessary condition for a theory of ‘ meaning of life’ to be autonomous from existing theories of ethics and happiness. She subsequently reviews and brings into question some of the criteria developed to capture and identify the objective, meaningful values, such as subject-independence, judgment from the third person’ s perspective, developing a person's abilities, and a competent judge. Thus, she concludes that there is no definitive standard to assess such values. Instead of having a specific theory, she alternatively seeks a direct and active engagement with personal experiences to distinguish between meaningful actions and ethical, joyful ones. While Wolf’ s conception of a meaningful life has some deficiencies, such as the impossibility of recognizing the meaning-giving actions in the absence of any theory, her conceptual development of ‘ meaning of life’ has been influential in liberating this concept from notions of ethics and happiness.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric features (construct reliability and validity) of Baker’s (2008) 13 - item work related fondness questionnaire. So 260 employees of Iran Air craft Construction Company were selected to respond to the questionnaire through multiple clustered random sampling. The exploring factor structure via Varimax rotation in work related fondness questionnaire, like the original questionnaire, has achieved three factors which totally verify 71.37 the questionnaire’s variance and all the articles significantly put the burden on the factor related to them. The total internal consistency coefficient of the scale was assessed 0.88, first factor 0.94, second factor 0.88 and the third factor 0.80. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the data enjoy a suitable fitness; the positive correlation of this scale with job satisfaction questionnaire (Brayfieldn & Rothe, H 1951) 0.82 and positive affection questionnaire (Watson, Tellegen, clark, 1988) 0.59 include the convergent validity of the test and its correlation with negative affection (Watson, Tellegen, clark, 1988) -0.61 showed its divergent validity. The scale of work related fondness experience can be applied in clinical and research activities.

Saints and heroes are highly respected as moral ideals because they go beyond the minimum standards of morality and dedicate themselves to serving others. However, it is difficult to justify their unusual and exhausting lifestyle, especially for modern individuals. Susan Wolf is one of the philosophers who recognizes this issue and proposes more appealing ideals that promote happiness, goodness, and meaningfulness in life. She strongly opposes the saintly life, which she believes is unpleasant, one-dimensional, and boring. In this article, we explain Wolf's viewpoint and the arguments of her opponents descriptively and analytically. We will also critique the claims raised while evaluating the moral saint as an admirable ideal for today's life. The conclusion is that the lifestyle of saints may be incomprehensible to modern individuals due to its lack of harmony with the masses, reliance on divine virtues, extreme altruism, and supererogatory acts. However, they reveal new possibilities and capacities for human life as pioneers of morality. They can inspire us to self-actualization, develop our capabilities, and cultivate more virtues.

Susan Gass is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages at Michigan State University. Her research is in Second Language Acquisition and includes the areas of Input and Interaction, Language Universals and Language Transfer. More recently she has become interested in the area of attention and how it relates to acquisition. She has written/edited a number of books on second language acquisition and has taught and lectured in various parts of the world. Currently at MSU, she is the Director of the English Language Center, Co-Director of the Center for Language Education And Research, Co-Director of the Center for Language Teaching Advancement and Director of the Second Language Studies Ph.D. Program. She recently served as President of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (2002-2008). In the following interview, Susan Gass (SG) answers questions asked by Karim Sadeghi (KS) on her role as co-editor of SSLA.

In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh not only people but the elements of nature and animals are playing an important role and reflect a major part in conventions and beliefs.Among the animals, ‘wolf’ is one of those animals with important functions which Shahnameh refers to are many times and has devoted many themes to it self. It is clear that all concepts related to Wolf are not available in Shahnameh. Without examining other epics, a competed research on this subject is impossible, To do so, it is necessary to examine ten other epics as well. They include (Banoogoshasp nameh, Borzoo nameh, Bahman nameh, Jahangir nameh, Sam nameh, Shahriar nameh, Faramarz nameh, Koke koohzad, Kush nameh and Garshasp nameh) examination of these epics, the most important characteristics and points about this animal has been characterized and analyzed. These characteristics are as follows: Devilishness, darkness of skin, speaking, staying in cave and guarding from hoard, riding hero on wolf, wolfs totem, breeding child with milk of animal, killing wolf heroes and champions, transformation to wolf, Gorgsaran (the land of wolf), wolf and human community.

In recent years, Wildlife habitat needs to meet critical requirment (water, food, cover and reproduction sites) on the one hand, and human needs to natural lands for developing agricultural, industrial and residential activities on the other hand, have lead to the serious human-wildlife conflicts. Attacks of wolves to human and livestock in Hamedan province is an example of these conflicts. Developing and implementing a consistent strategic management plan in agreement with socio-economic conditions, can be considered as an effective tool to reduce risk of conflicts in the area. In this study, we looked for the strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats to which environmental management of this province is facing and/or will be faced in future. Then we categorized, weighted and analyzed them, using SWOT analysis. Finally, we applied a quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) to prepare an appropriate strategic management plan to remove or reduce the conflicts. Our result suggest three principal strategies including; (i) giving information and awareness to Indigenous communities, (ii) supporting environment-guards, equiping guard-stations, as well as monitoring and patrolling in the area, and (iii) collaboration between Environmental conservation office and related organizations of the province in order to developing and applying a consistent land management plan.

Numerous dramatic characters enormously appeal to us on account of the fact that they are powerfully present on the stage. Nevertheless, there exist characters who do not physically appear on stage, yet their “absent presence” is so strong that affects the characters who do appear physically on stage. William Gruber in his book “Offstage Space, Narrative, and the Theatre of Imagination” suggests that the “absent presence” of the main characters who live in “offstage space” opens up new possibilities for the playwrights. Examples of such plays can be found from classic canon to modern plays. The present study attempts to explore the “assent presence” in Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” and illustrate how the main character of the play, who does not appear on stage throughout the play, is pivotal to the action of the play and is created vividly in the imagination of readers/ audience and remains a strong character in dramatic literature.