ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the help and encouragement of many people. First, I would like to sincerely thank my research advisor Professor Amir Mortazawi for his continuous support and encouragement, and for the opportunity he provided for me to conduct independent research. I also sincerely thank my other committee members, Profess...

1. Theoretical models predict that spatial synchrony should be enhanced in cyclic populations due to nonlinear phase-locking. 2. This is supported by Rohani et al.'s (1999) comparison of spatial synchrony of epidemics in two childhood diseases prior to and during the vaccination era. Measles is both more synchronous and more cyclic before vaccination. Whooping cough, in contrast, is more synchr...

the sassanid rulers’ endeavor to establish an empire led to a substantial change in the previous ruling system and to the foundation of a new order. the founders of the empire enjoyed the legacy of parthian and other preceding rules. they were fully acquainted with the concept of sh?hansh?hi (‘king of kings’) which aroused in parthian and other preceding rules on the one hand, and with zoroastr...

The practice and study of medicine in Persia has a long and prolific history. The ancient Iranian medicine was combined by different medical traditions from Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China and Greece for more than 4000 years and merged to form what became the nucleus and foundation of medical practice in the European countries in the 13th century. The Iranian academic centers like Jundishapur ...

We study the distribution of descendants of a known personality, or of anybody else, as it propagates along generations from father and mother through their children. We ask for the ratio of the descendants to the total population and construct a model for the route of Distribution from Ancestors to Descendants (DAD). The population ratio rn is found to be given by the recursive equation rn+1 =...

Since the successful launch of NASA’s dedicated gamma-ray burst (GRB) mission, Swift, the study of cosmological GRBs has entered a new era. Here I review the rapid observational and theoretical progress in this dynamical research field during the first two-year of the Swift mission, focusing on how observational breakthroughs have revolutionized our understanding of the physical origins of GRBs...