What’s New 2013

2013

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The first snowy day

This year it is on 5 December that snow covers everywhere and it gets cold.

20131206-snowy day

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Starting of Kamyar’s military service

Kamyar20131007 On 10 September Kamyar my younger son starts his military service. Like the military service of his elder brother, Shahryar the advent of his military service reminds my military service twenty-seven years ago and the tortures and bad wills that I faced in doing it when the war between Iran and Iraq was passing its severe days. After passing two months in the military training camp he will have 21 months to end his military service that is compulsory for each Iranian young male man. It is worth to say that Kamyar’s military service training course is carried out in a camp that I just performed it at the same place 27 years ago. I think that the history is being repeated. Although there are lots of differences at work the culture ruling on the trend of the military service in Iran is the same as before and I see no change from this point of view and I even feel that it has gotten worse. The only much and important thing is that Kamyar’s military service will open his future way ahead and give him the opportunities that are not limited only to inland but to the entire globe. Passing his military service successfully will led him to get rid of the only option of studying in the academic level in the country which has lost its quality and efficiency particularly in recent decade in shadow of the malicious wills and plans of the masters of the empire of dissimulation ruling the country. This in turn will give him favorable job opportunities definitly. We in the family believe that Kamyar will get free by passing his military service and reaching the freedom in following his study interests in a wider and open atmosphere instead of losing his luck and opportunities in a limited and unpromising inland condition that is nothing but the atmosphere of torture for all the youth of the country who wish to step forward and progress freely and far from the polarized thoughts and views imposed by the rulers of the empire of dissimulation to the society.

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The first book written only about Iran space endeavor; a turning point

On July 18 I finish signing the contract of publishing the book ‘The Iranian Space Endeavor – Ambitions and Reality’ with the Springer Publishers. I finished writing the book by 28 May 2013. Perhaps for those who look at the trend of the progress and movement of the Iran space endeavor from outside it is difficult to recognize what passes behind the scene, however, for the one who observes the events and currents from inside and personally experience and witness, the form and the procedure of the currents has a very different sense and meaning as well. In this book hesitating of selective ignorance I try to enlighten new and different profiles of Iran space if not all but at least partly, those that seeing them is too hard or perhaps impossible for the observers that look from outside. In addition to technical other profiles include historical, legal, social and cultural. This is the remarkable and distinguished characteristic of the book that is hoped to grab the attention and interest of the readers globally by giving a possibly touchable sense about Iran space. It is about the country that claims to be the ninth leading country in the world that is capable of manufacturing the satellites and launching them indigenously, plans to land an astronaut on the Moon in a decade, its president of state likes to sacrifice himself to be the first astronaut of Iran to travel into space; he is even ready to auction himself and give for the progress of Iran’s space plan! However the book shows that these are not all the things on Iran space. Reading this book may seem to be a journey to the Wonderland; albeit the things, events and people look strange but all are real.

The book reflects a technocratic point of view and is written by a technocrat who have closely worked and lived with the Iranian space endeavor for a long time (nearly 21 years). Technocracy in Iran faces lot of tension particularly in recent decades however it continues its life by its members and the people who representing it whether inland or abroad; the same is for the Iranian space technocracy in a higher degree. It has always confronted many problems and obstacles including social, historical, economic, managerial and administrative hitch. As a member of the space technocracy I have been active and involved both in the international and national level while the share of my international contribution has been much more. I believe that like space itself, the space endeavor of the countries need to devote a larger attention to the international cooperation and interaction about space activities, of course based on the mutual and multilateral respect and hesitating supremacy.

The book is the first one devoted only to Iran space endeavor. In the dimension that the book is written, there is no book to compete directly with it however there are two books published in recent years part of which is devoted to Iran space endeavor. Those books detail are as follows:

I) Harvey, Brian; Smid, Henk; Pirard, Theo: Emerging Space Powers; the New Space Programs of Asia, the Middle East, and South America, Springer/Praxis, ُSwitzerland, February 2010

II) Soofi, Abdol S. (Editor); Ghazinoory, Sepehr (Editor): Science and Innovations in Iran: Development, Progress, and Challenges, Palgrave Macmillan, USA, January 2013, Chapter 9, pp. 184-216

For the book I, the author has been a source for the chapters of the Iran space endeavor, and for the book II the author has been a contributor to the chapter 9 of the book that focuses on Iran aerospace.

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Moving to a new home

20130701_new home VII-

On Thursday 30 May we start living in a new home about 50 meters from the previous one. It is a nice apartment in the fourth floor and we can see the view of the long distance around home. We changed the balcony to accommodate our large number of books and publications. It is also a cozy place for studying, cogitating and looking far around.

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In the local media of my birthplace

Maragheh-newspaper2013

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Lecture at the Electronics and Telecommunications Department of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy

I am invited by the Electronics and Telecommunications Department of the Politecnico di Torino in Italy to give a lecture to the professors and students on April 9, 2013. The title of my lecture is ‘Space-borne SAR Interferometry Technique Applications.’ I also make a visit to other sites of the university to get familiar with the space-related activities of the Ploitecnico and negotiate the possibility of scientific cooperation.

The announcement for my lecture distributed in the Politecnico

I give my lecture at the Electronics and Telecommunications Department of the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. Prof. Ricardo Maggiora who is seen at left chairs the session. (Mobilographed by Ms Parinaz Sayyah)

I visit the laboratory of the Electronics and Telecommunications Department of the Politecnico di Torino in Italy, wherein they develop the satellites. Prof. Riccardo Maggiora, Prof. Claudio Sansoe and another professor are seen from right to left. The small satellite prototype model is seen at the hands of the scientist who has developed it.

20130409_Turin-Italy

Piedmont Railway Museum,Turin/del Museo Ferroviario Piemontese, Torino

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Happy New Solar Year and Happy spring!

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New book on Iran’s science and innovations

The book ‘Science and Innovations in Iran: Development, Progress, and Challenges’ which editors are Abdol S. Soofi and Sepehr Ghazinoori is published. This 274-page book is published by Palgrave Macmillan in the United States of America. The book is in English language and I am the contributor to the Chapter 9 of the book that is on Iran’s Aerospace Technology.

Over the course of the last two decades, Iran has gone through major industrial transformation, in spite of the major obstacles in the path of the country’s development. This comprehensive book examines the Iranian government’s mobilization of resources to develop science and technology, presenting an overview of the structure, dynamics, and outcomes of the government’s science and technology policies. It evaluates sectors at the systems level and emphasizes the prominence of the government, rather than of the market, in the innovation system of the Iranian economy. Written by authors who are in positions of leadership in the industries they discuss, this book offers an unparalleled look into Iran’s current technological achievements.

Abdol S. Soofi is a professor in the Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Soofi received his PhD in economics from the University of California, Riverside, and has published over forty scholarly articles in various academic journals in the fields of economics and international finance, input–output modeling, economic doctrinal history, nonlinear deterministic dynamics and economics, and technology modeling and management. He has authored a book on international business and co-edited Modeling and Forecasting Financial Data: Techniques of Nonlinear Dynamics with Linagyue Cao. Soofi was a visiting scholar at the Institute of Mathematics and Systems Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, in the summer of 2002, and has been a visiting scholar at the School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China on many occasions since 2005. Soofi is also a Fulbright senior specialist. Sepehr Ghazinoori is an associate professor in the Department of Information Technology Management, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. He received his BSc, MSc, and PhD in Industrial Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). He has authored many books in Farsi and has published articles about cleaner production, strategic planning, and management of technology in English. He was also a consultant to Iran’s presidential Technology Cooperation Office for four years and a senior consultant in formulating the national Iran Nanotechnology Initiative. He is currently an advisor to different ministries and organizations in Iran.

The content of the book and the related contributors are as follows:

Preface- H. M. Doostdar

Chapter 1: Introduction- A. S. Soofi and S. Ghazinoori

Chapter 2: History of science in Iran from a physicist’s perspective– Reza Mansouri

Chapter 3: From developing a higher education system to moving toward a knowledge based economy; a short history of three decades of STI policy in Iran– M. Goodarzi and S. Ghazinoori

Chapter 4: National Innovation System of Iran; a functional and institutional analysis– A. S. Soofi, S. Ghazinoori and S. Farnoodi

Chapter 5: Information and communication technology; between a rock and a hard place of domestic and international pressures– S. Ghazinoori and R. Jamali

Chapter 6: Nanotechnology; new horizons, approaches and challenges– F. S. Yazdi and M. A. B. Zarj

Chapter 7: Biotechnology in Iran; a study of the structure and functions of the technology innovation system– T. Miremadi

Chapter 8: Nuclear technology; progress in the midst of severest sanctions– B. Soltani and M. Shaverdi

Chapter 9: Iran’s aerospace technology– Parviz Tarikhi, M. Abbasi and M. Ashrafi

Chapter 10: Automotive industry; new trends, approaches, and challenges– M. Manteghi

Chapter 11: Concluding remarks– S. Ghazinoori and A. S. Soofi

January 3

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