leila safa

Despite the undeniable role of women in achieving sustainable rural development, and considering that empowerment is the key to sustainable development, the evidence shows that there are numerous obstacles on the way to rural women's empowerment especially in the economic dimension. Therefore, this survey research was conducted with the aim of analyzing the inhibitors to the rural women's economic empowerment. The statistical population of this research was all the women aged 15 years and above in the villages of Tarem county (N=14415) which among them, a sample of 375 people was selected by proportional stratified sampling method. The research instrument for data collection was a questionnaire whose content validity was confirmed by the faculty members of university of Zanjan and the experts of Jihad Agriculture Organization of Zanjan province. In order to check the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was also conducted, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the main scales of the questionnaire were acceptable. The collected data were analyzed using SPSSWin26 software. The descriptive results showed that the rural women's economic empower was at a relatively weak level in terms of the two indicators of economic mobility and economic decision-making power. In addition, the results of the factor analysis indicated that the five extracted factors including weak support and structural limitations, weak entrepreneurial spirit, mistrust and inappropriate social prejudices, rejection and marginalization, and weak professional skills explained 61.5 percent of the total variance of "inhibitors to rural women's economic empowerment". Moreover, the findings of the regression analysis revealed that all the five extracted factors had negative and significant effects on the level of rural women's economic empower. Finally, the findings of this research, by helping to better understand the situation of rural women in terms of economic empowerment indicators and through a deeper analysis of the inhibitors facing them, can provide useful information to planners and policymakers to design and implement effective interventions for the rural women's economic empowerment.

Given the negative consequences caused by excessive use of chemical inputs in conventional agriculture, especially on human health and the environment, the production of healthy crops as one of the main solutions of sustainable agriculture has received the attention of policymakers and planners in recent years. However, the path of development of this type of crops is not smooth and faces many difficulties. Considering the importance of the issue, this study was conducted with the aim of analysis of barriers and constraints of healthy potato production in Zanjan Province. The participants in the research were key experts and informants in Zanjan Province among which a suitable number were selected through purposive snowball sampling method. The individual and group un-structured interviews were used to collect the data, and the interviews were continued until data saturation was reached (after conducting 32 interviews). The collected data were analyzed by MAXQDA software using qualitative content analysis. The credibility and confirmability of the data were examined to ensure the validity of data obtained from interviews and the accuracy of the findings. The results showed that the main barriers and constraints of the production of healthy potato in Zanjan Province were classified into 48 concepts and nine categories, among which three categories of economic issues and lack of sufficient credit support (17.6 percent), management and legal issues (14.4 percent), and weak infrastructure and support (14.2 percent) were the most important, respectively. Moreover, in terms of the identified concepts, the most important barriers and constraints of healthy potato production were included the low yield level of healthy potato production (3.8 percent), lack of economic justification for healthy potato production (3.7 percent), high cost of conducting tests related to the issuance of certificate of compliance with the permissible limit of pollutants (3.5 percent), the difficulty and time-consuming legal procedures to obtain a certificate of healthy potato (3.5 percent), and lack of proper labels and packaging for healthy potato (3.5 percent).

The health of humans is some way related to the quality of food consumed by them; therefore, at present, the production of organic agricultural products is a necessity of the agricultural sector. In this regard, the behavior of farmers in the use of organic farming is very important. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of greenhouse owners in organic cultivation of strawberries and the analyze determinants of cleaner production in strawberry greenhouses. Statistical population of the study were strawberry growers in Alborz province (N=159). Sample size determined via Krejcie and Morgan’s table(n=114). Sampling method was Stratified random sampling. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by a panel of experts. Also, To determine the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot test was conducted and then Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated (between 0.71 - 0.9). The results of the regression analysis showed that three variables of financial and skill, attitude and intellectual / knowledge power in about 47 percent of the changes related to organic agricultural behavior were explained in the form of planned behavior model. Also, according to the Extended Model of Planned Behavior, four variables of social factors, financial and skill ability, intellectual ability/knowledge and attitude explained about 70% of the changes related to organic agricultural behavior.

the main objective of this research was to investigate the effects and consequences of sustainable agriculture activity in the framework of the project “modeling local community participation in lake Urmia restoration via establishment of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation”. This research was a descriptive-correlational study in terms of research method. The statistical population of the research consisted of all participants in sustainable agriculture activity in the villages covered by phases 6 and 7 of the project in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan (N = 900). According to the table of Bartlett et al. (2001), 251 persons of the participants were selected using multi-stage random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. A pilot study was conducted to determine the reliability of the research instrument. The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed that the effects and consequences of sustainable agriculture activity were classified into three factors: environmental, social and economic, respectively, and explained a total of about 59 percent of the variances of project implementation effects. In general, according to the results, it can be concluded that in accordance with the three main dimensions of sustainable development, the implementation of sustainable agriculture activity has been able to improve the livelihoods of local communities through social capacity building and modeling the participation of local communities in parallel with paying attention to environmental considerations.

Due to the critical conditions of lake Urmia, the plan of “modeling local community participation in lake Urmia restoration via establishment of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation” began in 2014 in the villages of the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. One of the main objectives of this plan was to identify and extend livelihoods with low water needs, which has been implemented in recent years in the form of the "diversifying the livelihoods of rural households" (DLRH) project. Considering the importance of the project and the various barriers facing its implementation, the main purpose of this applied research was to identify internal and external factors affecting the implementation of DLRH project and formulate diversification strategies for rural households in order to revitalize lake Urmia. The statistical population of the research was 27 relevant experts and specialists in the Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project Office, Agriculture-Jihad Organizations, Departments of Environmental Protection and Agricultural Technical-engineering Firms in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. In this research, first, internal (i.e., strengths and weaknesses) and external (i.e., opportunities and threats) factors affecting the implementation of DLRH project were identified using SWOT technique. Then, the quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) technique was employed to prioritization of acceptable strategies for the development of the DLRH project. The results of the SWOT technique showed that the DLRH project was in a competitive strategic position (maximum-minimum) in West Azerbaijan province, implying that efforts should be made to avoid threats by using strengths; while the strategic position of the project was in a position of change of direction (minimum-maximum) in East Azerbaijan province, and consequently, it is recommended to take advantage of the opportunities to eliminate the weaknesses of the project. Eventually, according to the results of this study, the two main strategies to diversify the livelihoods of rural households in West Azerbaijan province, respectively, were included "professional empowerment and promotion of villagers' cognitive and skill areas" and "emphasis on the use of female facilitators in the structure of administrator firms of the project; these strategies in East Azerbaijan province also were included "development of production clusters in order to integrate and synergy rural small businesses", "more attention to facilitating the marketing of products".

Despite the importance of virtual social networks (VSNs) in improving the quality of learning, students' educational use of these networks is not very desirable. Given the importance of the issue, this descriptive-correlational study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the use of VSNs by agricultural students based on the technology acceptance model. The statistical population of the study was included all agricultural students of University of Zanjan (N = 1227). Based on Krejcie-Morgan table, 296 of the students were selected for the study using stratified sampling method with proportional assignment. The data collection tool in this study was a questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and its construct validity and composite reliability were obtained by estimating the measurement model. The results showed that "sending homework and classroom activities", "access to the latest information and news about educational issues", and "informing other students in different educational fields" were the main uses of VSNs by the surveyed students. Moreover, four variables of perceived playfulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived anxiety were accounted for 72 percent of the variance of the perceived ease and two variables of perceived usefulness and perceived ease were accounted for 67 percent of the variance of attitude. Similarly, the attitude was explained 45 percent of the variance of students' use of VSNs. According to the findings, the main suggestions of the study were included holding briefings, seminars and workshops to familiarize students with how to use VSNs, supporting and providing appropriate technical services to students, employingprint media to inform students about the facilities and capabilities of different VSNs, applying known VSNs for educational activities, and increasing students' information and media literacy.

Water is one of the most essential components of the natural environment and at the same time one of the main inputs of the agricultural sector which its shortage has led to many communities have faced the serious challenges. In this regard, many researchers and experts consider human beings as the pivot of water resources conservation programs and believe that conservation of water resources depends on accurate understanding of the components and constructs affecting stakeholders' conservation intentions and behaviors in different sections especially in the agricultural sector. Considering the importance of the issue, the main purpose of this descriptive-correlative research was to identify of factors affecting farmers' intention to perform water resources conservation measures (WRCMs) based on the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). The statistical population of the study comprised farmers in the central district of Zanjan County among which 330 persons were selected through random sampling method. A questionnaire based on the extended TPB model was used to collect the data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The construct validity and the composite reliability of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were satisfied after making necessary corrections. The empirical results of the study indicated that the main components of the original TPB model including attitude, perceived behavioral control and social norms had statistically significant positive effects on the intention to perform WRCMs and explained about 45% of its variances. Furthermore, after the inclusion of the variable of moral norms in the TPB model, the predictive power of the model was found to increase up to 6%. According the findings, the main suggestions of this study to improve farmers' intention to perform WRCMs are: giving financial facilities and credits and providing technical advice by experts, implementing large-scale social awareness programs, and highlighting the importance of conserving water resources as an important moral norm.

The main objective of this research was modeling the factors affecting rural households’ food security in Zanjan County. The statistical population of the current research was 25864 rural household heads in Zanjan County which based on Bartlett et al. (2001) formula, 353 of them were selected using a two-stage sampling method. A questionnaire was used for data collection. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and as well as the construct validity and the reliability of the questionnaire were obtained after making necessary corrections. The collected data were analyzed using SPSSWin22 and Smart PLS3 software. The descriptive results of the research showed that most of the surveyed respondents (more than two thirds) were in severe food insecurity situation. Moreover, the results of structural equation modeling revealed that each of five factors of economic, policy-regulatory, educational-information, family and geographical had positive and significant effects on rural household heads’ food security level and explained about 57.9 percent of variances in the dependent variable. However, the relationship between social factors and the food security level was not significant.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of nutritional awareness and attitude on rural households’ food security level in Zanjan County. The statistical population of the study was 25864 rural household heads of Zanjan County among which 353 persons were selected using a stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. A panel of experts at University of Zanjan confirmed the face validity of the questionnaire. Additionally, the construct validity (including convergent, divergent, and nomological validity) and composite reliability of the research instrument were obtained by estimating measurement model and after making necessary corrections. The data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. The descriptive results of the research showed that the level of food security for the majority of respondents was low. Moreover, the results of the structural equation modeling revealed that two variables of nutritional awareness and nutritional attitude and its components including food hygiene, food safety and health, nutritional value and food price and quality had positive and significant effects on rural household heads’ food security level explaining about 68 percent of its variances. Based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that improving villagers’ nutritional attitude and awareness, especially by providing them with the necessary educations is one of the basic preconditions for increasing food security among them.

Today, environmental problems have created a serious threat to the sustainability of rural communities. Many scholars maintain that a significant part of these problems is primarily caused by human’s environmentally irresponsible Behaviours. Therefore, investigation and recognition of individuals’ environmental Behaviours are a key prerequisite to resolve the environmental problems. Regarding the importance of the issue, the main objective of this descriptive- correlation research was to study factors determining the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in the rural regions of Tabriz County. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Tabriz County (N= 34308). According to the Bartlett et al. (2001) formula, 380 of them were selected by a multi-stage sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire which its content validity confirmed by a panel of experts. A pilot study conducted to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the main scales of the questionnaire were at appropriate levels (ranged from 0.689 to 0.867). The results indicated that the surveyed villagers showed pro-environmental Behaviours at a relatively low level. According to results, variables of the awareness of the consequences of non-compliance of pro-environmental Behaviours, the use of information and communication resources in the field of environmental issues, agricultural experience and attitudes towards doing pro-environmental Behaviours were the main factors determining the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in the rural regions of Tabriz County. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Tabriz County. Furthermore, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the villagers’ pro-environmental Behaviours in terms of the existence/absence of environmental organizations so that the villagers behaved more pro-environmentally in the regions with the organization

The main purpose of this descriptive- survey research was to study of barriers to commercialization of nanotechnology products in the Iran’s Agricultural sector. The statistical population of the study consisted of 275 researchers employed in 22 National Agricultural Research Centers/ Institutions. According to the Krejcie and Morgan table, 160 of the researchers were selected using a random sampling technique. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts in the University of Tehran. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for the main scales of the questionnaire were at appropriate level. The results showed that the importance of the all five factors examined in the research conceptual model was verified based on the field data (fit of the model). The factors namely, political- supportive, infrastructural, financial, managerial and knowledge- cognitive were ranked first to fifth in explaining and identifying the barriers to commercialization of nanotechnology products in the Iran’s Agricultural sector by explaining 66.1 percent of total variances, respectively.

Today, environmental issues have created a serious threat to environmental sustainability of rural communities. In this respect, many experts believe that human behaviors are the most important cause of environmental problems that it is necessary to be examined carefully. Regarding the importance of the issue, the main objective of this descriptive- correlation research was to study of factors affecting villagers’ pro-environmental behavior based on theory of planned behavior. The statistical population of the research consisted of all villagers’ heads of households in Sojasroud district of Khodabandeh County in Zanjan Province (N= 2354). According to the Bartlett et al. (2001) Table, 259 of them were selected by a two-stage sampling method. Data collected using standard questionnaire. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. Construct validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed through examining of model fit in three levels of measurement model, structural model and total model. The descriptive results showed that the most of villagers’ pro-environmental behavior were at medium (58.5 percent) and low (29.3 percent) levels. Furthermore, the results indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between attitude, social norms and perceived behavioral control with intention to perform pro-environmental behavior. In addition to this, there was a positive and significant relationship between intention to perform pro-environmental behavior and social norms with villagers’ pro-environmental behavior. According to the results, it is suggested that villagers’ knowledge and awareness on methods and techniques of pro-environmental activities has been increased through the different extension mechanisms particularly holding the extension-education courses, and on the other hand, supportive policies to protect the environment to be made and implemented with emphasis on villagers participation.

Pro-environmental modeling of rural people based on the theory of Value-Belief-Norm was the main objective of this survey study. The statistical population of the research consisted all of the rural household heads of Sojasroud district of Khodabandeh County in Zanjan Province (N= 2354) of which a sample size of 259 individuals was selected by a proportional stratified sampling method. Data was collected using standard questionnaires. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and the construct validity and reliability were confirmed through validity and reliability were confirmed through examining of model fit in three levels of measurement model, structural model and total model. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique (Partial Least Squares) was used to analyze data. So Smart PLS2.0 software was applied. The results indicated that components of values, ecological ideology, awareness of consequences, responsibility and personal norms had positive and significant effects on dependent variable of villagers’ pro-environmental behavior explaining about 68.6 percent of its variances.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mediation effect of Healthy Life Style (HLS) in the relationship between Health Literacy (HL) and Rural Women’ s Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL). The statistical population of the study consisted of 13835 rural women aged from 15 to 64 years old in West Islam Abad Township. According to Bartlett, Kotrlik & Higgins’ Table (2001), 250 person of the them were selected using multiple stage sampling method for doing study. Standard questionnaires (after adjusting the questions with the field of research) were employed for data collection. Content validity of the questionnaires confirmed by experts and construct validity and composite reliability of the questionnaires satisfied by estimating the measurement model. Collected data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique and the Bootstrapping method was used for testing mediating effect. The results showed that HL had a positive and significant effect on HRQL (β=0.518, ρ-value=0.001) and explained about 27 percent of its variances. Moreover, the results indicated that sum of indirect effect of HL on HRQL through the variable of HLS was significant (β=0.175, ρ-value=0.001) and HLS partially mediated positive effect of HL on HRQL.

This descriptive survey research was conducted to investigate the effect of customer performance on the relationship between financial performance and entrepreneurial marketing. The population of the study was comprised of all the greenhouse keepers in the county of Jiroft in Kerman Province (N = 1022). According to the table proposed by Bartlett et al. (2001), a sample size of 246 was selected using a stratified random sampling method. The data were collected through standard questionnaires and analyzed with the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) multivariate technique, using AMOS20 software. The bootstrapping method was used for testing the mediating effect. The results showed that entrepreneurial marketing has a positive and significant effect on financial performance (ρ-value = 0.001, β = 0.66); it explained about 44 percent of its variances. In addition, as the results indicated, the sum of the indirect effects of entrepreneurial marketing on financial performance through the variable of customer performance was significant (ρ-value = 0.001, β = 0.214), and customer performance partially mediated the effect of entrepreneurial marketing on financial performance.

The purpose of this research was to study the moderating effect of marital status between Health-Promoting Lifestyle (HPL) and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) . The statistical population of the study consisted of all rural women of Eslamabad-e Gharb county of Iran with ages from 15 to 64 (N= 13835). According to Bartlett table, a sample size of 250 was selected using multiple stage sampling technique in 2015. The standard questionnaires were used to collect data. Content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the concerned experts; also, its construct validity and composite reliability were tested by estimating the measurement model. The results showed that HPL had a positive and significant effect on HRQOL; in addition, the marital status had a moderating effect on the relationship between the two variables ; s o that the relationship was not significant for single respondents, whereas it was positive and significant for the married ones.

Today¡ social networks¡ including Telegram¡ have become an integral part of many university students’ life; however¡ using these networks for educational purpose is too low to mention. Given the significance of intentional behavior as the strongest variable predicting individuals’ behavior¡ the present research aims to study factors affecting the intention of students using Telegram. The population consisted of 767 M.S. students majoring in agriculture in Mashhad Ferdowsi University¡ of which 196 individuals were selected using stratified sampling method. Findings indicate that such variables as perceived usefulness and attractiveness as well as positive affect attitude and meaningfulness have to do with the intention of students using Telegram for educational purposes.

In recent decades, frequency and severity of drought have been predominated among the other natural disasters which influence the human societies. Droughts rank first among all natural hazards when measured in terms of the number of people affected. Although as a natural hazard, droughts differ from other natural hazards in several ways. First, the onset and the end of a drought are difficult to determine, the impacts of a drought increase slowly, often accumulate over a considerable period and may linger for years after termination. Therefore, a drought is often referred to as a creeping phenomenon. Second, it is difficult to define a drought which leads to confusion for not having a universal definition of drought. Third, drought impacts are nonstructural and spread over large geographical areas than damages that may result from other natural hazards. In contrast to floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes, a drought affects water bodies of water resources structures and it seldom results in structural damage. For this reason, the quantification of the impact and the provision for relief are far more difficult for droughts than for other natural hazards. Fourth, human activities can directly trigger a drought unlike other natural hazards, with exacerbating factors such as over-farming, excessive irrigation, deforestation, over-exploiting available water, and erosion, adversely impacting the ability of the land to capture and hold water. However, drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate that occurs in virtually all climate zones, from very wet to very dry. Drought is a temporary aberration from normal climatic conditions, thus it can vary greatly from one region to another. Drought is different than aridity, which is a permanent feature of climate in regions where low precipitation is the norm, as in a desert. Given the importance of drought, it seems that precise study and understanding of drought and specially review and assess the its effects is the first step to manage and deal with drought. It is obvious that the study and understanding of any phenomenon (such as drought) requires to develop and apply scales and tools which can measure scientifically and accurately all aspects of a specific phenomenon.
Matherials and Regarding the importance of the issue, the main objective of this study was to construction and validation of a scale to measure drought effects using confirmatory factor analysis. The research method of the study in terms of the nature, rate and degree of control and method of data collection was quantitative, non-experimental and field research, respectively. The statistical population of the study consisted of all the heads of households in the Sohrein village (N= 603). According to the Krejcie & Morgan table, a sample size of 220 was selected using the random sampling technique (n=220). Data were collected by a questionnaire. In general, the questionnaire consisted of two parts including respondents’ profiles and respondents’ viewpoints about the importance of each drought effect (24 variables). A five-point Likert scale (from 1= very low to 5= very high) was used to measure the second part. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The confirmatory factor analysis was used in order to determine the construct validity (e.g. convergent, divergent and nomological validity) and the reliability of the instrument and estimate the measurement model using the AMOS20 software.
Discussion and The results showed that the importance of all four factors mentioned in the research conceptual model has been verified based on field data (appropriate fit of the model) and these factors including: environmental, economic, social- psychological and ecological had a significant relationship with construct of drought effects. Also, the results indicated that among the four mentioned factors, two latent variables of economic and environmental had the most effect on explaining the main research construct. In general, based on the results, it can be stated that the scale/ tool designed to assess the effects of drought had enough of validity and reliability and the model which was developed based on theoretical and experimental background (conceptual model), was well adopt to reality and was supported by field data. Thus, scale/ model developed in this study was appropriate to assess the effects of drought and can contribute to measure drought effects in the rural regions in the future research.

The main purpose of this study was to identify and explain the effects of drought in rural areas of Iran. The statis­tical population of this study consisted of all the heads of households of Esfejin village in Zanjan County (N = 2932). A sample of 340 persons was selected using a method of simple random sampling. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with respondents based on a structured questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted to establish reliability of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used for the main scale of questionnaire, which scored more than 0.75, confirming its appropriate reliability. The results revealed that four factors can be considered as important for identifying and explaining the effects of drought in Esfejin village and these factors were economic, environmental, social and psychological. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the effects of drought in rural areas and can be implemented in future planning of proper programs to overcome these effects.

Today, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) is an important indicator of development; However, due to the greater vulnerability, HRQOL level of women is lower than men, especially in rural regions. This problem has doubled the necessity to investigate and identify the factors affecting HRQOL. Given the importance of the issue, the purpose of this descriptive- correlative research was to study of effect of health-promoting lifestyle components on rural women’s HRQOL. The statistical population of the research consisted of all women in rural regions of West Islam Abad Township who their age ranged from 15 to 64 years old (N= 13835). According to the Bartlett et al. Table (2001), a sample size of 250 was selected using multiple stage sampling technique. The standard questionnaire was used to collect data. The results indicated that women’ s HRQOL had a positive and significant relationship with age, size of family, number of children and years of married life and negative and significant relationship with literacy level and time spent on daily sport activities. Also, the results showed that mean score of women’ s HRQOL differed significantly in terms of marital status, situation of head of household, having insurance and periodic medical examinations. Finally based on finding, six components of health-promoting lifestyle including nutrition management, social support, health responsibility, exercise, stress management and life appreciation explained 57 percent of variances of rural women’ s HRQOL.

Due to the increasing number of users’ Telegram social network in Iran especially among the young and educated people, it seems that the study of use of such networks is important particularly in educational activities. Given the importance of the issue, the purpose of this descriptive- correlative research was to study the factors affecting students’ intention to use of Telegram social network in educational activities with focusing on moderating effect of gender. The statistical population of the research consisted of all M.Sc. students of agricultural majors at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (N= 767). According to the Bartlett et al. Table, a sample size of 196 students was selected using a stratified random sampling technique. A standard questionnaire (after adjusting the questions with the field of research) was employed to collect data. The results showed that two variables of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness had a positive and significant effect on attitude toward using of Telegram in educational activities, whereas, there was not a significant relationship between perceived usefulness and the attitude. Also, the attitude had a positive and significant effect on agricultural students’ intention to use of Telegram in educational activities. The results of multi-group analysis indicated that gender had a moderating effect on the relationship between perceived ease of use and attitude toward using of Telegram in educational activities, so that the relationship was non-significant for female students, whereas it was positive and significant for male students.

This research was aimed to examine the effect of entrepreneurial competencies on entrepreneurial alertness related to entrepreneurial opportunity. The research was type of applied and descriptive- survey research in terms of goal and data collection method, respectively. The statistical population of this study was consisted of 346 members of agricultural Consulting, technical and engineering services enterprises in southern townships of Kerman province, from which 132 members were surveyed based on Cochran formula and through stratified proportional random sampling. Data collected by the standard questionnaires. The validity of the questionnaire was examined through face validity and discriminant and convergence validity through average variance extraction. The reliability of the study instrument was examined through composite reliability which was at an appropriate level for different parts of questionnaire. (0.82- 0.90). Hypotheses of the study were approved by results and entrepreneurial competencies had significantly positive effect on three dimensions of entrepreneurial alertness i.e. scanning and search, association and connection and evaluation and judgment. Results also revealed that entrepreneurial competencies had the highest effect on evaluation and judgment dimension.

The main purpose of this survey was to identify and analyze of impacts of watershed plans implement in rural areas of Zanjan province. The kind of research method of the study was Descriptive-Correlation research. The statistical population of the study consisted of all the heads of household in Khomarak village (N= 170). According to Morgan& Krejcie table، 115 persons of them were selected by Simple Random Sampling for doing the study (n=120). A questionnaire was used to collect the data. A panel of experts in the field of participation and rural development established the validity of the questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted to establish reliability of the instrument. Cronbach alpha''s coefficient for main scales of questionnaire calculated more than 0. 75، which show appropriate reliability of questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSSWin18 software. The descriptive results revealed that five variables including “increasing farm land prices”، “preventing and controlling of soil erosion” and “increasing water resources in village (springs، wells and subterranean)”، have achieved the highest priority، respectively. Also، the finding of factor analysis of impacts of watershed plans implement revealed that three factors named as environmental، economic and social explained 67. 2% of total variances of impacts of watershed plans implement in the Khomarak village.

The main objective of this research was to study the components of implementing the Total Quality Management in the agricultural faculties in Iran’s North West universities. An analytical- explanatory research method was chosen for this study. The statistical population of the study consisted of the all agricultural faculty members in Tabriz, Ardabil, Orumieh and Zanjan universities (N= 268). According to Krejcie and Morgan table, 155 individuals were selected by using stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts in the University of Zanjan. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the instrument. Cronbach 's alpha coefficient for the components level of importance for implementing the Total Quality Management in the agricultural faculties was 0.91. The results of factor analysis showed that five factors namely client-centered, structural-communicational, managerial, professionalism participatory-development and team-oriented explained 67.55 percent of total variances of components of implementing the Total Quality Management in the agricultural faculties.

Commercialization as one of the key steps in the process of innovation development transfers the findings of research and patents to market. More importantly, several factors and components influence the process of commercialization development which are necessary to be studied and identified. Considering the importance of the subject, this descriptive- survey study is aimed to investigate components of nanotechnology commercialization in the Iranian agricultural sector. The statistical population of the study contained all the researchers who were working in 22 National Agricultural Research Institutions/ Centers (N= 275). According to the Krejcie and Morgan table, a sample size of 160 was selected using a random sampling technique (n=160). A questionnaire designed by researcher was used to collect the data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of faculty members at the University of Tehran. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the research instrument. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the main scales of the questionnaire were at the appropriate level. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSSWin16 and LISREL8.5 software. The results showed that the importance of all six factors mentioned in the research conceptual model was verified based on the field data (good fitness of the model) and the factors including: political, financial, infrastructural, legislative, informative and educational, explaining 67.89 percent of total variances, have gained the priority from first to five in identifying and determining the components of nanotechnology commercialization in the Iranian agricultural sector.