saeed yazdani

Diversifying in agriculture production helps to ensure the intake of essential nutrients needed for good health, and it is particularly important for households in diffrent areas. Diversification of farm production is recommended as a potential strategy to improve the diet diversity and nutrition of households. Risk management in the agricultural sector must therefore be taken into account during policy formulation and planning. The present study spanned the years 1990 to 2022. The assessment of the degree to which crop diversity mitigates risk was conducted utilizing the Herfindahl index. Using the Hodrick–Prescott filter, the income fluctuations were subsequently computed. The income risk associated with five crops was assessed by calculating the discrepancy between the Hodrick-Prescott and the generated income in nominal and foxed modes. Finally, the vector autoregression (VAR) was utilized to estimate the effect of crop diversity on two modes of risk to farmer income. The results indicate that there is a long-term correlation between crop diversity and decreased income risk. Additionally, the results indicated that agricultural income was temporarily impacted by the fluctuation shock. To achieve nominal and real shock equilibrium, 4 and 3 cycles were required, correspondingly.

Water is one of the key components for sustaining human life. It plays a very important role in the achievement of food security, personal hygiene and health, development of economic sectors (industry, services, and agriculture), and also in protection of natural ecosystems and environmental services. Considering the close relationship between sustainability of water resources and production of foodstuff and energy, weather, economic growth, and human security, the most important threat the world faces today is water insecurity. Hence, protection of water resources is a serious matter and integrated water resources management (IWRM) is the only action plan for achieving this goal. The IWRM is an approach in which the process of economic and social development of countries is coordinated and consistent with water and land sources so that sustainability of vital ecosystems and their future renewability and also satisfaction of water needs are not endangered. That is why the present research studied and compared the status on the IWRM in selected countries across the world using the Water Poverty Index (WPI).    

The WPI, which was widely accepted with the realization of the multidimensional nature of water scarcity, shows the relationship between the level of human well-being and the various dimensions of water resources. As a comprehensive tool that combines the physical, social, economic, and environmental dimensions associated with water, the WPI allowsa better understanding of the complexities of water resources management. It has five components including resources, access, capacity, use, and environment. Each component is measured by using some indices. The value of each one is standardized so that its numerical value is in the range of zero to 100 for the purpose of aggregation and interpretation. After calculating the values of the WPI, the countries across the world can be grouped into five different categories based on the Central Limit Theorem (CLT). Savings can be made in government time and costs by determining the most important components and variables influencing the WPI. Therefore, the sensitivity of the WPI was also analyzed to better understand the extent to which each component or variable impacted the fluctuations in the WPI. To conduct the present research, the required data for the period 2000-2020 were obtained from the statistical resources of the World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and their mean values were used in the measuring process. The software packages of Excel 2019 and Arc GIS were used to perform the calculations and spatial analysis of the WPI, respectively.

The results of descriptive statistics related to the WPI and its components showed that its minimum and maximum values for the countries across the world were 34.12 for Niger and 74.81 for Guyana – which indicated a range of variation of 40.09. In addition, the estimated mean value of the global WPI was 58.60. Study of the descriptive statistics related to the five components of the WPI for the countries worldwide also revealed that the resources component had the lowest mean value (-27.88), the lowest minimum value (-19.29) and the largest range of variation (109.78). Based on these statistics, we can say that the global situation with respect to the resource component was inappropriate and water distribution was not balanced. The capacity component had the second lowest mean value (43.47), which suggested that the economic and social capacity in water resources management across the world was not suitable. Furthermore, this component had the smallest range of variation (52.31), which suggested that the countries worldwide indicated the least difference in the capacity component. As for the access component also, the results showed that it had the largest mean value (80.02), which indicated that the countries across the world seemed to be in better conditions in terms of access to wastewater disposal and treatment systems. In addition, this component had the largest standard deviation (24.8), which meant that access to water treatment and wastewater disposal and treatment systems was not balanced worldwide. The use component had a high standard deviation (22.07) among the five components, whereas the lowest standard deviation (9.49) was obtained for the environment component. The results of classifying the countries with respect to the WPI and spatial analysis also indicated that 25 countries faced water insecurity and 12 confronted low water security. In addition, 31 countries had suitable water security and 16 enjoyed 100 percent water security. In general, most countries faced the water insecurity and the low water security were located in Africa and Asia. Iran, with a WPI value of 58.55, ranked 82 among the nations in the world with respect to the water security. The results related to the sensitivity analysis of the WPI also illustrated that based on the Variable Contribution (VC) index, the access component with the value of 2.27 percent contributed the most to the positive fluctuations in the WPI and the capacity component with the value of -2.27 percent the least. Furthermore, omission of the access component or the resources component changed the standard deviation of the WPI by 5.58 and 16 units on average, respectively. Based on the results of contribution of variable in the fluctuations of the average water poverty index known as ME, the WPI values decreased by 5.58 percent and 16 units on average if the resources component or the access component was omitted, respectively.

Conclusion and Suggestions: 

The journey of the countries across the world towards sustainable development can be facilitated if they know the current situation in regard to sustainability of water resources and strike a balance between water resources and water use. The study results showed that 25 countries lacked sustainability of water resources and 12 others confronted low sustainability of water resources; in addition, 31 countries enjoyed suitable sustainability of water resources and 16 had 100 percent sustainability of water resources. According to the results, there is 100 percent sustainability of water resources in most European and American countries, whereas the majority of Asian and African countries have the lowest level of sustainability of water resources as shown by their WPI values. Since the access, capacity, resources, use, and environment components are highly important in higher levels of sustainability or high levels of unsustainability of water resources, it is suggested that a comprehensive approach be used for continuously assessing sustainability of water resources in various regions in order to develop integrated water resources management.

Urban smartification, or smart city formulation, means advanced communication and information technologies such as specific technologies directed towards improving citizens' living conditions and the efficient management of urban resources. This idea entails the Internet of Things, smart systems such as intelligent parking systems, smart roads, smart waste management, etc. This can enhance life quality for the citizens, decrease costs for cities, and produce a cleaner environment. Khorramabad, an intermediate city for the country and the twenty-thirds populous city, possesses specific tourism and historical potential. Nonetheless, due to several factors related to increasing urban population, less-than-optimal public participation, underutilization of NGOs in city projects, poor integrated management, problems with motor traffic, growth of residential areas surrounding the city, environmental concerns within the city, and unsustainable sources of municipal revenues, the city faces multiple challenges in all areas. The city is at the initial stage of developing smart city infrastructures. Establishing ICT (smart infrastructure and service) will be central to the transition and the realization of a smart city in Khorramabad, followed by an emphasis on social dimension (human and social capital participation) and integrated urban management based on modern public service considerations (both micro-ways of municipalities and macro-concern policymaking). Given these, the smart city should be implemented in the cities of the country, with particular emphasis on Khorramabad. Accordingly, the study at hand aims at pinpointing the driving forces for urban smartification in Khorramabad.

This research is considered applied, and the descriptive-analytical method has been used. The statistical population under study comprises 30 people expert in the smart city domain which contains urban managers, members of smart city committee of Khorramabad, and university professors in (urban planning and urban designing). The factors facilitating the realization of smart urbanization were extracted through documentary sources (articles, books, etc.) and expert opinions. Required data were collected through the application of a researcher designed questionnaire and its analysis carried out using fuzzy DEMATEL model. There are four zeros within the scoring of final intensities of relationships determined by experts. Based on these scores, each expert is to specify the effect of criterion i on criterion j. Pairwise comparisons between criteria (i.e. aij) are made on an integer scale using from 0, 1, 2, 3, to 4, where 0 is indicated "none," 1 "little," 2 "medium," 3 "high," and 4 "very-high."

 Analysis by fuzzy DEMATEL showed that smart city indicators can enhance resilience capacity of urban settlements in Khorramabad. Management and organization as an indicator was found to be the most crucial for resilience of settlements in Khorramabad, with an influence score of 0.147, being termed most powerful among all identified factors. Whereas another prominent smart city indicator that further avails modern technologies contribute a lot to building resilience in urban settlements of Khorramabad with a final score of 0.0590 and Di-Ri this has also been one of those factors honored as influential. The third smart city indicator influencing the urban settlements of Khorramabad is citizen participation, identified as an impactful factor based on the fuzzy DEMATEL results, with a positive score of 0.0303. Among other factors which improve urban resilience in Khorramabad, physical resilience would be one of those directly associated with and sensitive to the influential factors, being identified as the most impacted indicator with a negative score of -0.0974 in fuzzy DEMATEL analysis. Identification as impacted factor before smart city development in different areas has also a score of -0.0078, which indicates lesser level of impact compared to other affected indicators.

 Needs of citizens are changing continuously, as urban areas transform rapidly with technological advancement, social change, economic development, and environmental transformation. Conventional management methods are insufficient to address urban management needs anymore. Sustainable, smart, and knowledge-oriented cities are some of the approaches that have emerged to tackle such urban problems through interdisciplinary collaboration and use of advanced technologies. These approaches derive their origins from the quality of life, citizen participation and environmental protection.Resistance to change in structures and processes of urban management will bar the desired impact of these initiatives on urban management. Moving away from traditionalism toward smart, flexible, and participatory systems is critical. Urban problems tend to be extremely complex and multilayered, calling for cross-sector partnerships and the use of different sources of knowledge and skills to provide broad and effective answer.

The indicators demonstrating high Di+Ri values gain recognition for their position as key and driving ones. These indicators, directly affecting all other factors, can become pivotal in enhancing the resilience of Khorramabad. Smart transportation networks and active citizen participation among others, can therefore have very high importance as indicators. These indicators may improve recovery capacities for the city under crisis situations through sustainable physical infrastructure and interaction among citizens. Meanwhile, a few dependent factors with negative (Di-Ri) values have been named as impacted elements. Other indicators, such as the development of smart cities across various domains, collaboration with the private sector, smart urban growth, a smart culture, smart communication, and physical resilience, have all these factors identified as dependent and impacted.

The development of non-oil exports increases Iran's foreign exchange earnings. These revenues, if allocated optimally, can lead the country to economic growth. The agricultural sector is one of the most important and strategic economic sectors of the country. It accounts for a significant share of non-oil exports and has a high currency-earning position. Also, among agricultural products, dried fruits are considered as one of the most valuable and demanded export goods of Iran over recent years; so, supporting producers and exporters of these products is very important to produce domestic dried fruit and create a market for their export. In order to increase non-oil exports and support domestic production, governments tend to  use various policies, including export subsidies and some trade restrictions. Therefore, this study mainly aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the export subsidy policy in relation to the trade of two major export products including pistachio and walnut.

In this study, using panel data during 2001-2022, the assumptions were examined using gravity model.

The study results showed that the export subsidy had a significantly positive effect on the export of the two studied products; in addition, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population and exchange rate had a significantly positive effect while distance and sanctions had a negative effect on pistachio and walnut exports. 

Since, the implementation of the export subsidy policy has faced challenges, to make the export subsidy payment policy more effective, it should be allocated to different products and be appropriate to the market needs for the same products, and this policy should be granted to new exporters in line with the development of the new domestic industry, and international transportation infrastructure should be expanded to strengthen bilateral trade relations.

This study explores the intricate relationship between space and identity in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, utilizing the geocritical concepts of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. By examining his novel, the study investigates how the interaction of smooth and striated spaces shapes and reshapes characters' identities. Through the lens of Deleuze and Guattari, the research highlights the fluidity and dynamism of spaces, focusing on the continuous interplay without rigid distinctions between space and place. As the integration of Deleuze and Guattari’s concepts of the war machine, nomad, and rhizome is essential to understanding the influence of space on characters' identity, this study begins with examining these key concepts. The rhizome concept parallels the non-linear, interconnected narrative structures in McCarthy's work in which the nomadic existence of characters underscores their search for meaning and survival in a world of constant flux. Through detailed analysis, this study aims to uncover the ways in which McCarthy's characters grapple with their identities amidst perpetual change, offering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between space and identity in contemporary literature.

The general aim of the present study is to investigate the convergence of productivity in the agriculture sector in selected provinces located in different6 climatic regions under the influence of risks arising from temperature and precipitation changes. To test the convergence of productivity in the agriculture sector in selected provinces of Iran, the panel data unit root test was used. Additionally, the impact of climatic variables was examined using a random parameter stochastic production frontier function (TRP-SPF). The results of estimating the TRP-SPF model showed that an increase in air temperature has a negative and significant effect on the level of agricultural production. Furthermore, precipitation and deviation from long-term average precipitation have a positive and significant impact on agricultural production. This result highlights the importance of providing more support to farmers to increase their risk tolerance and sense of security against climate change. Based on the results, despite observing fluctuations and differences in productivity among the provinces studied in the short term, the existence of long-term convergence in productivity among the selected provinces was confirmed. Therefore, it is recommended that future government support policies be adopted in a way that reduces risks arising from the effects of climate change and, consequently, improves the convergence gap in productivity among the studied provinces.

The current study aimed to examine the process of choosing linking words and solving transitional problems in written tasks. To this end, 30 EFL learners (15 males and 15 females) from one language institute in Bushehr were selected for this study. They were asked to write an argumentative and a narrative task. To collect the data, Articulated Thoughts in a Simulated Situation (ATSS), as a think-aloud protocol, was employed. The participants' verbalizations were first recorded, then transcribed and analyzed to examine the cognitive process they engaged in during the completion of their tasks. The results of qualitative data analysis revealed that EFL learners often tended to organize their ideas and have a general plan for the written tasks. More specifically, they differed in terms of attention to different stages of writing, hesitations to monitor the information and various strategies for choosing linking words and problem-solving. This study discusses the results and implications for EFL learners and teachers.

In this research the factors affecting the willingness of Saman almond and peach orchardists to pay per cubic meter of zayanderood’s water in 2018 according to logit model was studied. Based on the obtained data from face-to-face interviews and the questionnaires filled by 152 orchardists according to random sampling method, the willingness to pay by the gardeners per cubic meter of water was estimated as 14860 Rials. The results of logit model also reveal that the education level, distance from the river, garden price, garden age and the type of product have a positive effect on people willingness to pay while the suggested price, horticultural history and the rate of water right have a negative effect on that. Since possibility of willingness to pay has a direct relationship with the education level and a reverse relationship with horticultural history, it is suggested to teach the importance and value of water to the orchardists by performing promotion education classes.

In the present essay, the researchers aim to study two famous novels, "The Crossing" and "The Road," in the light of Deleuzian geocritical concepts such as nomad, rhizome, smooth space, and war machine. Studying space and place in American literature is a new trend. Space and landscape, considered smooth space and striated space in Deleuze and Guattari's nomadology, are significantly highlighted in American literature. By drawing on Deleuze and Guattari's view of a rhizome, which does not follow any plans or structures, the novel can be regarded as a rhizomatic structure in which the characters with nomadic existence move freely in a smooth space- a space without an explicit beginning and a clear destination. Portraying American space and landscape is a dominant theme in Cormac McCarthy's novels, including "The Crossing" and "The Road," in which the characters move from a rooted life to a nomadic life. Through examining these two novels, this paper is going to investigate the movement of nomadic characters in the smooth space of the postmodern world. Moreover, through exploring the relationship between literature, space, and identity, drawing on the philosophical ideas of Deleuze and Guattari, this paper is going to expose to what extent the representation of spaces in literature can reflect and shape cultural and national identities.

The analysis of export efficiency as the performance of the exporting country in achieving the market of a country according to its capabilities has been considered by researchers and policy makers in recent years. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the export efficiency of Iran's agricultural products with member countries of the economic cooperation organization (ECO) over three periods. For this purpose, the stochastic frontier gravity model has been used. Based on the results, the variables of economic difference, common border and economic sanctions have had significantly positive effect on Iran's agricultural exports to ECO member countries. The findings of export efficiency indicated that despite the increasing trend of Iran's export efficiency in the market of ECO countries, the amount is not equal to 100 and Iran has not used all its potential capacities. In 2013-2018, the lowest and highest efficiency are related to Kyrgyzstan (20.7) and Afghanistan (29.8), respectively. Accordingly, despite the increase in exports to ECO countries, Iran has encountered with highly unused capacities approximately 70%. Since the highest efficiency and export capacity of Iran is related to countries with common borders, it is suggested that regarding the uncertain political conditions for Iran and its impact on Iran's presence in world markets, exports to ECO countries especially those which have the same border should be considered more than before.

This study aimed to investigate the disparities between the language assessment pre-service education received by 100 EFL language institute teachers (including 35 men and 65 women) before entering the profession, and their perceived actual language assessment requirements. The comparison was conducted using the gap analysis method, along with a scale specifically developed for this study. The scale utilized a semantic differential Likert scale consisting of 44 items. The results demonstrated that all areas received high importance ratings (M ≥ 4.97 out of 6). The participants placed the highest importance on items related to ‘assessing different language skills and components’, while the item regarding ‘reporting assessment results to relevant stakeholders clearly and timely’ was rated as the least important area in language assessment. According to the findings, all areas received low scores (average of 3 or less out of 6) for classroom assessment preparation. The gap analysis revealed a significant disparity between the participants' perception of the importance of assessment knowledge and skills areas and their level of pre-service training. This discrepancy suggests "under-education" in classroom assessment, with the gaps being more pronounced in skills items. The implications of these findings for teacher education and classroom assessment are discussed in this study.

Recently, the sources of teachers’ beliefs and modifications in their beliefs have received special attention; therefore, this longitudinal study investigated Iranian EFL teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. The study attempted to track possible alterations in pedagogical beliefs after participating in a two-year teacher training program and following teaching practices. Through convenient sampling, the researchers selected 24 Iranian EFL teacher students who had teaching experiences of 3-10 years at Islamic Azad University; Shiraz Branch. They collected the required data through a teacher belief questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The results of both quantitative and qualitative data indicated that teaching practices made a unique influence on the modifications in teachers’ pedagogical beliefs. In other words, the results emphasized the power of teaching practice in any modification in teachers’ beliefs over theoretical teaching. These findings have important implications for teacher educators who seek to modify teachers’ beliefs during teacher training programs.

One of the important reasons for the low per capita consumption of fish, especially farmed fish, is the fear of fish being unhealthy due to the use of antibiotics, chemical poisons, chemical drugs and the low health of fish breeding ponds. So, an attention to organic fish production in Iran can lead to an increase in consumption of such an organic product which would become a vital product by consumers. It should be noted that according to the information available in the Iranian Fisheries Organization (IFO), no organic or healthy fish products are currently grown in Iran, and this is an important reason for the low level of farmed fish consumption in the country; in addition, with the establishment of a healthy fish market, besides benefiting the consumer, the producer would also have a kind of competitive advantage, leading to an increase in demand for his healthy product and benefits in this way. Therefore, this study aimed mainly at investigating the willingness of people to pay for healthy farmed salmon, and its innovation was the research on healthy fish while there were used to be conducted the research on consumer behavior in Iran due to the lack of a market for this product.  In this study, the conditional valuation method was used to determine the factors affecting the consumers' willingness to overpay for organic salmon products compared to non-organic ones. This method tries to find out the willingness to pay by preparing a questionnaire and referring to people. Considering that the type of dependent variable in this research was discrete and sequential and had an order in classes and actually showed different levels of consumers' willingness to pay additional fees, to investigate the factors affecting consumers' willingness to pay, the ordinal logit model was used. This type of model is frequently used in survey studies where respondent preferences are categorized as ratings. According to previous similar studies and the research literature, variables such as income, gender, job, marital status, education, awareness of organic products, price or quality preferences, history of consuming organic products, trust in the product health certificate and authorities issuing this certificate and the household’s monthly amount of fish consumption could affect people's willingness to pay for the healthy fish. The statistical population studied in this research included Tehran citizens, and Cochran's formula was used to select the sample size by the information collected through 30 preliminary questionnaires; and finally, the sample size was estimated to be 398 people who were interviewed using the clustered classification method and the desired model was estimated using STATA 17 software. The study results indicated an average willingness to pay by 55 percent., so that the interviewed people were willing to pay 55 percent more than the price of normal fish for the organic/healthy fish. Considering the 30 percent increase in the cost of producing the healthy fish compared to the normal fish, it would also result in good profitability for the producers. The final impact of the age index in the first three groups was positive. This meant that with the increase in age, the probability of people being placed in low groups of willingness to pay would increase; in other words, the credibility of these people's presence in groups with a high willingness to pay would decrease. According to the results, if the person in question was a man, the probability of his placement in the first three groups with the lower willingness to pay would decrease, and the probability of his placement in the three groups with a higher willingness to pay would increase; in addition, the probability of placing married people in the groups with the willingness to pay higher would increase, so that when a person gets married, the probability of being placed in group 4 equals 0.53, group 5 equals 0.31 and group 6 equals 0.92 percent will increase. With the increase of each year to the years of education, the probability of placing a person in the top three groups of willingness to pay would increase and the probability of placing him in the bottom three groups would decrease. The probability of employees being placed in the bottom three groups was less and the probability of them being placed in the top three groups of willingness to pay would increase, compared to people with other jobs. According to the sign of the final impact of the income group variable, it was clear that if a person's income increased by one level, the probability of his placement in the first to third groups of willingness to pay would decrease by 2.4, 1.3 and 0.09 percent, respectively while the probability of his placement in the fourth, fifth and sixth groups would increase by 1.1, 0.6 and 2 percent, respectively. But the individual's awareness variable would also have a positive impact on his willingness to pay, so that with an increase in a person's awareness of healthy and organic products, the probability of his placement in groups 4, 5 and 6 would increase by 1.2, 0.7 and 2 percent, respectively. But if an individual's agreement with the fact that the quality was more important than the price in buying the desired product increased by one level, the probability of his being placed in the first to third groups would decrease by 7.5, 4 and 0.2 percent, respectively as well as while the probability of his presence decreased in groups four to six, it would increase by 3.6, 2.1 and 6.2 percent, respectively. The results of the estimation of the ordinal logit model showed the positive effect of the variables including gender, education, employment, income level, level of awareness, number of consumption times per month and quality orientation index. On the other hand, the lack of trust variable would also have a negative effect on the willingness to pay. The awareness index had also a positive and significant effect on people's willingness to pay; and considering that less than 25 percent of people in the society had proper information about the importance of consumption and production of organic products, this issue would become more necessary and important. This result showed the very high importance of paying attention to the cultivation of organic and healthy products from the production to the consumption stages at the community level. Considering the fact that people who believed that the quality of the product was more important than its price, we can also reach the high importance of consumer education. By promoting the mindset that the quality and health of food products is more important than its price among other members of the society, its demand and as a result, the overall health of the society can also be improved.

Today, in order to provide food security and respond to the increasing demand due to population growth, most countries, including Iran, have paid special attention to wheat production. The adoption of incentive policies by governments to increase the production of this product has led to the widespread use of various production inputs, including chemical fertilizers, which have the possibility of soil and water pollution. The increase of these pollutions has caused a change of attitude in the field of food production. One of the most important of these attitudes is the sustainable production of sufficient food along with attention to social, economic and environmental dimensions. Therefore, in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to optimize and increase the environmental efficiency and cost in the consumption of chemical fertilizer inputs. For this purpose, this study has investigated the cost and environmental efficiency of wheat farmers in Gachsaran using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. The required data were obtained using simple random sampling method and completing the questionnaire from the farmers of Lishter Plain in Gachsaran in 2018. The results showed that the average cost efficiency under the assumption of constant return to scale and variable return to scale is 0.536 and 0.662, respectively, and the average environmental efficiency is 0.569 and 0.691, respectively. Therefore, the improvement in technical efficiency can significantly reduce production costs and environmental inefficiencies for farmers. Therefore, it is recommended that the government, in addition to training farmers in the optimal use of chemical inputs, by applying support policies, encourages wheat farmers towards organic cultivation and production so that while providing their income, a healthier product reaches the hands of consumers and improves their environmental performance.

The drop in the level of underground water and the subsequent subsidence of more than 20 cm of land in the plains of Alborz province of Iran has now become one of the biggest environmental concerns of the province. On the other hand, excessive extraction of underground water sources in this province will lead to a big disaster in the near future, and in order to prevent this, volumetric meters have been installed in the province. Therefore, the approach of setting up a water market in this situation is one of the best measures that can be taken into consideration. In this study, Hashtgerd Plain in Alborz province, as the most important agricultural region of the province, which consumes 87.23 percent of surface water resources and 90 percent of underground water resources in the agricultural sector, was studied in order to investigate the effects of water market simulation. In this study, the demand function was estimated using a Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) model (aiming at estimating the equilibrium price) as it is more compatible with real conditions. The PMP and production functions of Statewide Agricultural Production (SWAP) are among the techniques used to simulate a water market and study the effects of its formation, the role of a water market in economic value changes, etc.Step 1: Zonation of the study area and collection of required dataStep 2: Solving the linear programming model and determining dual values ​​or shadow prices ​​of constraintsStep 3: Estimation of the secondary Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production functionStep 4: Estimation of the original CES production functionStep 5: Estimation of the exponential cost functionStep 6: Estimation of demand functions of agricultural products based on endogenous pricesStep 7: Building the final planning model and explaining the calibrated PMP modelFor this purpose, using the information collected in the form of a questionnaire and referring to relevant organizations for the years 2015-2016, the Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) model was estimated with the approach of regional production functions of agricultural products and the demand function was extracted. Accordingly, the equilibrium price of water in the Hashtgerd Plain was estimated 3394 IRI rials per cubic meter, which would save more than 28 percent in water consumption. With the implementation of this policy, the welfare of water buyers would decrease and the welfare of water sellers would increase. Therefore, if policies such as increasing the efficiency of irrigation systems are implemented at the same time as the water market is launched, there will be a smaller decrease in the level of welfare. It can be concluded that the required water resources were 234.5 million m3 before the formation of the proposed water market in the Hashtgerd Plain of Alborz province. After the water market formation and the application of market prices (3,394 IRI rials/m3), the use of water input will reduce to 167.32 million m3, i.e., a 28.6 percent saving in water resources. The minimum and maximum water prices are 3282 and 7282 IRI rials/m3, respectively, in the simulated market. After the water market formation, the cropping pattern will undergo changes in the region, which are different for the groups of water input buyers and sellers. The sellers tend to reduce the area under cultivation of all crops, except for wheat, due to the low water requirement of this crop, compared to the other crops. This means that the revenue from the sale of water to applicants is more than that of cultivating the crops in these conditions. The buyers will also reduce crops with high water requirements and increase the cultivation of the other crops. Increasing the efficiency of irrigation systems is one of the policies that, if accomplished in parallel with the water market formation, will lead to an increase in the welfare of water buyers to compensate for their lost welfare after the water market formation. According to the results of the calculations, the following recommendations are presented regarding water resource management using the formation of a water market:To prevent the reduction of farmers' welfare, policymakers are recommended to simultaneously implement supportive policies, such as supporting the increase of the irrigation system efficiency (and other inputs). Considering that increasing the price to the equilibrium limit will cause a sudden shock to the sector, it is suggested to first determine the minimum obtained price (3,282 IRI rials/m3) as the market price. This price is closer to the economic value and, with a saving of approximately 15 percent also covers step-wise policies of water use reduction (approved by the IRI Sixth Development Plan). Since it is possible to save water resources after a water market formation, IRI Department of Environment (DOE), as the responsible organization, is recommended to adopt a measure to prevent water extraction from the land by the water sellers and, in return, provide them with the benefits of selling water. In other words, a water market will be formed between farmers and the DOE by redeeming a portion of the shares of water rights owned by the farmers. Another recommendation of this study is efforts to change the cropping pattern in the region with the approach of cultivating crops that have higher yields and more income with less use of water. Further studies on medicinal plants are also recommended in this regard.

The pastures of the country are one of the main sources of production and provide an important part of the fodder needed by livestock. In the Zagros region, these resources are very important. Also, due to high destruction in Lorestan province, grazing projects are of great importance in this province. Therefore, due to the importance of protecting natural resources, developing strategies for the protection and exploitation of these resources and identifying the components hindering participation are felt as a fundamental necessity. People's participation in any project guarantees the implementation and sustainability of that project. This issue is more important in the protection of natural resources, because issues related to the environment and natural resources are intertwined with the lives of communities, and the success of any kind of program will require the participation of these communities.

The main problem faced by the planners of the General Department of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Lorestan province is the non-participation of pastoralists in the implementation of pastoral plans, considering their effective role in maintaining and revitalizing pastures, which has made such programs unsuccessful. Is. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to investigate the causes of the non-participation of the users with an emphasis on education from the point of view of experts in this province. The collection of data and information in this research was done through 20 questionnaires from experts of the whole province of Lorestan) and in order to analyze the data of this study, Spss21 and Expert Choice11 software were used.

The results showed that structural, managerial, and economic barriers are three important factors preventing non-participation. The summary of the results of this research shows that in order to improve the conditions of pastures with the approach of more participation of the users for the studied area and similar areas, the abilities and opinions of the users and experts should be used. Considering the position that the village and the villagers have in the dynamics of the country's economy, such as helping the economic growth, controlling the inflation rate, increasing the employment rate and activity, they can be a suitable platform for agricultural, livestock, industrial and service products, preserving the environment and security, and cultural norms. and social, to provide security and border guarding. Therefore, drawing a road map that determines the role of villages in the planning system of the country is of special importance. Meanwhile, training is always considered as a sure way to improve performance quality and solve management problems, and its lack is one of the basic issues. Training is a fundamental task for better management and a continuous and permanent process. The results also showed that the lack of training is one of the important factors preventing the participation of users. Therefore, by implementing educational programs, holding gatherings and exhibitions, this participation can be increased and improve pastures.

The summary of the results of this research shows that in order to improve the conditions of pastures with the approach of more participation of the users for the study area and similar areas, the capabilities and opinions of the users and experts should be used in order to prepare, plan and implement plans based on their needs, priorities and desires. Pasture management should be provided and, in the future, we can witness the improvement of pasture management as well as the protection, modification and revival of pastures along with the increase of livestock production with the least problems at the level of any customary system as economic-social units.

Eco-criticism brings a change in literary studies by linking literary criticism and theory with the ecological issues at large. Eco criticism proceeds a call to literature to connect to the issues of today’s environmental crisis. In other words, ecocriticism is instantly concerned with both nature and the environment. A new eco-literary discourse can statement nature's voice without permeating it with human primacy. As Hughes (2009) debates, even though eco-criticism has become a field in literary theory and the extensive landscape of environmental history, it could benefit from an enhanced framework. Environmental History is relevant to numerous things, including the history of the mutual relations between the human race and remnants of nature. It studies the related effects that other types, natural powers, and sequences have on human beings, and the web of connections with non-human organisms and entities has been affected by the actions of individuals. This study attempts to analyze Philippa Gregory’s “The Other Boleyn Girl”</em> and “Virgin Earth”</em> based on the features of environmental history as a model of ecocriticism.  In her novels, Gregory tries to define the true history and surroundings of the 16th</sup> and 18th</sup> centuries of Britain, particularly among the kings and queens who are seeking power even with the war. First, concerning the features of environmental history, a model of analysis will be structured. Then, the analysis of Gregory’s selected novels based on these features will be indicated. Finally, the results of the analysis will be discussed to confirm how it can be implied as a novel’s approach to literary theory.

The latest approach in the field of urban regeneration is sustainable and integrated urban regeneration. For this purpose, in this article, the identification and evaluation of the sustainable and integrated regeneration model in the Darwaze Ray neighborhood in the city of Qom has been discussed.

The research method was applied and descriptive-analytical. The statistical population of the research was the heads of households in the Darwaze Ray neighborhood of Qom with a number of 3280 people and city managers active in the field of re-creating the historical fabric of Qom city. The sample size was determined for 364 citizens and 30 managers, which was determined by Cochran's method and sample adequacy. The sampling method was randomly classified (block survey) for citizens and snowballed for city managers. The method of data analysis was using factor analysis, T-Test, and structural equation methods. The results indicate that from the point of view of city officials and managers (experts), sustainable and integrated regeneration occurs when the existing local conditions are taken into consideration along with the various characteristics of the historical context, including the prominence and protection of historical monuments.

The correlation coefficients of the final model showed that the structure of the integration of the urban management system with a coefficient of 0.820 is dependent on sustainable regeneration processes, and at the same time, the strong feature of prominence and texture protection is also dependent on measures and the success rate of sustainable regeneration with a coefficient of 0.941, and strongly Strong correlation is associated; Therefore, it can be said that sustainable regeneration is possible in an integrated situation with comprehensive and comprehensive action measures.

The purpose of this article is to present a model of sustainable and integrated urban regeneration in the historical context of the Darwaze Ray neighborhood in Qom city. The results indicate that the physical, social, economic, and environmental conditions in the neighborhood in question are unfavorable and the practical measures in this regard have not been able to help to recreate the texture of this neighborhood. From a physical point of view, there are few facilities and public services in the neighborhood of Darwaza Ray, and the quality of the texture is fine and unstable. From the social point of view, the conditions of safety and well-being in this neighborhood are low and there are many defenseless spaces in it. Also, the literacy level of the residents is average and many immigrants live in this neighborhood. In terms of economic conditions, there are no opportunities for employment and activity in the neighborhood, and less attention is paid to investing and creating economic opportunities in this neighborhood. Also, from an environmental point of view, the findings of the research showed that the neighborhood in question has low environmental health and green space quality, and environmental pollution is high in it; The average of the items of each of the different dimensions of urban regeneration in this neighborhood was average (3) and below the average.

Every year, Iran supplies a large amount of corn through imports, and this issue, along with the increasing trend of dependence on corn, has made Iran as one of the major importers of corn in the world. In this paper, by studying the price behavior of corn in the market of corn producing countries in the world, including Brazil, Ukraine, Russia, India, USA and Argentina, the hypothesis of corn market integration and the law of one price were tested. The data used were monthly and from September 2004 to December 2021. The results show that the global corn trade is formed in a fully integrated market and the data of each market like price fluctuation signals are transmitted to each other. In addition, the global corn market follows the law of one price and the goods of each market were perfect substitutes for each other. The price leadership test also showed that the United States has a leading role in the market due to the high production and supply of corn, and other producers adjust the price of their product based on the price discovered in the US market.

Linking words, an essential tool in creating a coherent relationship between units and paragraphs in written texts, was one of several aspects of the English language that was challenging for many foreign language learners in the writing process. The current study investigated the impacts of flipped blended instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ use of English-linking words in writing. To this end, 40 EFL learners from one institute were selected for this study. To collect the data, an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was used to ensure the homogeneity of the participants. They were randomly divided into the flipped blended (n=20)  and conventional ( n=20)  groups. Then, a pre-test was given to both groups of learners to examine their ability in using linking words.  Moreover, the flipped blended group received instruction in an online context, while the conventional group received instruction in a traditional learning context. After the treatment, a post-test was given to both the flipped blended and conventional groups. The results of the independent sample t-test demonstrated that there was a statistically significant difference between flipped blended and Conventional groups in terms of choosing linking words. It was observed that the flipped blended method had a  significant effect on improving EFL learners' linking words knowledge. The study discusses the implications of the finding for EFL learners and teachers.

The real exchange rate, which measures the changes in relative prices and costs with a common currency, is the most important measure of competitiveness. Thus, in this study, relying on the available evidence and the econometric model, the determinants of the behavior of the real exchange rate in the Iranian economy were examined. For this purpose, firstly, the real exchange rate was calculated and then, using the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), the impact of important economic factors on it was analyzed during the period of 1978-2018. The findings indicated the continuous downward trend of the real exchange rate during the last two decades (except for the years 2011, 2016 and 2017), which led to a decrease in the competitiveness of domestically produced products compared to imported goods, and this decrease was caused by the adjustment of the exchange rate. The nominal currency is disproportionate to the difference in domestic and foreign inflation. The study findings showed the negative effect of oil export income and non-oil trade balance variables and the positive effect of the money volume to budget deficit variable in the long term on the real exchange rate. It is recommended that the calculated real exchange rate and the analysis of its behavior pattern used in the present study to estimate the equilibrium exchange rate in order to evaluate economic policies such as agricultural policies.

The present study was conducted to identify Socio-economic factors affecting trout farming in Fars province. The results indicate that on average, fish farming was not technically and environmentally efficient. Also, the results of Tobit regression indicate that the education, participation in training classes, aquaculture experience, and income have a positive and significant effect and the farm`s area has a negative and significant effect on technical efficiency. The results also indicate that education, participation in training classes, and income have a positive and significant effect on environmental efficiency. The attitude towards sustainability was significant and had a positive effect on environmental efficiency. since changing the attitude towards sustainability have a significant effect on environmental protection, so it is suggested to teach about environmental effects along with economic issues in training classes to improve the attitude and awareness of sustainability.

There are two different trends for the study of metadiscourse, including interactive and reflexive. The reflexive model suggested by (Mauranen, 1993) and (Ädel, 2010) cares about reflexivity in language. As reflexivity plays a pivotal role in spoken genres, this study aimed to study the frequency and functions of reflexive metadiscourse markers in academic interviews. Hence, this study focused on a corpus of three academic interviews carried out in English native academic context that was taken from “The Michigan Corpus of Academe Spoken English” (MICASE). The corpus was analyzed using the model by Ädel that includes four functional categories of metalinguistic comments, discourse organization, speech act labels, and references to the audiences. The results showed that about one-quarter of the personal pronouns were metadiscourse. Besides, among the personal pronouns that perform metadiscourse function, singular first-person pronoun was the most frequent while plural first-person pronoun was very rare. It was also found that among the four functions, the interviewees and interviewers paid more attention to metalinguistic comments and references to the audience. The results of this study could add to the knowledge of those participating in interviews in general and in the academic context in particular.

This study deals with the semantic nature of the motor actions of Mazandaran language by emphasizing the dominant pattern for distributing information related to the way and movement, how to represent multiple information of the path and multiple information of the method. Since almost all researches on the semantics of motor actions of Iranian languages and dialects have been done about Persian language based on the cognitive approach and patterns of Talmudic lexicography (1985 and 2000b), the present study can It should be a step towards filling this gap in the field of other Iranian languages and dialects and a starting point in this regard. The approach of this study to the motor verbs of Mazandaran language, especially non-simple verbs in line with the view of Azkia et al. (2015) about simple motor verbs in Persian language has been formed within the framework of lexical patterns. In the present study, simple and uncomplicated lexical verbs are placed in a group as opposed to functional simple verbs. The 140 body verbs of this study include 39 simple verbs, 57 simple verbal verbs and 44 simple functional verbs. The main question of this research is what is the dominant pattern for distributing information about the method, path and movement in Mazandaran language? As a result of this research, it can be pointed out that in the Mazandaran language, it is not possible to determine a dominant pattern for the distribution of information related to method, route and movement. Motor verbs translate this information almost equally. According to this study, out of 140 motor verbs in Mazandaran, 96 verbs (68.57% of the total verbs) have been lexical and 44 verbs (31.43% of the total verbs) are functional.