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Copyright of Journal of Agricultural Science & Technology is the property of Tarbiat Modares University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this study was to identify Professional Competencies (PCs), including General and Specific Competencies (GSCs), of Agricultural Teachers (ATs) working with Students with Special Needs (SSNs), known as exceptional students (1,013 people), in Vocational High School Education System (VHSES) in Iran, within two phases. Accordingly, the main objective of the first phase was to identify General Competencies (GCs) of these teachers. Therefore, in the first phase, the components of teachers' GCs were taken from theoretical literature and research documents via content analysis and the findings revealed that the GCs encompassed 6 components of Instruction Design (ID), Professional Development (PD), Professional Ethics (PEs), cooperation, Perceived Student Diversity (PSD), and technology. The objective of the second phase of this study was also to find Specific Competencies (SCs) of ATs working with SSNs. This phase of the study was conducted using the classical 3-step Delphi technique. In this respect, the specialized Delphi team consisted of 22 ATs working at Iran's Exceptional Schools (ESs), selected through purposive sampling method. Finally, the findings reduced to the identification of 24 SCs for ATs working with SSNs, which were then grouped into two categories of Agricultural Competencies (ACs) and Exceptional Competencies (ECs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of accountability of government organizations to address the needs of stakeholders and the private sector and the provision of low-quality services to clients has increased dissatisfaction with government services. Therefore, providing quality services is essential to increase satisfaction with government organizations. Extension services are one of the main components of sustainable agriculture development in Iran and are provided to farmers through the Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Organization (AREEO). Considering the low level of farmers' satisfaction with extension services, development of a system for assessing farmers' satisfaction as a strategic project has been emphasized. This study was conducted to develop the components of farmers' satisfaction with extension services and determine the factors affecting their satisfaction, in 2019. In this study, the classic Delphi method was used during three rounds. The expert panel consisted of nine university faculty members, 14 faculty members of AREEO, and 19 headquarters extension experts (n= 42). Delphi results led to the selection of 37 components to assess the satisfaction of farmers with the extension services. These components were classified using the constant comparative method in four main factors. These factors include technical and professional features of the extension experts, service quality, perceived effectiveness, and policy, management, and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human well-being is one of the main goals of sustainable rural development. Indeed, human well-being demonstrates rural societies' quality of life. This concept consists of objective and subjective well-being dimensions. Although it is assumed that objective well-being is rationally related to subjective well-being, this relationship has not been fully confirmed in past studies. Three main reasons including the geographical level of assessment, the type of data used, and different epistemological perspectives have separated objective well-being assessment from the subjective one. We used the same geographical level, type of data used, as well as epistemological perspective in order to evaluate the relationship between objective well-being and subjective well-being among rice farmers. Using a questionnaire, a survey was carried out among 384 rice farmers (Response rate= 92.3%) in the main rice cultivation areas in Iran. The study sample was chosen by a two-stages cluster random sampling technique. Face to face personal interview was also used as the form of data collection. The results of structural equation modeling illustrated that farmers' perception of economic, social, and environmental well-being as objective well-being domains significantly explained their subjective well-being constructs including happiness as well as life satisfaction. In fact, life satisfaction and happiness would be changed once farmers mentally perceive objective well-being domains. Therefore, objective well-being indicators can affect subjective well-being constructs, including life satisfaction and happiness, if they are assessed based on farmers' self-evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to identify strategies for the application of pro-environmental technologies for greenhouse vegetable production in Tehran Province, Iran. It is an applied research type whose main instrument is a questionnaire. The population of the study consisted of 109 experts in Tehran Province, of which 86 experts were selected by stratified random sampling method (based on Krejcie and Morgan's table). The questionnaire was revised with the help of the experts who had significant experience in crop protection to ensure the validity of the instrument. A pilot study was conducted on 22 experts in Alborz Province to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Cronbach's Alpha scores were acceptable for different sections of the questionnaire (0.71- 0.82), so, the instrument was reliable. The research methodology is descriptive, and the SWOT analysis was used. First, the internal environment was analyzed to prepare a list of strengths and weaknesses in applying pro-environmental technologies, and then, a list of opportunities and threats were identified by analyzing the external environment. Some derived strategies include the development of appropriate mechanisms to control the sale and use of pesticides by removing barriers to registration, mass production, storage, handling, transport and consumption of biological agents, and reinforcement of the knowledge of greenhouse owners regarding biological control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation of Conservation Agriculture (CA) project is a process of multi-participation that involves actors from agricultural researchers and scientists, extension agents, private consulting firms, pioneer farmers, rural cooperatives, family members, peer farmers, etc. The social interactions between farmers and actors drive the CA development. Therefore, this study analyzes the social network structures and characteristics of various actors by social network analysis in seven processes of applying CA in Iran. The research sample was composed of farmers who participated in the CA project in three provinces of Fars, Golestan, and Khuzestan (n= 133). The research instrument was a questionnaire that was designed as a matrix. The findings showed that pioneer farmers, CA farmers, and family members were the main actors in the farmers' social network. It can be concluded that these actors were the main social power in applying CA principles by farmers and they constituted the main centrality of the farmers' social network. It means that farmers are more likely to interact with local actors, and they interact less with the government and the actors outside the rural community. Therefore, it can be recommended that social power should be identified and project management should be organized through them in attempts to implement CA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have affected all sectors including the agricultural sector. ICTs play an essential role in sharing knowledge and information and networking among different actors of the agricultural sector. Agricultural researchers, as the main actors of generating and developing knowledge and technology, need to use the unique capacities of ICTs. The current situation of access to ICTs and the extent and skill of agricultural researchers in using ICTs need to be evaluated to take advantage of this capacity. In this study, 141 researchers from six agricultural research institutes of Iran were selected by multi-stage random sampling method to survey their access, purpose, skill, and extent of using ICTs. The findings indicated that researchers had access to the main ICT tools such as computers and the Internet. Researchers mainly used ICTs for information acquisition, chatting and sending messages, and finding educational materials and resources. Most of the researchers use e-mails, search engines, and social networks every day. The primary skills of most researchers were good at working with computers. Job experience and skill in using ICTs explained 46.7% of the variance of using ICTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the dangers that constantly threatens agricultural sector is soil erosion. The purpose of this study was to investigate and categorize farmers' views on the factors inhibiting the implementation of soil conservation practices in Koohdasht Township, Iran. The study was fulfilled by using descriptive-correlation method. A stratified random sample of 377 farmers was drawn from a population of 19531 farmers in the township, based on Krejcie and Morgan Table for determining sample size from a finite population. The research questionnaire was validated by a panel of faculty members of agricultural extension and education at Tarbiat Modares University (TMU) and found to have sufficient content and face validity. Using a pilot study, internal consistency reliability was demonstrated with satisfactory alpha coefficient (0.73). Descriptive and inferential statistics, i.e., factor analysis, were used to analyze the data. Factor analysis produced four factors: "economic-extension", "ecological-farming", "social-structural", and "organizational-management" which accounted for 49% of the total variance. The factors that emerged suggest the need for some executive measures to overcome the problems inhibiting the implementation of soil conservation practices in future programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is a new trend in educational sciences. This study investigates how knowledge sharing and transferring can be facilitated by using CSCL in a problem-solving setting. Intervention of research is education regarding Sustainable Water Resources Management (SWRM) by Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). The purpose of this research was to determine whether change of knowledge was accomplished after utilization of CSCL in agricultural MSc. and PhD. students of Science and Research Branch University, Ahwaz, Iran. Education by CSCL was accomplished in a two-week period. As a part of the experimental design, 173 university students were randomly assigned and divided to four groups. The first group with 43 students was labeled pretest-posttest treatment group (E). The second group, with 44 students, labeled pretest-posttest control group (C1), only received face to face education, which was known as the control group. Thus, we compared the effect of the treatment between the first and second group. The third group as the posttest-only treatment group (C2) received the CSCL, with 44 students, and the fourth group as posttest-only control group (C3) with 42 students did not receive the treatment. The results showed that there was significant difference between posttests knowledge score of C2 and C3, and E and C1. Also, there was a significant difference between pretest and posttest in the experimental group. This result indicated the impact of treatment (CSCL) on the knowledge level of students. In addition, F-test analysis showed there were significant differences among posttests in all groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of rural tourism in East Azarbaijan Province of Iran. To fulfill this objective, SWOT model analysis with Delphi technique was used as a method of refining group opinions and substituting computed consensus for an agreed-upon majority opinion. Findings indicated that favorable climate conditions, environmental potential, natural, historical and cultural tourism zones are the most important strengths, while lack of information and promotional activities to introduce rural tourism attractions and limited education and training of the villagers in how to deal with the tourists are the main weaknesses. Also, the most important opportunities include an increasing tendency to use nature for calmness and recreational activities, a growing attention by province management toward rural tourism, and investment in folklore such as music, local and traditional dress, Cultural Heritage, Handicraft, and Tourism Organization's efforts to rehabilitate and repair historic and cultural buildings, an increasing interest to visit the rural tourism areas, employment in tourism-related activities in rural areas, and appropriate legislation for the development of rural tourism. On the other hand, destruction and gradual extinction of plant and animal species caused by tourists' intervention, demolition of historic villages, lack of attention to rural tourism by extension and rural sector in the Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture, lack of or limited service providers or travel agents to visit rural areas, waste emissions and environmental damages are the main threats in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology has been shown to have promising roles in the development of various industries including the agricultural sector. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the researchers' attitude and the obstacle hampering the development of nanotechnology in the agricultural sector of Iran. The population of this study consisted of researchers in national research centers/institutes (N= 187) during the biennium, 2009- 2010. Proportional stratified random sampling was used for sample selection in the study (123). A questionnaire was developed and its validity was evaluated by a panel that consisted of the experts in the Nanotechnology Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Iran, and the faculty members of Tarbiat Modares University. A pilot test was conducted to determine the reliability of the questionnaire and Cronbach Alpha coefficient was confirmed for the scales of the questionnaire (α= 0.92). The results of this study showed that the respondents' attitude toward the significance of nanotechnology was in the range of adequate to excellent level (92%, accumulatively). On the other hand, among the 37 obstacle variables investigated, 5 factors were found to account for 69.89% of the variance of obstacle variables. These included budget hindrance, instructional difficulties, management problems, research problems, and relative-informative hardships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to identify training needs of agricultural and natural resources faculty members in the use of information technology (IT) for educational and research activities. This study used a descriptive and correlational survey method and the population of the study included all faculty members at the Tehran and Tarbiat Modares Universities, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (N=267). According to Krejcie and Morgan (1970), the sample size for a population of this size was 158. A systematic sampling technique was used to select faculty members in the study. The overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the instrument was 0.82. Findings in respect to training needs of faculty members showed that "theories and models of online education" appeared at the top of the list of training needs and the lowest level of respondents` training need were in using Microsoft Word. The T-test result showed that there were significant differences (at the 0.01 level) in the training needs level of the faculty members who had received training during the last 5 years and those who had not . In the case of those who had access to computer and the Internet and those who did not have access, training needs differed at 0.05 level of significance. The results of Pearson's correlation coefficient showed that age had a significant and positive correlation with the faculty members` training needs level of IT use in educational and research activities. In contrast, Internet use per week and willingness for online education had a significantly negative correlation with the faculty members` IT training needs. No significant relationship was revealed between teaching experiences of the respondents and their training needs level in the use of information technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]