Multifunctional Agriculture: Agriculture renewal as A Modern Paradigm for Agriculture and rural Development

Multifunctional agriculture (MFA) has emerged as a key concept in science and politics with respect to the future of agriculture and rural development in the recent decade. Overall, MFA implies that in addition to their main function in production and support of rural livelihood, the agricultural activities have some other advantages for the environment including the conservation of water and soil resources and the enhancement of food security. This paper takes a look at the benefits of MFA as a concept and path toward agricultural development from an integrated perspective within the framework of sustainable development. Also, it tries to clarify the distinction between MFA and conventional agriculture in sustainable development approaches

Identifying the Organizational Intelligence of AgricultureJihad Organization in Guilan Province, Iran

I n the modern world, organizations are considered as intelligent systems. Increased Organizational Intelligence (OI) helps organizations to effectively analyze their data, store results, and use outcomes for making professional decisions. The purpose of this study was to measure OI in Agriculture- Jihad Organization in Guilan. A sample of 201 out of personnel was selected from in Agriculture- Jihad Organization in Guilan (N=1296) through a proportional cluster sampling technique. The instrument of the study included 7 intelligence constructs measured against 49 items. Results indicated a medium level of OI in the Guilan Agricultural- Jihad Organization. Among the intelligence components, ‘shared fate’ received highest ratings and ‘appetite for change’ received the lowest ratings. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that of the seven intelligence components, the ‘heart’ explained highest proportion of variance for describing OI. Findings have implication for designing policies and developing programs for enhancing the OI. It is recommended that Agriculture- Jihad Organization in Guilan should examine and measure their OI and identify strategies to achieve a high level of OI needed for professional success

The effect of descriptive evaluation of elementary school third grade subjects on academic achievement of students

The goal of this research was the effect of descriptive evaluation of elementary school third grade subjects on academic achievement of students and its comparison with traditional evaluation. The statistical population of the research included all female third grade students of elementary schools in ZarrinShahr in academic year of 2012-2013 who were a total number of 742 students as well as the elementary school third grade teachers who were a number of 34 teachers. Among them a number of 147 students and 28 teachers were selected via cluster sampling. Research methodology in this study was of survey-descriptive type. The research tools were checklists and a questionnaire of opinion toll, made by the researcher. To assess the validity of the tools used, the face validity and content validity were used and the validity of the questionnaire was estimated as a=0.93. Chi square test was used to analyze the research questions. The results of the research showed that using different methods of descriptive evaluation has been effective in improving the students’ performances in such subjects as the Holy Quran, social sciences, arts, science & Persian, while it has not been effective in improving their performances in such subjects as heavenly gifts (the Holy Quran for elementary students) and mathematics. Finally, the results of opinion toll showed that the teachers found descriptive evaluation more suitable than traditional evaluation in evaluating all the third grade subjects of elementary school. Keywords: Evaluation, Descriptive evaluation, Traditional evaluation, Students’ performances

Identifying the Organizational Intelligence of Agriculture-Jihad Organization in Guilan Province, Iran

In the modern world, organizations are considered as intelligent systems. Increased Organizational Intelligence (OI) helps organizations to effectively analyze their data, store results, and use outcomes for making professional decisions. The purpose of this study was to measure OI in Agriculture- Jihad Organization in Guilan. A sample of 201 out of personnel was selected from in Agriculture- Jihad Organization in Guilan (N=1296) through a proportional cluster sampling technique. The instrument of the study included 7 intelligence constructs measured against 49 items. Results indicated a medium level of OI in the Guilan Agricultural- Jihad Organization. Among the intelligence components, ‘shared fate’ received highest ratings and ‘appetite for change’ received the lowest ratings. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that of the seven intelligence components, the ‘heart’ explained highest proportion of variance for describing OI. Findings have implication for designing policies and developing programs for enhancing the OI. It is recommended that Agriculture- Jihad Organization in Guilan should examine and measure their OI and identify strategies to achieve a high level of OI needed for professional success

Hydraulic flow unit and rock types of the Asmari Formation, an application of flow zone index and fuzzy C-means clustering methods

Abstract Rock types are the reservoir's most essential properties for special facies modeling in a defined range of porosity and permeability. This study used clustering techniques to identify rock types in 280 core samples from one of the wells drilled in the Asmari reservoir in the Mansouri field, SW Iran. Four hydraulic flow units (HFUs) were determined for studied data utilizing histogram analysis, normal probability analysis, and the sum of squared errors (SSE) statistical methods. Then, two flow zone index (FZI) and fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering methods were used to determine the rock types in the given well according to the results obtained from the HFU continuity index acts in-depth. The FCM method, with a continuity number of 3.12, compared to the FZI, with a continuity number of 2.77, shows more continuity in depth. The relationship between permeability and porosity improved considerably by utilizing HFU techniques. This improvement is achieved using the FZI method study. Generally, all samples increased from 0.55 to 0.81 in the first HFU and finally to 0.94 in the fourth HFU. Similar flow properties in an HFU characterized the samples. In comparison, the correlation coefficients obtained in the FCM method are less than those in the general case of all HFUs. This study aims to determine the flowing fluid in the porous medium of the Asmari reservoir employing the c-mean fuzzy logic. Also, by determining the facies of the rock units, especially the siliceous-clastic facies and log data in the Asmari Formation, the third and fourth flow units have the highest reservoir quality and permeability. Results can be compared to determining HFU in nearby wellbores without cores

Electrical facies of the Asmari Formation in the Mansouri oilfield, an application of multi-resolution graph-based and artificial neural network clustering methods

Abstract Electrofacies analysis conducted the distribution effects throughout the reservoir despite the difficulty of characterizing stratigraphic relationships. Clustering methods quantitatively define the reservoir zone from non-reservoir considering electrofacies. Asmari Formation is the most significant reservoir of the Mansouri oilfield in SW Iran, generally composed of carbonate and sandstone layers. The stratigraphical study is determined by employing 250 core samples from one exploratory well in the studied field. Five zones with the best reservoir quality in zones 3 and 5 containing sandstone/shale are determined. Moreover, multi-resolution graph-based and artificial neural network clustering involving six logs are employed. Utilizing Geolog software, an optimal model with eight clusters with better rock separation is obtained. Eventually, five electrofacies with different lithological compositions and reservoir conditions are identified and based on lithofacies describing thin sections, sandstone, and shale in zones 3 and 5 show high reservoir quality. According to the depth related to these zones, most of the facies that exist in these depths include sandstone and dolomite facies, and this is affected by the two factors of the primary sedimentary texture and the effect of the diagenesis process on them. Results can compared to the clustering zone determination in other nearby sandstone reservoirs without cores