Social capital, participation in agricultural production cooperatives and economic empowerment among farmers in Isfahan, Iran

The present thesis is an investigation of participation, social capital and farmer’s economic empowerment (FEE) in agricultural production cooperatives (APCs) in the rural area in Isfahan Province in Iran. It aims to develop a framework for empowerment to analyze farmer’s economic empowerment. This current thesis begins with an exploration of empowerment and it argues about the concept and philosophy and theories of empowerment. It then builds a conceptual framework of farmer’s economic empowerment. Using this framework, three elements of farmer’s economic empowerment (FEE) are outlined as follow: enterprise development of farmers, financial assets and marketing strategies. It continues with an explanation of dimensions of articipation, subjective and objective participation. Then, it builds a conceptual framework for social capital.Three proxies of social capital and two proxies of participation were measured in this study,among which social trust appeared as the contributing factor or key function of economic empowerment. It was the most significant social capital variable which contributed to the level of overall economic empowerment of members of APCs. Objective participation, subjective participation and social solidarity were also found to be the key factors in enhancing the farmer's economic empowerment. It is concluded that social trust and social solidarity as two dimensions of social capital and participation are positively affecting on economic empowerment of farmers in agricultural production cooperatives in Isfahan Province in Iran

The Adult Goods Approach To Child Gender Bias: Evidence From Iran

This paper provides non-parametric evidence, from an Iranian budget survey, of the child gender effects on adults consumption. The outcome is contrary to the commonly-held opinion that the adults goods approach is not effective in revealing the presence of such effects. The evidence of pro-boy bias obtained in this study appears almost unchanged when examined against a variety of controls

Reconfigurable Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonators and Filters Employing Electric-field-induced Piezoelectricity and Negative Piezoelectricity for 5G

The ever-expanding wireless communications and sensing are influencing every aspect of human life. With the persistent demand for higher data capacity and recent advancements in wireless technologies, the design of current radio frequency front-end circuitry in communication devices calls for transformative changes. Frequency band proliferation is the biggest contributor to the added RF front-ends complexity in the design of future radios. To operate at various frequency bands, a complex combination of switches and filters is used in mobile devices, and the number of these frequency selective components in each device is expected to exceed 100 with the advent of 5th generation (5G) communication networks. Acoustic wave filters based on piezoelectric materials are the primary technologies employed in current communication systems, including mobile phones. Alternatively, the integration of multifunctional ferroelectric materials into reconfigurable frequency selective components promises reduced complexity, diminished size, and high performance for future radios, enabling them to support 5G wireless technologies and beyond. A promising reconfigurable bulk acoustic wave technology, employing electric-field-induced piezoelectricity and negative piezoelectricity in ferroelectrics, is presented in this dissertation. Successful implementation of ferroelectric filters would eliminate the need for external switcheplexers in the RF front-ends and reduce the number of required filters, leading to a significant reduction in size, cost, and complexity. Contributions of this work are categorized into three major parts. In the first part, an intrinsically switchable thin film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) based on ferroelectric BST with the highest figure of merit (i.e., Q_m×K_t^2) in the literature is presented. The BST FBARs are then employed to design intrinsically switchable filters with the lowest insertion loss to date. Such filters combine filtering and switching functionalities onto a single device, eliminating the need for external switches in RF front-ends. The second part of this work focuses on the development of frequency and bandwidth reconfigurable filters based on BST FBARs. The first switchless acoustic wave filter bank is presented in chapter 3, demonstrating the capability of BST FBARs in simplifying future agile radios. Next, a novel bandwidth reconfigurable filter based on BST FBARs is introduced in chapter 4, where the idea is experimentally validated with multiple design examples. Finally, through rigorous mathematical analysis and experimental validation, it has been demonstrated that a dynamic ‘non-uniform piezoelectric coefficient’ created within a composite structure made up of multi-layers of ferroelectrics allows the selective excitation of different mechanical Eigenmodes with a constant electromechanical coupling coefficient. Such technology overcomes the fundamental limitations associated with the electromechanical coupling coefficient of harmonic resonances in bulk acoustic wave resonators. To create ‘non-uniform piezoelectric coefficients’ in such structures, ferroelectrics’ electric-field-induced piezoelectricity and negative piezoelectricity has been exploited. This innovative technology provides a fundamentally new approach and a framework for synthesizing programmable frequency selective components, which leads to transformative advances in wireless systems’ front-end architecture. As part of the future direction, it is suggested that the multilayer structure presented in this section to be further studies as part of a new acoustic wave resonator design, which: (a) is capable of operation at a wide frequency range up to mm-wave frequencies designated for 5G (b). Such a structure has the potential to overcome the fundamental limitation of acoustic resonator’s ever-decreasing electromechanical coupling factors (Kt2) as their frequency of operation increases.PHDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163011/1/milad_1.pd

Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Pediatric Cancer Patients

AbstractObjectives Childhood malignancies raise a range of medical, psychological and social concerns. Identifying psychiatric disorders along with providing mental health services to prevent the emergence and aggravation of mental health problems in children seems necessary in pediatric hospitals. We aimed to find out the frequency of probable emotional and behavioral disorders among children and adolescents with malignancy.Materials & MethodsThis was a cross sectional study conducted at Hematology-Oncology Ward of Mofid Hospital, Tehran, Iran in 2017-2018. Emotional and behavioral disorders was assessed in 399 pediatric patients with malignancy, aged 5 to 12 years, using the Parent Checklist of CSI-4. All data analyses performed using the Stata 14 at 95% sig-value.Results: In all, 89.2% of sample met diagnostic criteria for at least one disorder. The most prevalent psychiatric disorders were special phobia (57%) enuresis (41.9%) Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (45.6%) and Separation Anxiety disorder (30.3%). Our results did not show significant gender and disease type differences in prevalence of psychiatric disorders.Conclusion: Prevalence of emotional and behavioral disorders in pediatric patients with malignancy admitted in the children’s hospital is common. These disorders affect on the treatment and quality of life of pediatric patients. Therefore, these findings may guide parents, nurses and clinicians to become more careful about identification and management of them

Sociological Explanation of the Relationship between Gender and Reading among Ahvaz Citizens

This study aimed to investigate the effect of gender on the amount and type of reading. This study was descriptive. The research population consisted of people over 15 years of age in Ahvaz city. A multistage random sampling technique was used, and the data were collected using a questionnaire. The independent t-test and contingency table were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that gender could affect reading, and women had more reading time than men. Also, there were differences in reading interests based on gender. Women were more likely than men to read popular books. Still, men were more elitist and were more likely to read non-fiction books than popular works. Men were more likely to read intellectual and cultural magazines, while women tended to read more popular ones. Besides, women and men had different reading interests in different sections of the newspapers. The deep familiarity of readers with discovering the level and type of reading and defining a developmental plan for reading can provide a valuable guide to policy-making for promoting reading by trusted institutions.https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.20088302.2021.19.2.5.