INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL FACTORS ON AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE IN AGRICULTURE (LIVESTOCK FARMING) SECTOR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The discussion of the factors affecting the tendency to accept new technologies in developing countries is very important. Lack of use of modern technologies in developing countries, especially in the agricultural (livestock farming) sector, leads to negative effects on the quality and quantity of products and the country loses its ability to compete in the international arena. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting on Augmented Reality technology acceptance in the agricultural (livestock) sector of Iran. In this research, the dependent variable is a qualitative variable that is classified into five levels based on the theory of experts using the SWARA method. The dependent variable indicates the ability (awareness) and capability (financially) of a person to accept AR technology. We used the Multinomial Logit model due to the dependent variable is nominal and has more than two categories. The results showed that, the variables of public participation, and education have a significant effect on the willingness to adopt Augmented Reality technology at all levels among farmers.  But variable costs and the number of family labor do not have a significant effect on the willingness to accept Augmented Reality technology. The policy recommendations of this research are that councils can play an important role in raising the level of public participation and conveying the demands of the people to the government. To do this, they must receive the necessary training in order to attract public participation. This is possible through training workshops to increase the level of farmers’ awareness. &nbsp

Influence of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi, rice-husk-drived biochar and compost on dry matter yield, nutrients uptake and secondary metabolites responses of Iranian borage Echium amoenum Fisch & C. A. Mey

In einem Gewächshausversuch wurde der Einfluss von Bio-Düngern wie vesikulär-arbuskulärer Mykorrhiza, Biochar aus Reisspreu und Biokompost auf Ertrag, Nährstoffaufnahme und sekundäre Inhaltstoffe der Medizinalpflanze Echium amoneum; Fisch & C. A. Mey (iranisches Gurkenkraut) geprüft. Die Varianten waren komplett randomisiert. Alle Behandlungen zeigten signifikante Effekte auf Trockenmasse, Nährstoffaufnahme und Gehalte an Chlorophyll, Carotinoiden, Prolin, Anthocyanen, Flavonoiden, Schleimstoffen und Kohlenhydraten.This study was carried out to investigate the effect of bio-fertilizers including mycorrhiza (MY), rice husk compost (RHC), and biochar (RHB) on dry matter yield, nutrients uptake and some secondary metabolites of the medicinal plant Echium amoenum Fisch & C. A. Mey. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design and executed with six treatments and six replications. Treatments comprised of T1: control, T2: MY, T3: RHC, T4: RHB, T5: RHC+MY and T6: RHB+MY. The following parameters were studied: leaf dry weight, macro and micro nutrient uptake, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, proline, anthocyanin, flavonoid, mucilage and carbohydrate content. The results show that application of RHC, RHB and MY individually or in combination significantly affected the studied parameters in comparison with the control treatment. In all cases, combined appli­cation of bio-fertilizers together with mycorrhiza application (T5 and T6) had a more positive impact on the studied parameters compared to the application of each treatment alone

The effect of arbuscular mycorrhiza, rice husk compost and biochar on Iranian borage Echium amoenum Fisch & C. A. Mey and post-harvesting soil properties

In einem Gewächshausversuch wurde der Einfluss von Bio-Düngern, wie vesikulär-arbuskulärer Mykorrhiza, Compost und Biochar aus Azolla-Algen auf Ertrag, Ertragsstruktur sowie die Aufnahme an Haupt- und Spurenelementen von iranischem Gurkenkraut geprüft. Gegenstand der Untersuchung war auch der Nährstoffgehalt der Böden nach der Ernte, sowie deren biologische Aktivität. Alle geprüften Behandlungen zeigten im Vergleich zu den Kontrollen signifikante Effekte auf Ertrag und Nährstoffaufnahme. Höhere Bodenatmung und eine höhere mikrobielle Biomasse indizieren eine Steigerung der Fruchtbarkeit der Böden durch die Behandlungen. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2019.01.02, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2019.01.02This study was conducted to investigate the effect of rice husk compost (RHC), rice husk biochar (RHB) and mycorrhization (MY) on some properties of Iranian Echium amoenum Fisch & C. A. Mey and also on some selected post-harvesting soil properties. A completely randomized design experiment was conducted with six treatments and six replications. Treatments comprised T1: control, T2: MY, T3: RHC, T4: RHB, T5: RHC + MY and T6: RHB + MY. Studied parameters included; shoot and root fresh weights, root and leaf length, shrub height, leaf number, shoot and root NPK content, shoot and root Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn concentration, root colonization percentage, soil NPK status, soil micronutrients concentrations, soil respiration and microbial biomass. Results revealed that application of RHC, RHB and MY individually or in combination with other treatments significantly affected studied parameters. In all cases except for root colonization, combined application (T5 and T6) had more satisfied impacts compared with a single application of treatments. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2019.01.02, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2019.01.0

Impacts of PGPR, compost and biochar of Azolla on dry matter yield, nutrient uptake, physiological parameters and essential oil of Rosmarinus officinalis L.

In einem Gewächshausversuch wurde der Einfluss von Bio-Düngern wie PGPR, Compost und Biochar aus Azolla-Algen auf Ertrag, Nährstoffaufnahme und diverse Inhaltstoffe der Gewürzpflanze Rosmarin geprüft. Alle Behandlungen zeigten im Vergleich zu den Kontrollen sig­nifikante Effekte auf Ertrag, Nährstoffaufnahme und Gehalte an Chlorophyll, Carotinoiden, Flavonoiden, Kohlenhydraten, Prolin und essentielle Ölen. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2019.01.01, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2019.01.01Rosemary is one of the most important medicinal plants. In order to study the effect of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), Azolla compost and Azolla biochar on dry matter, nutrient uptake, physiological parameters and essential oil of rosemary, a greenhouse experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 6 replications. Treatments consisted of T1 (control), T2 (1% (1 g 100 g-1 dry soil) Azolla compost), T3 (1% Azolla biochar), T4 (PGPR (P. fluorescens)), T5 (1% compost + PGPR) and T6 (1% biochar + PGPR). Results indicated a significant enhancement of dry matter, nutrient uptake, photosynthetic pigments, carbohydrate, flavonoid and essential oil contents of rosemary influenced by organic fertilizers compared to control, particularly with co-appli­cation of PGPR + compost or biochar. Proline content decreased in all treatments in comparison with control. Results indicated positive impacts of PGPR, compost and boichar of Azolla on rosemary production by increasing nutrient uptake and protecting chlorophyll from degradation and enhancing its content in leaves. DOI: 10.5073/JfK.2019.01.01, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2019.01.0

A Brief Review of Molecular Techniques to Assess Plant Diversity

Massive loss of valuable plant species in the past centuries and its adverse impact on environmental and socioeconomic values has triggered the conservation of plant resources. Appropriate identification and characterization of plant materials is essential for the successful conservation of plant resources and to ensure their sustainable use. Molecular tools developed in the past few years provide easy, less laborious means for assigning known and unknown plant taxa. These techniques answer many new evolutionary and taxonomic questions, which were not previously possible with only phenotypic methods. Molecular techniques such as DNA barcoding, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) have recently been used for plant diversity studies. Each technique has its own advantages and limitations. These techniques differ in their resolving power to detect genetic differences, type of data they generate and their applicability to particular taxonomic levels. This review presents a basic description of different molecular techniques that can be utilized for DNA fingerprinting and molecular diversity analysis of plant species

Human Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation Toward Regional Specific Neural Precursors

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are self-renewing pluripotent cells that have the capacity to differentiate into a wide variety of cell types. This potentiality represents a promising source to overcome many human diseases by providing an unlimited supply of all cell types, including cells with neural characteristics. Therefore, this review summarizes early neural development and the potential of hESCs to differentiate under in vitro conditions, examining at the same time the potential use of differentiated hESCs for therapeutic applications for neural tissue and cell regeneration

Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells to Regional Specific Neural Precursors in Chemically Defined Medium Conditions

Background: Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) provide a unique model to study early events in human development. The hESC-derived cells can potentially be used to replace or restore different tissues including neuronal that have been damaged by disease or injury. Methodology and Principal Findings: The cells of two different hESC lines were converted to neural rosettes using adherent and chemically defined conditions. The progenitor cells were exposed to retinoic acid (RA) or to human recombinant basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in the late phase of the rosette formation. Exposing the progenitor cells to RA suppressed differentiation to rostral forebrain dopamine neural lineage and promoted that of spinal neural tissue including motor neurons. The functional characteristics of these differentiated neuronal precursors under both, rostral (bFGF) and caudalizing (RA) signals were confirmed by patch clamp analysis. Conclusions/Significance: These findings suggest that our differentiation protocol has the capacity to generate regionspecific and electrophysiologically active neurons under in vitro conditions without embryoid body formation, co-cultur

Studying Effect of Islamic Professional Ethics and Social Responsibility on Social Capital (Shiraz University as a case)

The Islamic ethics views dedication to work as a virtue. Social relations at work are encouraged in order to meet one’s needs and establish equilibrium in one’s individual and social life. On the other hand Social capital can facilitate access to information and vital sources in order to promote performance and use environmental opportunities. An organization with powerful social capital can have immediate access to a wide range of information in order to create innovative performance. This capital is an intangible asset to the organizations and successful organizations can use it appropriately and immediately. Accordingly, this research examines the effect of Islamic ethics on social capital with the role of mediator of social responsibility. This research is descriptive survey, in which the questionnaire has been used to collect data. Shiraz University was chosen as an Islamic case. The survey sample consists of 273 randomly taken employees of Shiraz University. Data collected by structural equation software LISREL has been analyzed. The results revealed Islamic ethics has a positive and significant effect on social responsibility and social capital