Valuation of Forage Production Function of Rangeland Ecosystems in North of Iran–East Alborz Mountains

Rangeland ecosystem has 11-17 goods and services that most of them are public and non‐market in nature; meaning they are non‐rival and non‐exclusive and are typically not sold in a traditional; such as climate regulation, soil conservation, biodiversity, etc. (Croitoru, 2007; Wu et al., 2010). Forage is the main product of rangelands. According to the heterogeneity of range forages in terms of economic and lacking organized market for transaction, despite of imagine of ecological economists, it\u27s a public good. So, determining its economic value as one of the main important nonmonetary functions of rangelands ecosystems can help managers to improve planning and optimal utilization management of it. (FAO, 2004) reported, annual value of each hectare of rangelands is 232$that 24.5$) of its total economic value belongs to forage production. Valuation of forage as non-monetary good requires a non-monetary valuation method. Replacement Cost Method (RCM) is one of pricing approaches technique that produce estimates equivalent to non- monetary prices (Karimzadegan et al., 2007). So, the main purpose of this study is introducing a new approach in theme of “non-monetary ecosystem services valuation of rangelands in Iran”. This study is the first effort by Iranian scientists to provide insight to the many benefits and services that rangelands offer to society, and the extent to which the human race is vitally dependent on them. Without a firm understanding of the value of forage as main product of rangelands, we are unlikely to make many of other value added products other goods and services of range plants vegetation be consider for exact valuation of it

Helping to Inspire: Culture and the Evaluations and Motivational Outcomes of Solicited and Unsolicited Assistance

Research on academic achievement has focused on a variety of different moderators of academic motivation, and the role of culture is a relatively new topic of study in this area. Combining previous research on culture, education, and motivation, and following previous studies on culture and social support, the current research addresses how interactions between providers and recipients of assistance may enhance or detract from motivation in academic and learning domains, and how these outcomes may be influenced by cultural values and cultural norms. In two studies, this research directly examined evaluations of unsolicited and solicited assistance and individual assistance use, as well as the motivational implications of cultural differences in responses to solicited and unsolicited assistance situations in an educational setting. Tapping into how cultural norms may influence evaluations of assistance and assistance use, in Study 1, participants read about an interaction between a teaching assistant and a student during which the student receives solicited or unsolicited assistance and then answered questions about their evaluations of the assistance recipient and provider in the interaction, as well as answering questions on their own academic assistance use, in order to examine how solicited and unsolicited assistance are evaluated in different cultures and how these types of assistance are utilized. Study 1 found that Asian Americans had more positive evaluations of unsolicited assistance compared to solicited assistance, whereas European Americans showed the opposite evaluation pattern. In Study 2, participants worked on a set of tasks, where the first task either involved the opportunity to solicit assistance or participants received unsolicited assistance. Later, participants worked on a second related task, as a way of measuring the impact of solicited and unsolicited assistance situations on post-assistance motivation and later task performance. Study 2 found that post-assistance task performance, in terms of creativity and complexity, was best following solicited assistance situations compared to unsolicited or no assistance situations, with no cultural differences by assistance type and no differences on self-reported motivation. Implications for future research are discussed

Land Change Detection and Identification of Effective Factors on Forest Land Use Changes: Application of Land Change Modeler and Multiple Linear Regression

Reducing forest covered areas and changing it to pasture, agricultural, urban and rural areas is performed every year that it makes great damages in natural resources in a wide range. In order to identify the effective factors on reducing the forest cover area, the multiple regression was used from 1995 to 2015 in the Mazandaran forests. A multiple regression perfectly enables to explain the relationship between reducing the forest area (dependent variable) and its influencing factors (independent variables). In this study, Landsat TM data of 1995 and Landsat ETM+ data of 2015 were analyzed and classified to investigate the changes in forest area. The images were classified in two classes of forest and non-forest areas and also forest map with spatial variables of physiography and human were analyzed by regression equation. Detection satellite images showed that during the studied period there was found a reduction of forest areas up to approximately 257331 ha. The results of regression analysis indicated that the linear combination of income per capita, rain and temperature with determined coefficient 0.4 as independent variables were capable to estimating the reduction of forest area. The results of this study can be used as an efficient tool for managing and improving forests regarding to physiographical and human characteristics

Land change detection and effective factors on forest land use changes: application of land change modeler and multiple linear regression

Reducing forest covered areas and changing it to pasture, agricultural, urban and rural areas is performed every year and this causes great damages in natural resources in a wide range. In order to identify the effective factors on reducing the forest cover area, multiple regression was used from 1995 to 2015 in Mazandaran forests. A Multiple regressions can link the decline in forest cover (dependent variable) and its effective factors (independent variable) are well explained. In this study, Landsat TM data of 1995 and Landsat ETM+ data of 2015 were analyzed and classified in order to investigate the changes in the forest area. The images were classified in two classes of forest and non-forest areas and also forest map with spatial variables of physiography and human were analyzed by regression equation. Detection satellite images showed that during the studied period there was found a reduction of forest areas up to approximately 257331 ha. The results of regression analysis indicated that the linear combination of income per capita, rain and temperature with determined coefficient 0.4 as independent variables were capable of estimating the reduction of forest area. The results of this study can be used as an efficient tool to manage and improve forests regarding physiographical and human characteristics.Keywords: Land change Modeler, Multiple linear regression, remote sensing, Mazandaran forest

Land Change Detection and Identification of Effective Factors on Forest Land Use Changes: Application of Land Change Modeler and Multiple Linear Regression

Reducing forest covered areas and changing it to pasture, agricultural, urban and rural areas is performed every year that it makes great damages in natural resources in a wide range. In order to identify the effective factors on reducing the forest cover area, the multiple regression was used from 1995 to 2015 in the Mazandaran forests. A multiple regression perfectly enables to explain the relationship between reducing the forest area (dependent variable) and its influencing factors (independent variables). In this study, Landsat TM data of 1995 and Landsat ETM+ data of 2015 were analyzed and classified to investigate the changes in forest area. The images were classified in two classes of forest and non-forest areas and also forest map with spatial variables of physiography and human were analyzed by regression equation. Detection satellite images showed that during the studied period there was found a reduction of forest areas up to approximately 257331 ha. The results of regression analysis indicated that the linear combination of income per capita, rain and temperature with determined coefficient 0.4 as independent variables were capable to estimating the reduction of forest area. The results of this study can be used as an efficient tool for managing and improving forests regarding to physiographical and human characteristics

Effect of noscapine, the antitussive opioid alkaloid, on bradykinin-induced smooth muscle contraction in the isolated ileum of the guinea-pig

Bradykinin (BK) and related kinins are autocoid peptides that play integral roles in many pathophysiological processes such as cough. In this study, the inhibitory effect of noscapine, the antitussive opioid alkaloid, on BK receptors, was tested in the guinea-pig ileum. Contractions of the isolated ileum of the guinea-pig in response to BK were inhibited by noscapine (10–1000 nM) in a concentration-dependent manner. Concentration-response curves (CRCs) to BK were slightly shifted to the right with a concomitant decrease in the maximum effect. A pA2value of 6.68 was calculated for noscapine. The slope of the Schild plot of the antagonism was found to be 0.56. Noscapine had no effect on contractions induced by KCl, acetylcholine, histamine,5-hydroxy tryptamine or angiotensin II. In conclusion, noscapine has a specific antagonistic effect on BK receptors and the mode of inhibition was found to be non-competitive

Factors Affecting Consumers' Dairy Products Preferences

Choice models represent a valid approach for the analysis of consumers' preferences as these models offer an opportunity to investigate many aspects that influence consumer behaviour. This study with the purpose of investigating consumers' preferences and their affecting factors were conducted by using the nested logit model in Sari, Iran in 2018. The results revealed that yoghurt, milk and cheese had the most preferences among the dairy products and consumers had more tendencies towards using low fat than full-fat dairy products. The results of factors affecting dairy products choice indicated that price and family cost decreased the probability of products being chosen, and age, education and attention to exercise variables increased this probability. Marketing mixed variables (4p) also had a significant effect on the choice of dairy products

Suggesting the Best Bundle for Dairy Products Based on Consumers' Purchase Behavior

Product bundling can be attractive for consumers and also be profitable as a marketing strategy. Based on the importance of this promotion strategy, this study estimated the effect of features on consumers\u2019 purchase preferences among 16 dairy products available in the assortment of a popular brand by using a d-level nested logit model. Data about consumer preferences were collected from a sample of dairy products consumers in Sari City, Iran in 2018. By using the results of preferences, this study ran an optimisation algorithm according to a maximum profit criterion and suggested the best bundle for dairy products. Based on the algorithm results, the bundle including 4 out of the 16 available products had the maximum expected profit. This paper found that the profit of selling this product bundle is higher than the profit that could be obtained by selling these products separately

Tail Risk Transmission: A Study of the Iran Food Industry

This paper extends the extreme downside correlation (EDC) and extreme downside hedge (EDH) methodology to model the interdependence in the sensitivity of assets to the downside risk of other financial assets under severe firm-level and market conditions. The model is applied to analyze both systematic and systemic exposures in the Iranian Food Industry. The empirical application investigates (1) which company is the safest for investors to diversify their investment, and (2) which companies are the “transmitters” and “receivers” of downside risk. We study the return series of 11 companies and the Food Industry index publicly listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The data covers daily close prices from 2015–2020. The result shows that Mahram Manufacturing is the safest to hedge equity risk, and Glucosan and Behshahr Industries are the riskiest, while Gorji Biscuit is central to risk transmission, and Pegah Fars Diary is the main “receiver” of risk in turbulent times

Motility of the antroduodenum in healthy and gastroparetics characterized by wireless motility capsule

The wireless motility capsule (WMC) measures intraluminal pH and pressure, and records transit time and contractile activity throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Our hypothesis is that WMC can differentiate antroduodenal pressure profiles between healthy people and patients with upper gut motility dysfunctions.This study aims to analyze differences in the phasic pressure profiles of the stomach and small intestine in healthy and gastroparetic subjects.Data from 71 healthy and 42 gastroparetic subjects were analyzed. The number of contractions (Ct), area under the pressure curve and motility index (MI = Ln (Ct *sum amplitudes +1)) were analyzed for 60 min before gastric emptying of the capsule (GET), (gastric window) and after GET (small bowel window) and results between groups were compared with the Wilcoxon rank sum test.Significant differences were observed between healthy and gastroparetic subjects for Ct and MI ( P  < 0.05). Median values of the motility parameters in gastric window were Ct = 72, MI = 11.83 for healthy and Ct = 47, MI = 11.12 for gastroparetics. In the small bowel, median values were Ct = 144.5, MI = 12.78 for healthy and Ct = 93, MI = 12.12 for gastroparetics. Diabetic subjects with gastroparesis showed significantly lower Ct and MI compared with healthy subjects in both gastric and small bowel windows while idiopathic gastroparetic subjects did not show significant differences.The WMC is able to differentiate between healthy and gastroparetic subjects based on gastric and small bowel motility profiles.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78624/1/j.1365-2982.2010.01468.x.pd