Consumers' attitude toward participation in community-supported aquaculture: a case of Kurdistan province in the west of Iran.

peer reviewedConsidering the increasing importance of sustainable operations in the agricultural sector and the relationship between producers and consumers, the current study was to determine customers' attitudes on participation in community-supported aquaculture programs in Kurdistan province (in the west of Iran). The present study was a survey, non-experimental, applied, and descriptive-correlational research. Using a literature review and field studies, factors affecting consumers' attitudes have been extracted. Then, to determine validity, the questionnaire was given to a panel of subject matter experts. Furthermore, to assess the reliability of the research instrument, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated. The results showed the good validity and reliability of the research tool. Moreover, structural equation modeling was used to confirm the proposed model. The results showed that among the factors affecting the attitude of consumers, the price of aquatic products had the first place, which has been neglected in the previous studies. In this regard, it was suggested that by creating support funds and facilities for the participation of consumers in community-supported aquaculture programs, setting standards for healthy aquatic products, and producing programs related to the introduction of community-supported aquaculture programs on the radio and television, the attitude of the consumers can be improved

Post-vasectomy semen analysis: Optimizing laboratory procedures and test interpretation through a clinical audit and global survey of practices

Purpose: The success of vasectomy is determined by the outcome of a post-vasectomy semen analysis (PVSA). This article describes a step-by-step procedure to perform PVSA accurately, report data from patients who underwent post vasectomy semen analysis between 2015 and 2021 experience, along with results from an international online survey on clinical practice. Materials and Methods: We present a detailed step-by-step protocol for performing and interpretating PVSA testing, along with recommendations for proficiency testing, competency assessment for performing PVSA, and clinical and laboratory scenarios. Moreover, we conducted an analysis of 1,114 PVSA performed at the Cleveland Clinic’s Andrology Laboratory and an online survey to understand clinician responses to the PVSA results in various countries. Results: Results from our clinical experience showed that 92.1% of patients passed PVSA, with 7.9% being further tested. A total of 78 experts from 19 countries participated in the survey, and the majority reported to use time from vasectomy rather than the number of ejaculations as criterion to request PVSA. A high percentage of responders reported permitting unprotected intercourse only if PVSA samples show azoospermia while, in the presence of few non-motile sperm, the majority of responders suggested using alternative contraception, followed by another PVSA. In the presence of motile sperm, the majority of participants asked for further PVSA testing. Repeat vasectomy was mainly recommended if motile sperm were observed after multiple PVSA’s. A large percentage reported to recommend a second PVSA due to the possibility of legal actions. Conclusions: Our results highlighted varying clinical practices around the globe, with controversy over the significance of non-motile sperm in the PVSA sample. Our data suggest that less stringent AUA guidelines would help improve test compliance. A large longitudinal multi-center study would clarify various doubts related to timing and interpretation of PVSA and would also help us to understand, and perhaps predict, recanalization and the potential for future failure of a vasectomy.American Center for Reproductive Medicin

Extension Re-Organizational Engineering Commensurate with Progresses in Technology Introduction and Theoretical Foundation

Abstract The primary purpose of this study was to measure the perceptions of the extension professional staff toward the organization's management systems (existing and desire

Analysis of Effective Components of Educational Transformation in Agricultural Higher Education System in Iran

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the effective components of educational transformation in agricultural higher education system in Iran by a mixed study method. The statistical population includes all faculty members (N=361) teaching in agricultural college of Tehran, Tarbiat Modares and Shiraz University, and a sample of 186 faculty members (n=186) were selected by stratified random sampling method and finally 166 questionnaires were returned and analyzed. Data collection in this research was done in two general sections. Section one was a meta-synthesis method. In this method, effective components of educational transformation were identified according to investigation objectives, method of sampling, methodology, content analysis, and research results of 25 selected studies. The results of this analysis identified five main factors influencing educational transformation. These components included learning, education and teaching, competence, quality of education, and leadership. Section two was done in order to examine the hypotheses by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The Results of this section showed that new learning models, leadership styles and educational competence had significant effects on educational transformation

A Performance-based Approach to Automatic Redeployment of Enterprise Software Applications

Update of software usually equates disruption to a program’s execution. However, such disruptions in the execution of applications that provide round-the-clock services is not desirable. Examples of such applications include multi-tier enterprise systems with which users may interact via distinct presentation tiers at the same time. Existing software updating systems do not operate in the enterprise applications, or they need most of the redeployment tasks to be performed manually. In this paper, we present a framework capable of Automatically Redeploying Enterprise Software Applications (ARESA). This system combines the idea of incremental and integral updates to preserve the consistency of applications and to minimize disruption times during redeployments at the same time. It also utilizes the update bringing forward techniques in order to enhance the system’s predictability. ARESA has been used in updating a desktop costing application, a custom web program, and Joomla content management system. The experimental results show that in applications with real-life complexities, ‘speed’ and ‘size’ overheads incurred by ARESA are less than 19% and 1%, respectively

Analysis of Constrains Facing Urban Agriculture Development in Tehran, Iran

The purpose of the study was to identify the constrainsaffecting urban agriculture in Tehran, Iran. The statisticalpopulation of this study consisted of city dwellers within the 22municipal districts of Tehran out of which 320 individuals wereselected as the sample of the study. Cochran’s formula was usedto determine the sampling size based on stratified samplingmethod. A panel of experts confirmed the validity of the questionnaireused in this study. The calculated Cronbach’s alpha forthe main sections of the questionnaire was 0.95 and 0.93. Resultsof the ranking of constrains and challenges revealed that “highstart-up costs” and “lack of knowledge among managers andauthorities” were among the most important constrains. Theresults of factor analysis revealed that 7 factors including “education-research”, “infrastructure”, “support”, “regulations andpolicy making”, “technical”, “financial-economic” and “cultural”explained 67.36 of the variance. Although list of constrainsrevealed is not perfect, this work paves the way for furtherresearch regarding factors influencing urban agriculture. It alsoprovides interesting information for planners about the challengesof urban agriculture development

Talent Management in Agricultural Higher Education System in Iran: Based on Grounded Theory

This study provides a framework and definition to the notion of talent management process and describes how it fits the human resources architecture of agricultural higher education system in Iran. This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews for data collection and systematic grounded theory methods for data analysis. For this study, we selected and interviewed 15 experts of agricultural extension and education and human resources management by snowball sampling. Furthermore, we transcribed and analyzed the interviews and literature using the MAXQDA software. Using the systematic Grounded Theory Method, our findings suggest that equal treatment with talents and other staff was the main concern of the experts. Based on the results, organizational factors and human factors were involved to resolve this concern. In addition, with regard to the contextual and individual factors, the talent management process can play an important role in improving workforce and the organizational performance in agricultural higher education system

Challenges of Applying Conservation Agriculture in Iran: An Overview on Experts and Farmers’ Perspectives

Different countries face diverse challenges for Conservation Agriculture (CA) development. The main purpose of this study was to examine the challenges of applying CA in Iran from the perspective of experts and farmers. A focus group method was used to investigate the challenges. The research sample consisting of farmers and experts of CA in different provinces includes those 19 experts and 15 farmers. Inductive content analysis and coding (open, axial, and selective coding) were employed to analyze the farmers’ and experts’ discussions. The findings showed that the challenges of applying CA in the studied provinces could be divided into 6 general categories: institutional-infrastructure (7 concepts), economic (5 concepts), training-research (2 concepts), environmental (4 concepts), mechanization (2 concepts), and cognitive (2 concepts) challenges. The economic and institutional-infrastructure challenges were the most frequent related to applying CA. It can be concluded that to solve the challenges of applying CA, it is necessary to link various sectors of government (the Ministry of Agriculture), education and research (Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization), and industry together. But farmers themselves are also a major contributor to meet the challenges of CA development through participation in planning CA project and training-extension programs. Therefore, farmers’ communities should also pave the way for a transition from conventional agriculture to CA with their participation

Isolated Interrupted Aortic Arch: Unexpected Diagnosis in a 63-Year-Old Male

A 63-year-old male with history of hypertension, dyspnea on exertion, and chronic chest pain was admitted for elective cardiac angiography. Arterial blood pressure was 160/90 mmHg in both arms. Femoral and popliteal pulses were extremely weak, and third (S3) and fourth (S4) heart sounds were audible. Aortography showed a mildly dilated aortic root with double brachiocephalic trunk and interruption of aortic arch at isthmus. Profuse and well-developed collaterals appeared at neck and thorax. The patient was recommended to take medical treatment for his hypertension and advanced heart failure. The aim of this paper, is to review the diagnostic and therapeutic options for treatment of the interrupted aortic arch

Assessing the Process of Extension Program Development in Iranian Agricultural Extension System

The purpose of this study was to assess the process ofextension program development in Iranian Agricultural ExtensionSystem (IAES). The research instrument was a structuralquestionnaire with close-ended questions which its validity andreliability was confirmed by using expert panel and Cranach’salpha test, respectively. The target population of this researchincluded all extension managers who were responsible for doingextension activities in Iran’s townships (N=334). According toKrejcie and Morgan’s table, a number of 191 persons selected asstatistical sample in a stratified sampling method, and finally198 questionnaires were gathered and analyzed (n=198). Overall,the use of the process of extension program development inIAES was at less than moderate level. The other results also indicatedthere was the significantly positive relationship betweenselected demographic characteristics of extension managers withtheir viewpoint on the use of the process of extension programdevelopment in IAES. These results highlight the need for thereform of the process of agricultural extension program developmentin IAES