Assessment of Female Student’s Satisfaction with the Quality of Food And Environmental Health at Food Services in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2013

ensure students are satisfied with the quantity and quality of food as well as hygienic condition in the university’s food services. For this reason, the present study was conducted to investigate female student’s satisfaction with the quality of food and environmental health at food services in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. A number of one hundred of female students, studying at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, were randomly selected. All the selected students were proved to be customers of food services located in one the Medicine, Public Health, Pharmacy, paramedical Sciences, Dentistry, Rehabilitation and Nursing schools. A questioner was prepared as a tool for data collection and its validity and reliability was determined. Afterwards, data analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 23). Results showed that 22% of female students expressed their satisfaction with the quantity of food as “excellent” and 47% as “moderate”. 28% of students rated the food diversity as “moderate” ok”. Seven percent of students reported at least on a case of food poisoning caused by the consumption of food at the university. On average, the overwhelming majority of students expressed their satisfaction as “good” or “medium” with environmental health in at food services in the university, respectively. All the students were aware of the importance of the presence of insects and animals outside the food services and 95%of students reported the presence of insects like beetle, housefly and mosquito and animals like cats, outside the food services. It was concluded that the majority of female students were satisfied with the quantity of food and ranked the quality of food as “medium”. However, they reported some problems regarding hygienic condition inside and outside the dining services and personal health of staff and stated that more attention should be paid by responsible authorities of the university. The student views can be used by these authorities to improve the quality and quantity of food and hygienic condition at food services in Universities

Radiographic Evaluation of Root Canal Fillings Accomplished by Undergraduate Dental Students

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiographic quality of root canal fillings by fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year undergraduate students at Tabriz Faculty of Dentistry between 2006 and 2012. Methods and Materials: A total of 1183 root canal fillings in 620 teeth were evaluated by two investigators (and in case of disagreement by a third investigator) regarding the presence or absence of under-fillings, over-fillings and perforations. For each tooth, preoperative, working and postoperative radiographs were checked. The Pearson’s chi-square test was used for statistical evaluation of the data. Inter-examiner agreement was measured by Cohen’s kappa (k) values. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: Total frequencies of over-filling, under-filling and perforation were 5.6%, 20.4% and 1.9%, respectively. There were significant differences between frequencies of over- and under-fillings (P<0.05). Unacceptable quality, under- and over-fillings were detected in 27.9% of 1183 evaluated canals. Conclusion: The technical quality of root canal therapies performed by undergraduate dental students using step-back preparation and lateral compaction techniques was unacceptable in almost one-fourth of the cases

Evaluation and Ranking of Citrus Gardens’ Risks Using TOPSIS Method (Case Study: East of Mazandaran Province)

Citrus production has a great importance and position in Iran. The growth and sustainability of the agriculture sector is impossible without appropriate and effective risk identification and management. In this study, the main risks of citrus gardens were identified based on the Delphi method through questionnaires completed by 16 experts. Then, using the TOPSIS technique, the risks involved in the horticultural industry of Mazandaran Province were prioritized during 2010- 2016 and the most important risk of Mazandaran gardens was selected based on the Shannon unweighted entropy matrix. The results showed that the most important horticultural risks were related to the risks of pests and diseases, price, damage, and production, respectively. In addition, the lowest risks were related to technical, labor and credit risks, respectively. Therefore, the results indicated the significant influence of the risks of pests and diseases, price and loss in horticulture. Among the risks of pests and diseases, mealy bugs, red mites and aphids with 76, 73 and 70 percent, respectively, were of the highest risk and risks arising from financing, purchasing the product and the damage caused by drip irrigation and emitters were of the lowest risk. The risk exposure represented that risk management should be considered in these fields. In this regard, it is essential to make major reforms in risk management areas involved in orchards. Thus, the planners and policymakers must consider this issue

Factors Affecting The Use and Development of Solar Energy in Iran's Agricultural Sector

The paper seeks to identify factors led some farmers to use renewable energy in their poultry farms. The research was a practical study in terms of goal and a descriptive-correlation study in terms of methodology. The population of the study was composed of Semnan Province poultry farmers that used any type of renewable energy in their farms. Based on the farmer's viewpoints, the most important factors made farmers use renewable energy in their poultries were poultry farm revenue, bank loans with low interest rate, and technology and equipment availability. Also, according to stepwise regression, 78.4% of the variance of the dependent variable was accounted for by the variables of economic, technical, subsidies reform, and policies factors. Therefore, financial incentives such as bank loans with low interest, distribution of technical equipment requirements and supportive legislation can be effective on the development of renewable energy use among other farmers. Keywords: Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Fossil, Fuel, Sustainability Article History: Received Nov 16th 2016; Received in revised form January 12nd 2017; Accepted 3rd February 2017; Available online How to Cite This Article: Mohammadi, M and Yavari, G. (2017) Factors affecting the use and development of solar energy in Iran's agricultural sector. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(1),45-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.1.45-5

The Effect of Membership in Agricultural Production Cooperatives on Efficiency of Pistachio Producers in Sirjan Emphasizing the Role of Social Capital

In this research, the efficiency status of a sample of pistachio producers in Sirjan Township, which was selected using Cochran formula and divided into two groups based on membership in agricultural production cooperatives, was studied. Data were collected by questionnaires in 2014 and 2014. In this study, the role of social capital as a software operating factor affecting production along with other production factors has been emphasized. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. The total technical efficiency of inputs and the water sub-vector efficiency were calculated using data envelopment analysis method in two groups of farmers, including social capital and without it.The results showed that technical efficiency in cooperatives farmers was 83 and in non-member Farmer's group 74% including social capital. Also, the water sub-vector efficiency among cooperatives farmers was 58 and in the non-member farmer group was 48% including social capital.Also, the effect of different dimensions of social capital and membership in cooperatives was investigated on the technical efficiency of inputs in the form of Tobit's model.According to the results, membership in cooperatives due to the greater association of farmers with each other and the strengthening of trust and participation among farmers and, as a result, the strengthening of different dimensions of social capital, would increase the productivity and efficiency of farmers

Assessing the Performance of Potato Supply Chain in Fars Province in Iran

In transforming from traditional to modern agriculture, the management of supply chain of agricultural products has gained a growing importance. Potato is one of the important vegetable crops in Fars province in Iran. Specific characteristics like continues demand, special conditions for maintenance and storage discriminate it from other products. That results in a gap between supply and demand, price fluctuations and therefore shortage in market. Therefore, assessing the performance of potato supply chain is so important. This paper, applied a SWOT analysis to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the supply chain and the opportunities and threats of the supply chain environment. Finally, we discussed the various components of supply chain and present some recommendation to improve supply chain performance in areas like mechanization, processing, production, distribution, insurance facilities and cooperative production

Investigating the Role of Agricultural Cooperatives in Reducing Production Costs (A Case Study of Potato Cultivators in Ardabil Township)

This research was carried out with the aim of investigating the role of agricultural cooperatives in reducing production costs during Tillage, planting, harvesting and transportation of potatoes in Ardabil.The statistical population of the study consisted of farmers of cooperative and non-cooperative members of potato work in Ardabil city which were selected by random sampling method, 183 farmers. The required information was collected through a survey and completed questionnaires. The results showed that there was a significant difference in total of production costs between cooperatives members and non-members, so that members of the production cooperative was observed at the planting stage, which the cooperatives farmers spent 24% more than non-members. The sum of production costs in the tillage and harvesting stages was not significant. However, members of cooperatives at these stages were 3% and 2% respectively more than non-member farmers. Transportation costs were statistically significant between the two groups of farmers, so that cooperatives' farmers paid less than 22%. The Trans log cost function estimation showed that members of the production cooperatives had more costs than non-member farmers and the hypothesis of homothetic structure of potato production is unacceptable among farmers. By increasing the production level, more use made of seed input and labor, and less use of land and machinery was achieved per hectare. It is suggested that cooperatives participate in a broad and parallel way with the needs of farmers in all stages of production and marketing, and develop and expand their functional fields

Analysis of the Structure and Savings of the Potato Production Scale Using the Translog Cost Function (Ardabil County)

The present study aimed at investigating the production costs and economic benefits of the potato production in Ardabil country, Iran. To do so, 183 potato producers were randomly selected and were asked to present their ideas concerning the production costs and benefits through a questionnaire and an interview. A field study was also taken into consideration to enrich the data. The collected data were analyzed through measures of Chi-square, Wald test, and Translog cost function. The results revealed that the cost function structure was non-hemotetic with respect to the Chi-square statistics (36.8) and results of the constant non-returns and non-homogeneous Wald test to the scale’s F- statistics (17.04) were non-cobb Douglas. Allen cross replacement relationship was positive for the dichotomies such as workforce and machinery, machine and seed, workforce and seed, workforce and water, and finally seed and water. However, it was negative for machinery and land inputs, machinery and water, land and machinery, land and labor force, land and seeds, and land and water. The calculated cost elasticity was -1.5044 which indicated a decrease in the average costs for an output increase as the production cost was found in the downstream part of the cost curve. The economies of scale of 2.504 indicated a 2.5 percent increase in the yield for one-percent increase in the cost

Weak Separability Testing and Estimation of Selected Food Commodities Demand System in Urban Households of Iran (Case of Citrus Fruits, Cucurbits and Vegetables)

The separability of consumer desires is a necessary condition for multi-stage budgeting and collectivization is consistent of commodity where costs are allocated between edible groups using price indices and intergroup allocations are made independent of other groups. In empirical studies of demand, the concept of separation is used to correctly estimate demand function and limit the number of parameters. For this purpose, data related to price index and cost of selected commodities (citrus fruits, cucurbits, and vegetables) derived from the Central Bank over 2016 in urban households of Iran were used. The results of the separability tests support the hypothesis that consumers first allocate their income to selected commodities in three groups (citrus fruits, cucurbits, and vegetables) and then approves the income allocation action between the types of its subgroups that are grouped. Also, the results of the system estimation showed that all groups had a negative intrinsic price elasticity. In the meantime, the price elasticity of the groups of citrus fruits (orange, tangerines, and lemon), cucurbits fruits (potato, tomato, and onion) and vegetables (the leafy ones) are equal to -0.83, -0.48 and -0.91, respectively. Given the income elasticity calculated for the three commodity groups, the second commodity group (potato, tomato, and onion) is more essential than the other commodity groups, which should be considered in government policies as to agricultural production and pricing

Barriers to the Development of Agricultural Production Cooperatives Strategic Agricultural Products with Emphasis on Government Supportive Policies (Integration)

Given the obstacles in cooperatives, one of the ways to increase the share of the cooperative sector in the Iranian economy is to implement supportive policies by the public sector. The statistical population includes all active cooperatives producing agricultural sector, including 23 cooperatives in Shahroud city, which using random sampling method and Cochran's sampling formula out of 170 main members of companies 115 of them to study selection The research method was descriptive-correlational, which was performed in terms of data collection by survey, using the pre-test "researcher-made" questionnaire. At least three people from each company and a maximum of seven people participated in the study.The reliability and validity of the research instruments were confirmed by calculating the coefficients of KMO and Cronbach's alpha (α> 0.7) and by the panel of experts. Data analysis was performed with spss22 software. The results of the study showed that the members of the studied cooperatives are not well aware of the obstacles and problems of the agricultural sector and only see the supportive policy in injecting liquidity. Also, the most important obstacles to land consolidation in the agricultural sector from the point of view of the people studied are "lack of culture building in the field of ship together" and "lack of appropriate and sufficient training and extension courses in the field of ship together".Also, based on factor analysis, the barriers to agricultural production cooperatives were emphasized by emphasizing supportive policies in the managerial, personality and psychological factors, policy and supportive categories