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Extension field staff is the group of people who are responsible for managing activities related to agricultural information dissemination and farming community is the recipient or audience of that knowledge by implementing this knowledge on farm, farming community may enhance their farm productivity and uplift socio-economic situation. The Present study was based on primary data, collected from agricultural extension field staff (EFS) using interview schedule in cotton belt of Punjab province.  Three hundred and fifty-nine (359) extension field staff workers were selected from population of five hundred and forty (540) by using Cochran sampling technique. Moreover, Borich needs assessment model was implied to prioritize the training needs of EFS about climate adaptation. Study found that majority of the EFS seek trainings in specific areas regarding climate variability including; skills to use meteorological instrument, ability to comprehend early warning system, serving and mapping of climatic variability areas, management of ICT tools for weather forecasting, disaster management skills, and integrated soil management skills by acquiring these competencies they can effectively and efficiently work for minimizing the consequences of climate variability on cotton crop. There was significant positive correlation of 0.608 between specialization and possessed competencies regarding climate adaptation which shows that specialized extension staff possessed competencies regarding climate adaptation. On the basis of findings study suggests that the training needs of the extension field workers should be assessed regularly regarding various latest techniques and technologies. Training sessions regarding climate variability adaptation should be arranged for extension workers of cotton belt.

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City is like a living entity, which regenerates constantly by constructing new buildings. With few exceptions, the character of cities have changed over time with the architectural styles fashionable in each period as well as the changing demands for their functionality. Most often, the character is a combination of styles and it is important that this evolution is maintained and the vitality of places can be extended. In fact, city is the result of different historical periods and includes historical loads of various periods; and, contemporary eras are in this process, too. Our constructions will form some parts of the city in future and will cause a layer in this inherited complex, and will make specification and identity of cities and will be an inheritance for posterity. Although preservation is considered as a major step in revitalization of historic sites and buildings, ironically these sites benefit from being extended. In fact opposing construction of new structures on these sites could mean taking away the liveliness of the city and the long term standing of these sites as a historical place. In contrary, expansion and construction of new buildings on these sites maintains the history of the site to the new era and enrich its history. New architectural styles and materials are often introduced into the city initially on the periphery and then in empty plots or as replacements for dilapidated buildings. Sometimes, existing buildings are adapted to the new styles. New architecture in an existing setting will set out to copy, mimic, integrate, harmonize with, contrast, juxtapose on or even compete with the existing context. Each situation may necessitate a different approach. However, construction of these new structures on a historic context is a very delicate task which requires well-planned regulations as these new structures link the contemporary architecture to the values and characteristics of the site. Over the past few centuries a great afford has been carried out, thorough the world and particularity within the central Europe, for design of such regulations and legislations for revitalization and conservation of these sites. This has left a legacy of resolutions, recommendations and charters in this field around the world that are result of experience gained from a variety of approaches in this field in different countries. In order to achieve a design guideline for new constructions in historic context, the purpose of this paper is review of ideas and theories, agreements and charters associated with the presence of new constructions in historic context. In this paper, we will review the theory of theorists that had more impact on the approaches. We will then look at the details of the agreements between the international bodies that directly or indirectly influenced these regulations and had key roles in their design. At the end, we will set a table which will be based on the approach of any of the agreements, and the evolution of this approach is discussed in international scale.

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There is undoubtedly general agreement that the efficiency of educational investments should he maximized through the managerial process as far as possible. Agricultural extension is one of the crucial tasks in developing agricultural societies calling for considerable consumption of intellectual investment. The management of agricultural extension projects (AEPs) however, needs careful planning in utilizing this investment specially in terms of meeting the right clientele. This paper reports on the use of a statistical device which can be applied for planning the social modeling of agricultural extension programs. This statistical device, the so-called Dichotomous Distribution of the Extension Clientele (DDEC) was designed and used by the author to determine the social modeling of agricultural extension projects in Iran and the degree to which the extension projects have been successful in reaching their target clientele. The procedure consisted of four major criteria: farmers, educational needs, participation in AEP: access to utilities needed for adoption and utilization of the innovation (advice given by the extension agents). As a result of using this method and interviewing 912 farmers throught 57 randomly selected AEPs, it was found that 66 percent of the projects in 1988 and 60 percent in 1989 were thoroughly efficient, and 16 percent in 1988 and 12 percent in 1989 were efficient. Four projects in each year were found to have a very low efficiency rate while one project in 1988 and four projects in 1989 were inefficient in terms of their social modeling. This procedur has been applied to study the social modeling along with the efficiency of the extension projects dealing with the biological control of rice stenborer in eastern part of Mazandaran province where rice is the dominant cash crop. Acording to this result obtained from the recent research projects, it was shown that the less differences among the number of trained farmers and the target groups the more efficient were the extension project In addition, there was statistically significant difference among those of target groups and none target groups in term of applying the extension boicontrol guidlines in rice production practices. The related extension projects were also efficient (r=0.73) in term of their social modelings.

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The purpose of the study was to identify and prioritize the educational needs and support needed by agricultural extension agents in Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran. The target population for the study consisted of S3 agricultural extension agents in Isfahan province. Census population were used therefore, sampling procedures were not utilized and genera I izability of the results was limited to study population. Results indicate the five most highly ranked items on educational needs of extension agents were: extension philosophy, instructional technology, innovation and adoption process, adult education, and extension methods. Respondents indicated that the major support needed were availability of subject matter specialists to help them with their technical and communication methods.

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In this research, the semantic properties of Persian reduplicative constructions were studied in the framworks of “Iconicity Theory”, in general, and the quantity principle in particular. Researches on reduplicative constructions in most languages have reveraled the connection of these constructions to such meanings as augmentation, increased quantity, internsification, continuation, repetition, completion, and distribution. The aim of this research was to show the connection of Persian reduplicative constructions to the aforementioned meanings within the framworks of “Iconicity Theory”, the principle of quantity, and the revised version of Regier's model (1998). The extensive research on form-meaning correlation in Persian causative constructions seminated in the development of a semantic classification of Persian reduplicative constructions (The attached semantic types lists 1-5).

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Poplar tree blotch leaf-miner,Fenusella hortulana (Klug, 1818) (Hym.: Tenthredinidae) is widely distributed in the West Palaearctic. During field surveys in the northwest of Iran, we recently found this species in Sarab, East-Azarbaijan Province. It was reared on Populus nigra Linnaeus. Its geographical distribution is mapped and some biological features are discussed.

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Aspect is a grammatical category which along tense and mood, appears in grammatical structure of the clause and affects its whole meaning. The available works conducted on Persian aspect have mainly no theoretical frame work and proper classification for this category.  In this paper, attempts are made to conceptualize grammatical and lexical aspect on the basis of appropriate frame works. At first, by utilizing the metaphorical extension approach as a branch of grammaticalization theory and by introducing diachronic studies conducted on old and middle Persian, grammatical aspect is conceptualized within a cognitive framework. Then, in terms of aspectual features derived from Vendler (1967) and by a bottom-up approach, five lexical aspects are introduced and three others are predicted to be found in Persian. Finally, the effect of context on the type of aspect is brought under consideration. Finding a new lexical aspect, predicting to have three other lexical aspects, and conceptualizing the grammatical and lexical aspect in Persian are among findings of this investigation.

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This study examines Iranian agricultural researchers’ attitudes regarding collaboration with extension workers and the variables associated with the researchers’ attitudes. Data were obtained using a questionnaire developed by Agricultural Research Centers of Charmahal and Bakhtiari, Isfahan, Safiabad and Khuzestan in 1998. The findings re-vealed that the researchers’ attitudes towards collaboration with the extension workers were generally positive although actual collaboration between researchers and the exten-sion workers was at a low level. Therefore, it seems that lack of an overall strong relation-ship of attitudes with current behavior as well as weak collaboration is related to other factors that need to be studied more, for example management of participation or internal factors in each sub-system of extension or research etc. identified that The following fac-tors/characteristics of agricultural researchers were identified as having a positive corre-lation/association with their attitude towards collaborating with extension workers: higher research experience, greater interaction with extension workers, a lower scientific position or possessing a higher management position, greater participation in seminars and colloquiums related to extension, and the influence/thinking of colleagues and man-agers.

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Purpose: Evaluation of humoral and cellular immune responses of naturally infected dogs against type I (rCPB) (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase B), and II (rCPA) (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase A) recombinant cysteine proteinases and C-terminal extension (CTE) of Leishmania infantum (L. infantum). Materials and Methods: In this study, fourteen infected dogs (7 with symptoms, 7 asymptomatics) from an endemic area and three uninfected dogs from a nonendemic region were selected and their humoral and cellular responses against type I and II recombinant cysteine proteinases, C-terminal extension (CTE) and F/T of Leishmania infantum were evaluated using the ELISA and lymphocyte proliferation assay, respectively. The level of specific IgG isotypes (IgG1 and IgG2) and lymphocyte proliferative response against rCPA, rCPB, CTE and Freezed/Thawed lysate (F/T) of L. infantum were examined. Results and Discussion: The results showed that in both of the symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs there is a high lymphoproliferative response to F/T antigens and moderate responses were observed when rCPs (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase) (rCPA and rCPB) and CTE were used. The level of antibody (total IgG, IgG1 and IgG2) recognition toward rCPA was low in the both groups of the dogs. In contrast, the CTE stimulates similarly as the CPB both of the humoral and cellular responses of all the infected animals and the level of total IgG and IgG2 isotypes against these antigens compared to the IgG1 was higher in the asymptomatic dogs. Since, the CTE is the terminal fragment of the CPB, it seems that the immunogenicity of the CPB is dependent on the CTE. Conclusion: The results of our investigation indicates that the CPB and CTE stimulate both humoral and cellular immune responses of L. infantum infected dogs, wherase the CPA is a weaker immunogen.

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Nowadays, more attention is being paid to customers’ satisfaction as funding decisions are made. Extension organization, which plays an important role in educating farmers, must know how far the learners are satisfied with its educational program. Accordingly, this study was conducted in Yazd Province (Iran) with the main objective of investigating the pomegranate growers’ satisfaction with their extension-education courses. A survey method was adopted for the study and 150 people were selected as sample out of 478 learners participating in the courses from 2003-2004 throughout the province. A ques-tionnaire was developed as the tool of study. The questionnaire was found to be valid and reliable (Cronbachs' alpha was 0.93). The results showed that the courses did not achieve many of their teaching objectives and were assessed as achieving their goals to a moderate extent. The contents of the courses were assessed as being comprehensive, applied, and new to a high, moderate, and low extent, respectively. The respondents are very satisfied with teachers’ characteristics and with the locality and facilities of courses, but were satis-fied with teaching methods to a low extent. They generally had a positive and favorable attitude towards the pomegranate extension-education courses. According to the study there were significant relationships between learners’ satisfaction with courses and their annual income, pomegranate yield, pomegranate production, times of participation in courses, and attitude toward the courses. Stepwise regression analysis indicated that three variables, attitude toward the courses, pomegranate yield and pomegranate production totally accounted for 77.8 percent of variations in learners’ satisfaction with the pome-granate extension-education courses.

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Diversity, accessibility and reliability are the three main factors governing the adoption of information sources by farmers in rural areas. Based on the research hypothesis, the existing knowledge and information delivery system in the agricultural sector, functions far below the ever changing nature and tangible needs of existing farming systems. The main objective in this study is to determine and prioritize farmers’ information channels and their communication networks within rural areas of 19 townships of Isfahan Province – the central part of Iran. After exploratory field visits of several villages, a questionnaire was designed and pre-tested for its validity and reliability (Alpha= 82%). The statistical society included all farmers who had regular contacts with the local extension offices. The sample population was 228 farmers who were selected through a two-step random sampling method from the villages with an extension office. The results showed that extension system disregarded farmers’ local media and did not meet their actual needs. The extension system failed to build trust among the local communities. Moreover, farmers’ trust in one information source had a synergic effect on the others. The sources were categorized in three groups based on the farmers’ preferences. The printed materials did not play any significant role in the knowledge and information processes. There was also a significant correlation between dependent variables (determination of information source by farmers) and the independent variables (for example: farming land size and farmers educational level). Finally, most farmers claimed that visiting ‘local extension service offices’ was mainly in response to their urgent needs to acquire subsidized agricultural input such as fertilizer, rather than acquisition of information and were yet disappointed.

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Literature review indicates that systemic agricultural Human Resource Development (HRD) interventions are rarely carried out in developing countries, and limited knowledge exists about how successful they have been. A comparative study was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of three multi-project HRD interventions including Extension Plans, Adaptation Plans and Diffusion-Push Plans in Fars Province of Iran, and to determine factors correlated with their effectiveness. The research population consisted of 41 target farmers of HRD interventions, whom were all interview surveyed. 41 farmers were also randomly selected from non-plan partners of the same communities as the comparison group. Data were gathered through two separate questionnaires. Face validity was verified by a panel of experts, and reliability was obtained through pilot test. Wilcoxon Test revealed significant differences in HRD levels of interventions partners, before and after the programs, and Mann-Whitney Test showed significant differences between HRD levels of partners and non-partners. Statistically significant correlations were observed between some variables such as supportive environment or plans characteristics and plan effectiveness. The results could improve the understanding of HRD effectiveness and its influencing factors.

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The change in the concept of social development over the last few decades, from the physical aspects to human dimensions has increased women’s participation in socio-economic activities and enhancement of their capabilities has been regarded as key strategies in sustainable development. The present study attempts to achieve the following objective: Investigation of the impacts of NGO’s activities in enhancing women’s socioeconomic participation in the management of watersheds. This paper has presented the results through employing parts of the phases, methodologies, and techniques of participation Rural Appraisal(PRA) in sample villages located in Hableh Roud watershed in the Garmsar plain. Among the achievements of the project is the actualization of local community participation including women’s participation in decision-making on sustainable development, improvement of natural resource management through integration of modern and traditional technologies, increasing local community income sources through production of pharmaceutical plants, planting seedlings, strengthening traditional women’s organizations, improvement of exploitation methods and conservation of soil and water resources. The most important result obtained from the present study is the finding that participatory activities are cultural and social issues. As such, work must continue until participation becomes institutionalized in the target community. The milestone and deliverable showing success in this endeavor will be gradual but steady changes observed in the behavior of the rural communities with reference social and economic problems reflecting their self-reliance and self-confidence. Continuity and sustainability of the projects are also determined by direct involvement and participation of local communities, especially women, in all phases of project implementation from concept development to implementation, monitoring, and assessment.

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This study aimed at identifying required competencies for the labor market by the graduates majoring in the agricultural extension education field. The study population included undergraduates, faculty members, and employers, as related to bachelor level in three extension and education departments at Bu Ali Sina, Tehran, and Shiraz Universities of Iran. The study has employed both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. The quantitative research method used to collect data consisted of a questionnaire and the qualitative research method was semi-structured interviews. According to results, a combination of skills, mechanisms, supportive and collaborative systems with focus on self employment and entrepreneurship should be considered in order to improve students’ situation for labour market.

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In the present study, we analyze the semantic fragmentation and conventionalization in Persian compound nouns ending in the verbal stems –andāz ‘throw’, -band ‘fasten/close,’ -foruš ‘sell’, -gir ‘catch’, -keš ‘pull’, -paz ‘cook’, -yāb ‘find’, and -zan ‘hit’ from the usage-based perspective. The analysis is based on a 800 data set extracted from diachronic and synchronic corpora. The words produced from the general compounding pattern [XV _PRS]_N can be categorized in a range of semantic categories, including agent, instrument, location, and object. In describing the semantic fragmentation of [XV _PRS]_N, we propose the human agent as the starting meaning, from which the instrument sub-pattern is derived by the mechanism of metaphorical extension. However, to justify the object and location meanings, we consider the metonymic extension mechanism to be involved. The sense extension mechanisms do not only apply to the individual words but can happen on the pattern level. It is also argued that these mechanisms are not mechanically applied to all the patterns ending in the verbal stems, instead, it is the usage and the communicative needs of the speakers that determine the semantic fragmentation of any patterns. To illustrate this point, as a case study, we focus on the development of instrument meaning in the pattern [X-paz _PRS]_N. We show that the instrument sub-pattern is a recent linguistic phenomenon that coincides with the introduction of modern cooking equipment with mostly English names to Iranian society. The increasing use of these types of equipment has led to a new communicative need for naming such instruments. This extra-linguistic factor has motivated the pattern [X-paz _PRS]_N to be extended through analogy with English compound instrument nouns. The findings of this study may contribute to the understanding of word-formation patterns in general and compounding patterns in particular.

 

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This paper aims at analyzing farmers’ responses on quality of agricultural information services provided by public and private sources. The study is based on primary survey of 461 farmers in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh, India, using a structured questionnaire. Farmers’ responses on quality of agricultural information services from public and private sources were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) technique. Findings of the study indicate that private sector information delivery sources provide significantly better quality information to the farming communities as compared to public sector information delivery systems. The results have far reaching implications for designing successful information and extension delivery models by the public, private or by collaborative efforts of the public and the private sector for better extension services delivery.

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The present study was conducted in the central region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan comprising seven districts: Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat and Hangu, during 2010. The objective was to analyze the perceived effect of Farmer Field School (FFS) approach on farmers’ capacity in controlling pre- and post- harvest losses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data collected from 280 randomly selected farmer respondents. The analysis revealed that FFS had remarkably built up farmers’ capacity in controlling pre and post-harvest losses caused by rodents, birds, immature harvesting/picking, and inappropriate packing, storing, and transportation of the produce. Furthermore, FFS helped farmers in reducing losses at the market and controlling grain borer, wheat weevil, and store weevils effectively. The study concluded that the highest improvement as a result of FFS activities was in controlling losses by rodents, proper packaging and labeling of the produce, and controlling some stored grain pests like grain borer and wheat weevil. By and large, farmers’ capacity was built up in almost all aspects of controlling pre- and post-harvest losses, except a few i.e. losses due to immature harvesting of crops, and controlling losses caused by store insects, which needed special focus of the authorities concerned. 

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Since women hold a small share in Iranian agricultural extension administration, it is necessary to seriously facilitate women's participation in development programs and improve the policy of job opportunities and educational equity. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges of women's career advancement in Iranian Agricultural Extension Organization (AEO). Survey study was applied as the methodology of research. The statistical sample consisted of 135 female agricultural field officers in AEO. Statistical sample was selected through stratified random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used as the research instrument. The face validity of the instrument was confirmed by a panel of specialists. Questionnaire reliability was estimated by calculating Cronbach's Alpha (α= 0.92). The results showed that: "giving key positions to men", "offering routine and simple tasks to women", " limited willingness of male colleagues toward women career advancement "," administrators’ weak belief in female experts' competencies ", and" limitation to visit villages" were recognized as the first five preventive variables by respondents. Also,based on factor analysis, attitudinal aspects, male-dominated organizational structure, time limitation, and adaptive factors were recognized. Under a collection of preventative challenges such as managerial discrimination, negative attitudes and norms regarding women’s role and abilities, severe conflict between work and family duties and personal willing, the female experts have low share in managerial positions in AEO. Therefore, the empowering plans must be focused on these areas.

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Criticism of public extension services has resulted in various countries seeking alternative approaches for provision of these services. In all these approaches, extension personnel are the key factors to the success of the implementation. Today, agricultural extension services in Turkey bear the responsibility of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. A number of non-public extension activities, on a very small scale, and in limited regions are being administered by various entities. The present study aims at determining the extension methods used by extension personnel in practice along with their views and evaluations of extension systems (public-private). A number of 103 extension personnel were contacted and then included in the survey. Absolute and proportional distribution, independence test (Chi-square) and Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) were employed to analyze data obtained from the received questionnaires. It was observed that mostly individual and group extension methods were used, with young personnel preferring the individual method, while the others preferring the group model. Although 54.37% of the extension personnel in Isparta believed that extension services should be privatized, 32.14% were of the belief that extension should continue as a public service.