Showing 81 results for Perception
Fazel Asadi Amjad,
Volume 18, Issue 1 (2-2011)
Abstract
Time and perception are two major concerns of Woolf in many of her novels and short stories. Woolf as a modernist writer often tries in her fiction to find an epistemological solution to the problems of mortality and immortality, appearance and reality and diversity and unity and she succeeds, I think, by taking on a kind of perception that is intuitive and temporal. For her, true perception is time-bound, but like Bergson she divides time into mechanical and organic one. In her writing, she often associates symbolically the former with death and aridity and the latter with life and fertility, presenting them in the images, to name but a few of keyboard of a piano or alphabetical letters and tree or green shawl and dress, respectively. Evidently, in her views and the solution, she finds to the problems of time and perception Woolf is influenced by Bergson whose theory of time has also influenced so many other modernists. This paper elaborates on the relationship between time and perception in the works of Woolf, especially in her two major novels To the Lighthouse (1927) and Mrs Dalloway (1924) and her short story “An Unwritten Novel” (1921).
Volume 18, Issue 1 (5-2014)
Abstract
Over the years, political behavior has been one of topics of interest to researchers in the field of organizational behavior. The reason for this interest is the extensiveness of this type of behavior in the organizations. This study, with regarding political skill and political will as moderating variables, considers the impact of perceptions of organizational politics on political behavior. The statistical population consists of managers and workers of water industry. In this research, the stratified (classified) sampling is used. To collect data, the questionnaire from five-option Likert scale was used, and the validity and reliability for each variable were confirmed. The data analysis was done by structural equation modeling, and path analysis by using LISREL software and Smart PLS. The results showed that perceptions of politics lead to political behavior, and political will moderates the relationship between the perceptions of politics and the political behavior. In this research, the moderating role of political skill was not confirmed.
Keywords:
Volume 18, Issue 1 (1-2016)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine potato growers' perceptions of risk sources and risk management strategies and their risk management behavior. A Survey research method was used in this study. The data originated from a sample of potato growers (n= 128) of Ardabil Province in the cropping year of 2013. The respondents were divided into two groups of Less Risk-Averse (LRA) and More Risk-Averse (MRA). Results show that more than half of the respondents were MRA. In general, potato price, marketing and yield were important sources of risk. The MRA farmers perceived price, yield, input costs and subsidy elimination as highly important sources of risk. Change in farming practices times, sharing farm machinery and hedging were important perceived strategies. LRA farmers marked more importance to management strategies than their counterparts. Except for a few strategies, there was consistency between the growers’ perception and management behavior. The results also show that there were significant relationships between farmers’ perception of strategies and their application. The results have implications for agricultural policy makers, extension and advisory services on the brink of subsidy targeting policy in Iran.
Volume 18, Issue 72 (7-2021)
Abstract
This article is based on a plan that introduces a roadmap for achieving stylististics. The start point of this map is human perception. This path goes through perception by senses to the next point called interpretation. The study of interpretation based on science features continues in the same direction to reach the next point, namely criticism. Comparing the critique and identifying the commonalities and differences of studies recognized as criticism completes this path and finishes it to the destination point of this map, called stylistics. This article is a about this roadmap.
Volume 18, Issue 117 (11-2021)
Abstract
Over the past decades, increasing in consumption of goods and services led to the destruction of natural resources and severe damage to the environment, which has led many consumers to reduce environmental impact caused by their consumption. In this study, it has been tried to investigate the effect of knowledge on environmental issues, consumer perception and consumer recycling behavior on the purchasing behavior of green products using structural equation modeling method. For this purpose, it was used 215 consumers in the city of Mashhad in 1396.
The results of structural equation modeling suggest that consumers' perception or attitude is the most important predictor of the purchasing behavior of green food products, which attempts to raise awareness of consumers can be one of the most important measures through advertising tools to introduce their various abilities to reduce environmental degradation.
Volume 19, Issue 2 (9-2015)
Abstract
Promotion of tourism quality in framework of sustainable development purposes is one of the important subjects of rural planning. This study methodology is practical by analytical approach and required data gathered based on document studies. In depended variables of study contain rural environmental quality dimensions (functional, punctual and perceptual, aesthetical and formal, ecological) and depended variable contain rural destination environmental perception indexes and intellectual image from rural destination dimension contain variables such natural beauty, rural calmness, rural pleasant, rural sincerity that had been used in questionnaire designing too. Rural tourist of Rood bar ghasran rural district from Tehran province was the sample community of this study that 160 tourist in 15 rural points had been analyzed as sample study. Result of study show that perceptual values of environment and positive intellectual image of tourist in destination rural was acceptable in all dimensions with high level of meaningfulness and with regard to the good condition of environmental quality in destination rural area. This correlation had been approved by Pierson correlation test among environmental quality dimensions and environmental perceptual and tourist intellectual image of destination variables. Also, by attention to gained result of regression test, could been deduce that aesthetical and formal quality variables had most affect on tourist perceptual values from environment (with 0.541beta coefficient) and positive intellectual image creation (with 0.514beta coefficient) from samples view.
Shahriar Azizi, Hamid Kodadad Hossini, Ahmad Roosta,
Volume 19, Issue 4 (10-2012)
Abstract
This research develops a two-level model based on hypotheses, which concern relationships among role ambiguity, role conflict, job involvement and salesperson performance at individual level and collective sale self efficacy, customer orientation and competitive climate at sale unit level in Iranian food industry. Data was drawn from 482 sales people in 30 companies , using a 51-item self-reported questionnaire. Research model was tested in disaggregation, aggregation and multilevel approaches. The results from three approaches were different. Multilevel modeling analysis revealed that role ambiguity and role conflict have negative effects, but collective sale self efficacy and job involvement have positive effects on sales person performance. Results also showed that collective sale self efficacy has positive moderation effect on the relationship between job involvement and sales person performance. Collective sale self efficacy indicated positive moderation effect on the relationship between job involvement and sales person performance and negative moderation effect on the relationship between role conflict and sales person performance.
Volume 19, Issue 132 (2-2023)
Abstract
Due to the close relationship between high salt consumption and the increasing prevalence of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in the world, the food industry is trying to create foods that better align with consumer expectations regarding sodium reduction. In this study, the strategy of taste contrast technique through salt encapsulation in the internal aqueous phase of the water-in-oil-in-water double emulsion (W1/O/W2) was investigated as a novel technological approach for sodium reduction. To this end, different concentrations of salt (0, 0.5, 0.75, and 1%) and cinnamaldehyde (1%) as an antioxidant agent were used in the internal aqueous phase and the oil phase of the double emulsion, respectively. In order to investigate emulsion stability, encapsulation efficiency, and salt release behavior, the oil phase was fabricated in two liquid and solid states in the form of oleogel. The characteristics of the produced emulsions were investigated in terms of storage stability, heat and freezing stability, color, oxidation, encapsulation efficiency, viscosity, rheology, and morphology. The emulsion sample containing gel network in the oil phase and 0.75% salt in the internal aqueous phase was the best sample in terms of stability and rheological behavior.
Gholam Reza Zarei, Ahmad Ali Babaee,
Volume 20, Issue 4 (10-2013)
Abstract
Autonomy plays a crucial role in the enhancement of important learning qualities in the learners. In that line of thinking, this study was launched to discover how English language learners exposed to an autonomously managed versus teacher controlled conditions would respond to the learning determinants. Two classes of English language learners at Isfahan University of Technology, Iran were thus treated under the two learning conditions. On the closing days of the semester, they were administered a questionnaire constructed based on three action phases of learning, namely, forethought, performance/volitional control, and self reflection. The questionnaire statements were rated on the Likert scale. The data analysis revealed that autonomy to a large extent determines the learners' views of learning. The class where autonomy was practiced showed a great deal of motivational boost or what is reinterpreted as forethought. The other two categories of learning, namely, their performance and self reflection, were also distinctly better perceived by the autonomous learners. The results point out the significance of preparing learners through autonomy for the prospective independent and critical learning.
Volume 20, Issue 7 (12-2018)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate perception towards climate change, level of knowledge and climate change related behavior of agricultural professionals in Hamadan Province, Iran. The statistical population of the study consisted of 360 agricultural professionals and, by using Cochran formula, sample size was determined as 121 people, who were chosen via a simple random sampling method. Data was gathered using a structured questionnaire whose face validity was confirmed through a panel of experts and its reliability was estimated using Cronbach Alpha coefficient (above 0.70). The results revealed that mean age of sample study was almost 45 years and more than half of them had MSc. and PhD. degrees. Also, results showed that 91.7% of the respondents had strong perception, and about half of the respondents had high knowledge of climate change. While a great majority (78.5%) of the respondents was willing to join the practical efforts to mitigate effects of climate change, about one-fourth indicated they were willing to sacrifice some individual benefit to solve existing problems. The results indicated a significant (P< 1%) difference between 3 major job groups, i.e. managers, faculty members, and experts, regarding climate change related behavior. Also, correlation analysis confirmed that education level, knowledge of climate change, and perception of climate change had a significant relation with climate change related behavior.
Volume 21, Issue 1 (5-2017)
Abstract
Increasing competition led to lesser cost of customer retention than attract new ones. Based on studies, banks and financial institutions lose about 25 percent of their customers annually. In banking system of Iran, privatization and increasing financial institutions as well as diversification of banking services and easy switching for the customer are principal concern of customer churn managers. 1% of Customer churn decreased result in a 6% increase in profit. This study aims to explain causal factors affecting banking customer churn. This paper is practical and it is descriptive-survey. Population is governmental bank customers in Semnan city which sample of 384 were selected using a stratified random sampling. Data were collected by standard questionnaire and were analyzed using Visual PLS. Results showed “weaknesses in quality of results” by a path coefficient of 0.855 which was higher than other variables effecting negative perception of bank. Also, significant and positive impact of “service failure”, “weakness in interaction” and “lack of responsibility” on “unfavorable perception of Banks’ customers” was confirmed. “Unfavorable perception” through the mediation of “customers rage” (with path coefficient of 0.713), are leading to churn of bank customers (with path coefficient of 0.819), respectively.
Volume 21, Issue 2 (9-2017)
Abstract
Many theorists of management emphasize on In-role and Extra-role performance in order to enhance effectiveness. Different studies have been done to improve the In-role and Extra-role performance of employees which include perception of social responsibility and job attitudes. The aim of this study is to evaluate perception of social responsibility effects with In-role and Extra-role performance considering job attitudes as a mediator variable. The population of the survey includes 1,640 managers and staff of Tejarat Bank. Data gathered through questionnaires and a sample of 314 randomly collected, and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The validity of research questions confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis and reliability was approved by Cronbach's Alpha. According to The results of structural equation modeling, all hypotheses except one was proven. Also it showed that the job attitudes as a mediator in the relationship between the perception of social responsibility and employee performance has meaningful and significant effect.
Volume 21, Issue 3 (5-2019)
Abstract
In the present research, the health belief model was used as a framework for understanding the factors affecting farmers’ intentions to engage in the on-farm food safety practices in Iran. The suggested model was empirically tested using the data collected from a survey of 230 lettuce producers of Alborz Province in northern Iran. The structural equation modeling technique was utilized to test the hypothesized relationships in the research model and confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the validity and reliability of the measurement model. The results revealed that the perceived barrier was the most reliable predictor of the farmers’ intentions to engage in the on-farm food safety practices. Further, the variables including perceived benefit, self-efficacy, and cues to action were among the main predictors of the intention. Most notably, the threat perception variables, i.e. perceived susceptibility and severity, had no significant effects on the farmers’ intentions to engage in the on-farm food safety practices. Overall, the main components of the health belief model explained about 45.6% of the variance of intention. The findings gave preliminary support for the health belief model as a powerful framework for scrutinizing the intention to engage in food safety behaviors, offering a reasonable explanation for the farmers’ engagement intention in on-farm food safety practices, and providing practical information that can be incorporated into the development of more effective on-farm food safety interventions in Iran.
Volume 21, Issue 3 (9-2021)
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to study the effects of democracy and corruption on attracting foreign direct investment in West and East Asia. To do this, a dynamic panel model and generalized method of moments are employed over the period 2009-2018. The results of the estimates for the 13 countries of the West Asia Group indicate a positive and significant relationship between the democracy and foreign direct investment and the existence of a significant negative correlation between corruption and the consumer price index with the foreign direct investment. Also, in this group of countries, the effects of the degree of trade openness, democracy and real exchange rate on foreign direct investment were positive and significant and the effects of corruption and consumer price index were negative and significant. Besides, according to the results of this method for 15 East Asian countries, the corruption and consumer price index had negative and significant effects, and the democracy, corruption, trade openness, economic growth and real exchange rate had positive and significant impacts on foreign direct investment. Therefore, regarding the effect of democracy on attracting foreign direct investment, Jensen's theory was approved in both groups of countries, but regarding the effect of corruption on FDI, in East Asia the theory of helping hand of corruption and in West Asia the theory of destructive hand or the corruption was confirmed. According to the results, the impact of these variables on foreign direct investment in the East Asian group was greater than the West Asian group.
Volume 22, Issue 4 (6-2020)
Abstract
Human well-being is one of the main goals of sustainable rural development. Indeed, human well-being demonstrates rural societies’ quality of life. This concept consists of objective and subjective well-being dimensions. Although it is assumed that objective well-being is rationally related to subjective well-being, this relationship has not been fully confirmed in past studies. Three main reasons including the geographical level of assessment, the type of data used, and different epistemological perspectives have separated objective well-being assessment from the subjective one. We used the same geographical level, type of data used, as well as epistemological perspective in order to evaluate the relationship between objective well-being and subjective well-being among rice farmers. Using a questionnaire, a survey was carried out among 384 rice farmers (Response rate= 92.3%) in the main rice cultivation areas in Iran. The study sample was chosen by a two-stages cluster random sampling technique. Face to face personal interview was also used as the form of data collection. The results of structural equation modeling illustrated that farmers’ perception of economic, social, and environmental well-being as objective well-being domains significantly explained their subjective well-being constructs including happiness as well as life satisfaction. In fact, life satisfaction and happiness would be changed once farmers mentally perceive objective well-being domains. Therefore, objective well-being indicators can affect subjective well-being constructs, including life satisfaction and happiness, if they are assessed based on farmers’ self-evaluation.
Volume 22, Issue 4 (6-2020)
Abstract
The climate is changing and agriculture sector is heavily dependent on climatic changes. Considering the key role of perception and its impact on behavior and given the importance of climate changes in today’s world, the present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the factors affecting perception and adaptation behavior of farmers in response to climatic changes in Hamedan, Iran. For this aim, first, the factors affecting the farmers’ perception and adaptation behavior were extracted from literature review. Then, a questionnaire was developed, and to determine its validity, the questionnaire was examined by a panel of experts. Further, to measure the reliability of the research instrument, a pilot test was conducted. The statistical population of the research consisted of 115,160 farmers in Hamedan Province and the sample size based on Krejcie and Morgan table was determined as n= 384 farmers. Then, a stratified random sampling with proportional allocation was used. The findings indicated that among the studied variables, knowledge, perception, and belief with path coefficients of, respectively, 0.53, 0.32, and 0.18 had the maximum impact on the adaptation behavior, while the maximum impact on perception belonged to belief and knowledge with path coefficients of, respectively, 0.56 and 0.35. According to the results, knowledge, which had the highest contribution in explaining behavior, was not seen in the Arbuckle et al. (2015) model. Therefore, to make it easier for the farmers to communicate and facilitate the transfer of information on climate change, establishment of community-based organizations is suggested. In addition, by enhancing the level of farmers awareness about climate-smart agriculture, it is possible to take major steps to improve their adaptation to climate changes.
Volume 24, Issue 4 (7-2022)
Abstract
Farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk is critically important if they plan to implement appropriate adaptation measures in their farming. This research was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions of climate variability and assess the factors influencing it. To evaluate the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions, this study also explored the pattern and trend of climate variability in the study area, using historical meteorological data analysis. Research sample included 217 farmers of Kermanshah Township, who were selected using multistage sampling technique. The accuracy of the farmers’ perceived patterns of local climatic changes was appraised based on graphical analyses of meteorological records during 1970 to 2018. Then, the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions were categorized. Findings showed that the perceptions of 58.06%. of farmers were consistent with the meteorological data, and there was a need to improve the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions of climate variability. Sharing specific local weather information with the community would be one possible way of solving this issue. Also, this study investigated the factors influencing farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk. The results showed that knowledge, personal emotions, social norms, and personal experience collectively accounted for 49.3% of the farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk variance.
Volume 25, Issue 1 (3-2021)
Abstract
Introduction
Event tourism as one of the types of tourism that according to Getz, has been proposed in the tourism industry and research community for several decades, is one of the important motivating factors in tourism and in programs. The development and marketing of most areas is an important factor. With this description, in recent decades, the event management sector is evolving and becoming a strong industry that has been considered through the development of communities. In this regard, in order to achieve success, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the shareholders, but also to all groups and individuals who influence or are affected by the development of the event in any way.
The present study was organized in line with regional development by event management which has identified, prioritized and analyzed different dimensions of the success that affects the perception of organizers.
Methodology
In this study with combined methodology and descriptive-analytical survey method, different dimensions of the components that affect the perception of organizers are identified, prioritized and analyzed.
For this purpose, the various dimensions categorized by the panel of experts, and all the effective components on the perception of the organizers were presented. Afterwards, by a questionnaire among 50 organizers of the Ferdowsi commemoration in Toos area of Mashhad city, which were selected by Delphi counting technique, their perception of event was measured and then analyzed by fuzzy TOPSIS method.
Results and discussion
In this research, in a step beyond the previous researches, the dimensions affecting the event have been prioritized, and provide a more detailed roadmap for the organizers on how to pay attention to the dimensions affecting the success of an event.
The results show that physical perception with the first rank has the greatest impact on the process of understanding the event for the organizers. In other words, physical space, accessibility, infrastructure development, diverse and aesthetic content qualities, and imagery can create a better and more effective understanding in management of events.s.
Zia Tajeddin, Atefeh Rezanejad,
Volume 25, Issue 3 (6-2018)
Abstract
With increasing intercultural communication among people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, the integration of language and culture has recently been foregrounded in language education. This has led to a growing need for studies on intercultural communicative competence. To address this need, this study aimed to afford an insight into the beliefs of 20 Iranian language teachers on intercultural language teaching (ICLT). Based on a mixed-method design, two different instruments were used to collect the data. First, an ICLT questionnaire which included 12 items was administered to 20 teachers. This study also used semi-structured interviews to obtain an in-depth understanding of the EFL teachers’ attitudes toward ICLT. The findings from the questionnaire revealed that the teachers were favorably disposed toward ICLT and thought that culture teaching is as important as language teaching. They believed that language teachers are required to inform the learners of intercultural issues. Also, the thematic content analysis of the interviews led to the discovery of four main themes, namely definition of culture, ICLT and its significance, challenges in ICLT, and sources used by the teachers to improve their intercultural knowledge. However, many teachers’ responses in the interviews indicated some degree of uncertainty regarding the concept of ICLT, as they were not confident how to integrate language and culture or how to deal with challenges in implementation of ICLT. These findings imply as the teachers’ perceptions would guide their practices in the classroom, more attention needs to be devoted to the inclusion of ICLT-related topics in language teacher education courses to equip the teachers with requisite skills and expertise.
Volume 26, Issue 4 (7-2023)
Abstract
Background: The sensory and mobility failure associated with spinal cord injury (SCI) is desperately complicated due to the pathological events that occur sequentially in consequent to the injury.
Objectives: Herein, we applied neural stem cells, derived from human iPSCs (hiPSC-NSCs), to ameliorate the behavioral complications of contusive SCI in Rhesus monkeys, in sub-acute phase.
Methods: hiPSC-NSCs were maintained and characterized in vitro for general NSCs as well as hind-limb specific gene and protein expression prior to transplantation. Moreover, Masson's trichrome staining (MTS) in addition to luxol fast blue (LFB) were performed to determine the fibrotic scar reduction and myelination respectively. Tarlov’s scale were utilized to score the motor improvement, plus, sensory perception evaluation throughout six months following the injury.
Results: hiPSC-NSCs were identified to own NSCs’ exclusive properties in vitro by SOX2, DCX and NESTIN in addition to NESTIN , PAX6 , SOX1 , HOXA2 and HOXB2 protein and gene expression. Additionally, hiPSC-NSCs caused remarkable depletion in fibrotic scar and enhance myelination; spinal shock, sensory responses, reflexes and motor function were improved over six months.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that hiPSC-NSCs lead to promising recovery after SCI, therefore, this source of NSCs provide a therapeutic potential in clinical studies.
