Social Development and Welfare Planning
Year:2011 | Volume:3 | Issue:6|Papers Count:7

Today, higher education is one of the fundamental factors of moving towards globalization; likewise professional human resources are major characteristic of progress and development of countries. With development of information technology (IT) and shortened the economic cycle, the role of intangible assets, particularly such as knowledge, becomes more significant and creates added value. Thus development and strengthening the scientific education and research institutions pave the way for development of other areas. In this study, undermining potential talent and thoughts is considered as the main challenge. This research has been done by means of Quota sampling method, among 393 students of Isfahan University and Isfahan Medical University. Multiple regression and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis. Results show that creativity among students was medium and there are significant relations between motivation, self-confidence, parenting practices, participation in group work and creativity. However no relation between age and creativity has been found. Moreover the results show that based on Beta value, participating in group work and self-confidence have been correlated with creativity.

This study aims to study Effective factors for life quality of Elderly in Khomein. Life quality has two dimensions; objective and subjective. The subjective dimension includes good feeling and satisfaction while objective dimension includes meeting cultural and social needs for material, physical and social welfare. The feeling dependency of elderly on his/her family and the rate of their respect in family indicate the subjective dimension of life quality. It seems that the subjective aspect dominates objective aspect of life quality because subjective one is based on individual believes about life quality. The important point is the personal experience and feeling of the individual rather than events; not merely presence of external events.The scientific research method and correlation analysis is based on field survey and the technique for collecting the data is structural interviews using surveys and questionnaires. The questionnaires used in this study are WHOQOL BREF living Quality survey as well as a survey prepared by the author.Statistical population of this study is elderly people upper than 60 years old in khomein town, out of whom 190 people were selected through accidental systematic sampling. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The summary of study results include:The hypotheses for dependency of elderly to his/her family also the rate of elderly respect in his/her family with living quality were verified. The relations among age, gender, martial situation, literacy, house property and level of relation with family members with living quality were confirmed. Indeed, more social protections of elderly are particularly in the family, living quality is more too. On the other hand better social economic level of the elderly, the more improved living quality he/she will possess which comprises both objective and subjective dimensions.

The literature on university entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial university is rapidly expanding. Universities in developed countries have become increasingly entrepreneurial. In knowledge-based economy, universities in addition to their traditional missions like education and research have been involved in their third mission including innovation process and technology development. In this respect, new networks related to universities are grown and universities regarding their capacities as generators and distributors of knowledge, in the form of entrepreneurial universities play their crucial roles in industrial innovation, technology development, job creation and prosperity as well. In this regard, the new age faces huge developments in academic systems to be in line with indigenous, regional and international economic development. Therefore, the overcoming approach of educational and research activities, is demand oriented in relation with peripheral organizations. If mutual relations of academic environment with external organizations including firms are organized with effective mechanisms, its result will be job creation, prosperity and more productivity of human and non-human resources.This paper aims to express the modern entrepreneurial roles of academics, explain the evolutionary process of the knowledge production styles including global experiences, academic entrepreneurship models and mechanisms first, then tries to draw a framework to expand the academic entrepreneurial activities for technology development, job creation and prosperity.

Today, the development of information and communication technologies and expansion of its role and usage convert industrial societies to information societies. In this regard, for providing society with advanced knowledge and creating knowledge-base society, education of women and reinforcement of their skills are key politics in each society.Due to social and economic limitations, space and temporal and local facilities, the best way for quick, cheap and continuum women training is elearning. This research is looking for an answer to this question; "whether elearning has got any role in improvement of women's knowledge level "? To achieve the objectives, this research descriptively study role of e-learning in improvement of women's knowledge level.Theoretical framework of the research is based on empowerment theory by emphasizing on investment in women training. Regarding this, particular questions are; if e-learning has any role in advancement of women's formal knowledge level? If e-learning has any role in improvement of women's informal knowledge level? If e-learning has any role in changing women's views? To answer these, documentary-analytic research method is applied.The result of research shows that e-learning can play useful and active role in advancement of women's knowledge. Findings indicate that elearning is one of the most important factors in scientific empowerment and changing view about the role of women in home and society as active participates in development.

Media have strong presence among people as significant socialization factors in the current era. The results of studies show that there is a critical relationship between the amount of TV& newspaper consumption and social assets of citizens. These mentioned media can be very influential in changing the amount of social capital.In this paper the relation between amount of social capital and media consumption of Tehran citizens is investigated. The main issue of this study is to understand whether watching television and reading news paper cause any changes in the level of social capital? Referring to media effects theories such as agenda setting, cultivation and Putnam and Stone social capital theory and by using survey method this relation was studied among 600 literate Tehran citizens who were selected by the usage of random sampling method.Results show that television gathers individuals together and is a factor for reinforcing the relations and interactions between members of a family. Trust in television and newspaper is a factor for attracting audiences to these media and being influenced by their messages.Findings indicate that there is a relation between media consumption and social capital. In another words as the amount of media consumption increases, the amount of social capital promotes. Finally television as the main media of Iran with its widespread coverage can have positive influences on social capital and its elements through various outlets and programs.

Regional Innovation System (RIS) is a new approach formed in the 1990s following the evolution of the approaches and theories of regional development. It encompasses a system where the firms have interaction with regional actors in order to achieve interactive learning and innovation. This assists to the dynamic regional development and competitiveness by promoting the innovative capacities of the firms in the region. This article aims to analysis the role of intra-regional networks in promoting innovation capacities of the firms in Tabriz Metropolitan Region. In order to achieve such goal, a survey method was employed. A documentary and librarian method was also applied for studying the existing theoretical principles and approaches in this field. Besides, stratified sampling method was used for determining the sample size.Findings show that the intensity of intra-regional networking has a significant role on the interactive learning and innovation of the firms. In addition, proximity to the customers and suppliers network is one of the determinant factors in the promotion of innovation capacities of the firms in the region. Whilst institutional environment and supporting resources of knowledge such as universities and R&D institutes have minimal impact on innovative capacities of the firms. Finally further studies for deeper understanding of the subject are recommended.

Given the importance of comparative studies in order to utilize the experiences and achievements of other societies in the field of welfare policies and programs, the present paper is intended to provide a suitable framework for such studies by identifying and introducing the most prominent welfare systems around the world. To this end, firstly the most outstanding theoretical and empirical efforts in the field of welfare systems typology in the past two decades are reviewed and various countries which fall in each category are identified. Moreover, performance of various welfare systems is evaluated according to three indicators, namely: reduction in poverty, protection against labor market risks, and rewards for labor participation. Besides, characteristics of welfare systems in developing and less developed countries are studied and existing welfare arrangements in these countries are addressed. The paper ends with a brief review of the characteristics of the Iranian welfare system according to various provisions of the Iranian Constitution as well as the main developments in the welfare system of the country in recent years.