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It is often said that national economic plans are "not worth the paper they are written on," because the plans are not implemented, or else implementation bears little relation to what the plans call for. This way of evaluating the success of planning efforts—comparing the actual with the planned pattern of accomplishment and expenditure—is common. The general failure of planning endeavors to meet this criterion accounts for much of the current disappointment with national economic planning. An alternative view, which is the thesis of this article, is that the activity of planning may generate benefits which do not depend wholly on what becomes of the plan and which may persist even though the plan is drastically modified or even abandoned. An examination of economic development in Iran four years after the current development plan started indicates enough support for this viewpoint to soften the gloomy judgments so often pronounced on the Iranian planning effort. This article discusses evidence for this thesis drawn from the agriculture sector. Its retroactive appraisal hopefully will serve to improve understanding of national planning as a development tool in open societies and of the criteria for judging the effectiveness of technical assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This secondary analysis is a by-product of a large-scale inquiry into communications behavior in the Near and Middle East. An important feature of that research was its method of coping with a problem which confronts all international communications researchers who apply the survey method to the study of preindustrialized societies, namely, how to design a sample when adequate census data are not available and when nation-wide sampling would turn up too few individuals exposed to the mass media. During the analysis of the Iran interviews, important differences were found between attitudes, goal-values, identifications, and expectations of the politically left and the politically right. Extreme Leftists were found to desire a classless society, extreme Rightists desired a stronger and more unified Iran. Leftists identified with the proletariat, Rightists thought of themselves as members of Iran's true elite. Leftists expected their values to be realized through revolution, Rightists pinned their hopes on the expulsion of foreigners and the achievement of national solidarity. These findings have a direct relationship to research into communications behavior, for it is through these perspectives that political extremists receive and evaluate international communications.

The hypothesis of inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and differential fertility was reexamined among 641 Shirazi married women of childbearing age in the city of Shiraz, Iran. Occupation, education, and income of the husbands reported by wives were used as measures of socioeconomic status. The number of living children, the number of children ever born, and the birth by parity were used as indices of fertility pattern. The duration of marriage and the age of the subjects were used as control variables. The findings show an inverse relationship between the three measures of socioeconomic status and fertility pattern. Furthermore, the findings clearly show that the Shirazi couples, like many other husbands and wives in the highly advanced and modernized societies of the West, prefer to have smaller families as they become richer and more educated and obtain higher occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration pattern to Shiraz, a southern city of Iran, is not consistent with the general pattern observed in cities of the other developing nations. Migrants to Shiraz are largely from other cities, and they are more advanced educationally and socioeconomically and less traditional than native Shirazi. This study is based on 1,061 interview cases collected at random. The sample consists of 612 nonmigrants, 125 rural migrants and 324 urban migrants. These groups were compared on thirtyfour indices measuring various facets of the respondents' life-styles. The three groups differed statistically on most of the indices. Fatalism and possession of modern appliances were the most important factors differentiating the three groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article cites a study which indicates the use which may be made of psychological data in intercultural interaction. A group of teachers in Iran were asked to respond to a series of questions designed to obtain in indirect manner the nature of values held. Responses were then considered in terms of cues to values revealed and in terms of the relevance of content to positive interaction. All cultures have traditional values which have been institutionalized and which, as indicated in the data, are subject to discovery. Psychic tensions, expressed as values, serve as discriminatory forces and lead to the abstracting of tension reducing stimuli from a wide field of stimulating elements. The nature of responses of a people in intercultural interaction may be anticipated in terms of personal values and protective attitudes which are at stake and which seek expression as motivators of group behavior. Responsiveness in intergroup relations, inclusive of the learning of new attitudes, depends upon giving power to personal and group defenses through sanctioning of deserving cultural features and approval, with reasoned judgment, of prevailing internalized values.

The article examines the nature of teaching chemistry and physics subjects in the Central Treaty Organization-member countries. The countries include Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Great Britain and the U.S. Of the countries mentioned, Great Britain has the best developed science programs. The objective in teaching chemistry and physics in Pakistan is mainly to develop in the student appropriate scientific attitudes and abilities and to prepare them to specialize in the areas so they can continue their education in the colleges and universities. In Iran, the subjects are taught during high school which is divided into two cycles. The Turkish school system is similar in structure to those of the other countries. After finishing junior high school, the student may enter upper secondary or a vocational-trade block.

Thus we have seen that when planning transport and communication development programs in relation to the rest of the economy, the economist is forced, due to both the planning process timing and the relative time perspectives, to frame the infrastructure development more in terms of basic factor analysis than in the detailed translation of individual commodity or trade requirements. Also we have seen how conventional cost-benefit analyses are fraught with difficulties. Some of these difficulties are found in other sectors of the economy as well (e.g., in education and health), but in transport and communication in combination with our first finding, marginal cost-benefit investment analysis is limited in its usefulness. These two observations suggest that economic planning in transport and communication in developing economies needs to be made with an approach geared to the staged timing and long-run design of economic development; that integrated transport and communication development needs to be designed in terms of such basic factors as land mass, population, natural resources, trade, etc. in relation to the perspective values of the country's inputs and the technological and engineering constraints. Hence it is in these terms rather than in the more traditional short-ranged cost-benefit project analyses that the transport and communication economists should concentrate a far greater amount of their efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the Regional Co-operation for Development (RCD) among Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. Scope and techniques of regional economic cooperation; Organizational structure of the RCD; Major objectives; Important institutions; Economic structure and patterns of trade of RCD countries.

Using the Iranian census reports and various other available statistics, the trend in the age at marriage, laws concerning the age at marriage, and the major factors leading to a persistently low age at marriage in Iran are examined. The study supports the hypothesis that there is no strong relationship between the actual age at marriage and the laws setting the minimum age at first marriage. Economic and educational variables seem to play a more important role in determining the actual age at marriage. Whether from the point of view of curbing fertility or for eugenics purposes, it is suggested that Iran will not benefit from legislating a higher minimum age at marriage. To be sure, improvements in the vital registration system and the enforcement of laws already in books are among the first priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the study on social classes, family demographic characteristics and mobility in three Iranian villages. The three villages which were studied are Deb-Beed, Kooh-Sabz and Faloonack, which are approximately 70 km north of the city of Shiraz and located within 10 km of each other. The concept of "felt-need" in the community development programs and the criterion of equal land distribution to the rural families in land reform programs seem to be based on this conception of undifferentiated social groups in such communities. In each of the village communities a list of the households with the main occupational status of the heads of the households were obtained from key information's. On the basis of these household lists, two broad social groups were distinguished: first, farm families consisting of those who owned land or had cultivation rights to land and second, farm laborers and non-farm families who did not own land or enjoy any rights. This second social category in Iranian villages is generally known as "Khoosh-neshin." Peasants and farm operators comes under the farm families They usually cultivate relatively large areas. Khoosh-neshin was the lowest social class and was non-farm families.

The article compares the deterrence factors present during the period of peace between the Roman Empire and Persia in 363 A.D. and its breakdown in 502 A.D. It provides a historical background on the diplomatic relations between the two countries. It lists various deterrence factors present during the 363-502 period including the show of force, small land actions, alliances with a third power, the building of fortifications and the establishment of military colonies. It argues that the peace established between the two countries in 363 A.D. was essentially a compromise peace, a peace without victory.

The article discusses the study carried out to measure the consequences of Western civilization over other nations. In recent decades, a general notion has emerged and become widely accepted that as a consequence of the impact of Western civilization the economic, social and cultural conditions of many nations in the future will become similar to those of Western Europe. Social and technical changes in a society and its relationship to demographic characteristics have always been sociological problems. So, in this study the demographic characteristics are considered to be dependent variables reflecting the external structural changes of a social system. The theoretical framework of this study is based upon the interrelation between the structural components of a social system and the types of forces that cause change in the structure of a social system. The national and provincial statistics of the first census of Iran, 1956, and the United Nations Demographic and Statistical Year Books of 1956-57 were used as the major sources of data in this study. This data was analyzed at two levels: provincial and national. The findings of the study suggest that the components of modernization are closely interrelated and are functionally associated with the demographic composition of a population; the modernization forces, especially at the early stage, seem to influence first the public external features of a population, and secondly the private and internal features; the more urbanized the Iranian population becomes, the more its demographic structure resembles the highly modernized societies. Finally, the Western type of industrialization, urbanization, and ideology has an almost universalistic application.

Discusses the symptoms and therapy for typhoid and paratyphoid fever in children in Shiraz, Iran. Average duration of illness before hospital admission; Presence of Salmonella typhosa and paratyphi in blood culture; Efficacy of chloramphenical in the treatment of typhoid and paratyphoid fever.

Focuses on the life and works of Avicenna, famous philosopher and physician in Iran. Contributions of Avicenna in the study of medicine; Career history; Level of achievements.

The article focuses on the origin of agriculture and the changes in the environment in the Middle East. According to geomorphic and paleoecological studies, the Taurus-Zagros mountain arc between the Mesopotamian lowland and the Anatolian-Iranian Plateau, which is a principal focus of agricultural origins. It discusses the cultural sequence which led to the development of agriculture, which began around 11,000 years ago. It also presents pollen diagrams that depict the vegetational sequence that led to environmental changes.