Economy

Marketing of agricultural products is being considered as one of the most fundamental and important measures for development in rural environments. As such, the identification of responsible factors for marketing of perishable products namely dairy products could facilitate marketing process and as a result diminish the associated problems in local communities. The identification of responsible and influential measures as well as the adjustment of their spatial distribution ,taking into account the temporal constraints and the nature of the products at different stages with regard to both traditional and semi modern producers is a very determinant action . This in turn is associated with time-costs losses issue, cutting the hands of the mediators, decrease in shipping costs in relation to distance decay function, increase in profits and enhancement of economic growth in rural areas. Therefore, the exact determination of responsible factors for facilitating dairy marketing networks as well as their spatial distribution in rural area is a prime objective of rural economic planning at different decision level. This study aims to identify the major responsible factors regarding dairy marketing networks with particular emphasis on geographic factors in Khodabandeh, Zanjan. This study is based on analyticaldescriptive method. It further supports the application of filling questionnaires by experts and analysis of variance. This study suggests that taking into account level of the analysis, functional-behavioral factor would consider as the most prominent factor regarding the dairy marketing network and its corresponding spatial distribution.

Rural tendency toward continual participation of rural settlers in social, economic and political activities is being considered as one of the most prominent factor in rural development .However, it is being argued that political participation of people namely rural settlers does not necessarily lead to high level of awareness and overall and comprehensive social and economic development of subsistence communities.Rather,it may provide the ground for demanding their economic and service share and subsequent struggles and internal disputes. In Mamasani region located in Fars province,criteria with regard to peoples participation is not based on an open society rather, political participation principle follows the tribal expectation. This study aims to analyze the political participation trend of the rural settlers taking into account their tribal identity, in provision of economic and social services in rural communities. As such, 90 rural households extracted out of 4 villages with population over 1000 as sample. This paper considered the level of rural participation in national election as well as the determination of relationship between tribal identities of the house of representative with level of provided services in their rural communities. This study suggests that people who took part in election voted for nominees who have high tribal identity. Moreover, provision of services and welfare in villages is highly associated with representative’s identity and his tribal affiliation.

Rural regions have experienced varied changes and social and economic reconstruction during last three decades. There exists great tendency toward functional integration between villages and cities due to increase in mobility, improvement in communication information as well as rural services. This in turn, resulted in the expansion of urban function including construction mass housing units, production, services, recreations and tourism activities in these regions. These functional changes case conversion in the nature of rural areas based on agricultural production, into consumption-orientation center. This new entities are non-homogeneous. This situation is influenced by many factors including physical conditions such as geographic location, isolation, and characteristics, climatic and sometimes human differences responsible for rural economic and social variations. Taking into account these variations and nonhomogeneities in rural area, efficient and optimum development plans are nonexistence. Increase in urban-ruralization around Tehran metropolitan has led to major physical, economic, social and cultural consequences. Lack of identification of the major relevant roots and sources has led to expansion of these negative consequences to other identical places. This in turn, demands the identification of the responsible factors and its change processes and mechanisms. Thus, the identification, explanations, exploration of those laws and frame works pertaining to urban ruralization as a major topical-spatial phenomenon is highly recommended. The first step in this regard is the determination, definition and assessment of ruralization and more specifically urbanruralization. The study area is Roobat Karim located in the vicinity of Tehran metropolitan. It is followed by determination of degree of ruralization as well as majorresponsible relevant factors.

Taking into account the nature and the objective of the study, descriptive-analytical method was chosen. Based on theoretical foundation of the study, there exist different methods and indices regarding the identification and classification of ruralization. This study concentrates on two dimensions including village’s functions and population and its growth during 1976-2011. It is followed by application of PROMETHEE multi indices decision making method in order to determine village’s functional status through emphasis on agricultural activities. This study further demands hierarchical clustering technique for classification of the villages. Finally, Clack ruralization indices as well as field survey were applied for determination of the village type in this regard. Furthermore, with respect to those villages which urban ruralization occurred, qualitative method of base theory that is Grounded theory was applied in order to identify the responsible factors. At first step interview with rural key official persons and with those with long history of residency (31) was implemented in order to find the casual conditions pertaining to formation and expansion of urban ruralization phenomena. In the second step, taking into account the methodology of the base theory, open coding was done. Regarding this step those relevant raw data were both labeled and conceptualized. Following, the second and third steps sub-classes are divided into broad concepts and those were divided into nodal concepts.

This study concludes that based on application of base theory in 8 villages, many factors including life desirability comparing with place of birth and adjacent settlements, lack of special costs, inexpensive business, lack of cultural barriers, variation in job opportunities, existence of different rents, economic and political structures are among some of the influential factors regarding urban-ruralization phenomena. It is furtherargued that income and saving level, the nature of center-periphery theory, capital accumulation system, discrimination with respect to poverty issue, imbalanced distribution of power, wealth, income and access to job opportunities are other determinant factors as well. Incapacity with respect to attraction of external capitals for creation of job opportunities, shortage of complementary jobs to combat seasoned unemployment, lack of potential for absorbing educated and well equipped social capital, lack of technical and vocational training related to appropriate agricultural technology, shortages of ample suitable agricultural lands and lack of knowledge of environmental conservation are among other responsible variables in this regard. Moreover, lack of appropriate and efficient agricultural market systems as well as cooperation’s and ware houses, need for government and other institutions supports, incapability in formation of industrial clusters, lack of tendency regarding economic background good for villages, management, the formation of two different construction types, land price and its relevant speculation, property rent, lack of effective control upon rural physical development, economic household participation and lack of social responsibility and self-reliance and easy accessibility to Tehran metropolitan all are responsible regarding degree of ruralization of Roobat Karim.

Draught is being considered as a climatic reality in arid and semi-arid regions such as Iran. Drought is capable of generating drastic impacts over water and soil resources, vegetation, animals and human beings. Water is a prominent factor as far as agricultural product is concerned specially in arid zones. Draught and its impact on water resources will bear unpleasant consequences namely for rural settlers whose livelihood depend on agricultural pursuit.it is argued that draught will lead to set of complicated environmental, economic and social impacts. Taking into account the frequency of its occurrence, extent and complexity it demands more attention regarding the identification of its impacts. There is not a rigid agreement regarding the definition of this phenomenon. This in turn will lead to some complexities with respect to the assessment of draught. There exist different measures for simulation of rainfalls, water surface run offs as well as other water resources. This helps to come up with clear images of climatic and hydrological draught. There exist different indices for measuring rainfall deviation from average including SPI and SDI. Lack of sufficient knowledge’s and understanding with respect to impacts is being considered as other complexity regarding the inter partition of draught. In spite of high occurrence and the great magnitude of draught, little attention paid to explanation of its impacts. According to the relevant statistics 22 % of economic damages resulted from natural hazard is associated with draught. 33 % of people are being affected by draught. In the countries based on agriculture economy, impact of draught could be evidenced by low surface water supply and underground waters. This in turn, is responsible for reduction in water supply as well as water quality, low level of crops production, productivity, and crisis regarding food an increase in livestock death. On the other hand, drought impacts could exemplify it in economic, social and environmental impacts including decrease in household incomes, reduction in substitute income resources, and increase in both hours and volume work, conflict regarding water utilization, food deficiencies, malnutrition, low level of health, and accessibility to sanitation services, low education possibilities, unequal access to financial supports. Moreover, increase in rural migration, lack of power, low life quality, destruction of natural habitats, low productivity of forests and pastures, increase in temperature as well as evaporation, low soil productivity, reduction in water resources, pollution, increase in fire incidence are among other impacts. Variation in spatial and temporal scale of its draught turns it into a very unique phenomenon. It is argued that draught impacts are result of natural interaction (low rainfall) and the way respondents respond. Most of draught studies predominantly are concentrated at national level. However, well documented information regarding draught impacts is nonexistence. This study aims to investigate draught impacts and its influential responsible factors at rural household level.

Current wide spread and server drought exerted considerable damage in Dodangeh rural economy. Efforts toward mitigation of economic impacts of draught require the identification of characteristics of this phenomenon. This study suggests that the assessment and evaluation of intensity and continuity of draught would well be done through application of standard rainfall and surface run offs. It further indicates that drought as a complex phenomenon is capable of increasing the vulnerability of the rural households. Certain economic impacts of draught are unexpected. Contrary to other draught studies results, agricultural lands have not been shirked. This has something to do with lack of due information regarding moisture status. The identification of draught risk is prerequisite for mitigation of farmer’s vulnerabilities. This in turn demands the application of sound and influential drought management based on information and relevant knowledge. In as much as agriculture is the most prominent livelihood in the region thus providing non-agricultural occupations help to reduce the level of vulnerability. Therefore, policies and measures for generating non-agricultural jobs in regions with high subjectivity to draught are highly recommended. According to the finding of this study, selling livestock’s and agricultural land are among some strategies for combating against draught taken by farmers. It is recommended that vulnerability of farmers, long run impacts and management issue all need to be considered. Moreover, improvement in extension services through provision of computable mechanism suited with draught condition assists mitigation of draught unpleasant impacts based on regression analysis, the amount of farmers debts, financial ability, age and households expenditure are the major variables as far as households vulnerability to draught is concerned. Furthermore, provision of financial and social support system is highly suggested.

Many scholars believe that the creation of job opportunities is being considered as an important prerequisite for development and growth namely in developing countries. Lack of attention to this make societies step in eroding phase rather than thriving one. This in turn will lead to expansion of poverty. It is argued that achievement of sustainable development could be done through creation of employment in different sectors more specifically industrial and service ones. Based on corresponding statistics Javanrood with unemployment rate of 42.8%, 49.3% and 46.9% in 1375, 1385 and 1390 respectively rank the highest compared with 14 cities located in Kermanshah. This study aims to identify deprived rural areas using combination of different criteria and yardsticks. The authors believe that taking into consideration economic, social and environmental capabilities of the study area; one could propose an appropriate and applied strategy with regard to employment.

This study based on its nature and objectives possesses applied, descriptive and analytical characters. It deals with documentary as well as survey technique regarding data gathering. The study area is basically composed of 89 villages out of which 57 over 20 households were studied. At first, these villages were prioritized based on chosen indicators and yardsticks corresponding to employment, using TOPSIS technique. Weighing of seven indicators was done by Shannon entropy based on data reference computation. Second phase followed by clustering and grouping the villages into different levels from prosperous to very deprived ones. Clustering analysis and TOPSIS technique led to creation of four groups. Identification of villages based on the level of deprivation and consideration of their capabilities demand preparation of expert questionnaire. This was based on liker five spectrum with level very high (5), high (4), medium (3), low (2) and very low (1). As such 30 questionnaires were compiled. SWOT was applied for proposing appropriate strategy regarding creation of employment in deprived villages.

Provision of appropriate job opportunities in accordance with active population’s interests and potentials is being considered as the prime element and component of development. However, many of this active group did not get a chance to have any job or appropriate one. There exists noticeable difference in terms of unemployment rate in the regions. According to the statistics ,Kermanshah ranks among top five in terms of unemployment rate between 1375 90 .Javanrood possesses the highest rate compared with 14 other cities in Kermanshah. This well justified the degree of discrimination level of Javanrood against job offers during past decades. This demands extra attention regarding employment status. This study suggests that there exist a drastic gap with respect to employment indicators among different villages. As such employment coefficient corresponding to Khil-Fataki-Kan village as the most prosperous village is 10 times bigger than Bita-shush village as the most deprived one. One could conclude that some of the villages compared with the others experience some degree of depravation in terms of employment. Based on clustering analysis, Chaman-zar Olya, Dehtout Sofla, Sarab Barhed Zanjir Olya, Guyleh, Chaman-zar Sofla, Bioleh, Kalash Hush, Kulese, Duleta, Ziran, Saroukhan, Kalash ghoo, Kani Gohar, Mazrae Kachal abad, Aliabad Kohne, Sarabs, Ghalaji, Bivand olya, Bivand Sofla, Mele rush, Zilan, Shurineh, Bani Lavan, Sarrood Sofla and Biashush are considered as very deprived villages in terms of employment coefficient. From job opportunities standpoint they are in critical stage. This study further suggests that despite of existence of 25 deprived villages, there exist some opportunities and strengths. These opportunities and strengths well override some existing threats and weaknesses. Based on SWOT analysis competitive – aggressive strategy (so) in which prime emphasis is on internal strengths as well as external threats would be considered as the most appropriate strategy regarding employment in deprived villages of Javanrood. In order to create Job opportunities taking into consideration geographic, economic, social and environmental conditions, the following suggestions are recommended:

Regional development is one of those issues that have attracted lots of attentions by program-makers, especially the regional ones. A study on various levels of the major criterions including those of economic, social, cultural and health, particularly at regional level, is useful to determine the position of different regions, as it requires special considerations in regional level as well as determining conditions of national adaptation and conformity. So, as a country with various levels of development in different provinces, the rate of development of the cities and areas within a province cannot be the same. It may sometimes happen that due to the heterogeneous spatial distribution of development resources and different factors of economic, social and natural areas in rural districts of a province we cannot find any proper process of development. It seems that in the province of Ardabil, inequality and imbalances in optimal distribution of resources has caused the problem of concentration of facilities and services in the city dominated area that will consequently lead to the divergence and development gap among different regions. This is despite the fact that a little number of researches has done to determine the level of development of rural districts using different models and their integration as well as using the latest census results.

This paper presents a practical article using descriptive analytical method. In order to collect basic information on the topic of different documentary methods based on library have been used. By documentaries methods collected theoretical principles related to the subject of the research and indexes. In this regard, due to the confronting limitations, we relied on to the determination of 13 indicators and variables in the field of infrastructure development. After collecting and processing information and required data in Excel, development levels of villages was calculated by means of multi-criteria decision making methods of TOPSIS, VIKOR, SAW and composite index of human development (HDI). In the following investigations done, Kapland method was used to achieve a consensus for the classification of rural districts. Finally, the results were illustrated in the form of maps using GIS to enable better analysis of spatial development in the province.

The study and comparison of rural districts in various aspects of economic, cultural, physical and spatial can significantly help Planners and policy makers in villages to take the right steps in the process of decision making and implementation of appropriate programs to provide them as many chances as possible to reduce regional inequalities. It is noteworthy that, currently, there are several statistical and cartographic methods of micro and macro ranking of rural districts providing different results as outputs. Thus, using new methods, comparing them with each other and choosing the best one is a matter of particular importance. In this study, after examining rural districts of Ardabil Province in terms of its underlying indicators, the following results were obtained. Results from ranking of rural districts in terms of different levels indicate that we should make a cautious use of multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM). The mere use of one or more quantitative model cannot reveal the reality of a society. Because, as we have already seen, TOPSIS, VIKOR, SAW, and HDI model have presented different results. For example, the highest level of development in TOPSIS model is dedicated to the rural districts of Mahmudabad, South Vilkij and Palnga. While in other models the highest level of development belongs to (rural districts of Kalkhoran, Eastern Angot and down Brznd in VIKOR), (rural districts of Eastern, southern and western Kishlak in HDI), (rural districts of Eastern Kalkhoran, and Eastern Khandbyl in SAW). Furthermore, using these four models showed different results in final ratings. As, the lowest level of development belongs to (the rural districts of Sabalan, Western Angot and down Brznd in TOPSIS), (the rural districts of Plnga, Kishlak Reza Qoli and low Brznd in VILOR), (the rural eastern districts of Minabad and Kalkhoran in HDI) and (the rural districts of western, eastern and southern Kishlak in SAW). It should be mentioned that the rural district of down Brznd has occupied the final ranking place just in the two models of TOPSIS and VIKOR. Eventually, by the use of the composite model of kapland we have resolved the problem and achieve a final ranking. Results from this model indicate that rural districts of Southern Senjed, Central Arshagh, and Eastern Angot have the highest and Arjestan, Alvarus, and Sabalan have the lowest level of development.

Regarding the fact that economic activities, in particular, and resources and facilities, in general, are poorly concentrated in terms of spatial distribution, every area requires a particular program corresponding to its specific conditions. In this way, before doing everything we need to identify the past and present situation of different regions based on appropriate scientific methods. The inequality between urban and rural areas is mostly originated from the insufficient knowledge of policies applied in these areas as well as policies taken to evaluate the impact of programs on different economic variables including employment. In this article we are trying to recognize deprived and non-deprived areas to help us study current status of employment in rural areas and making a relative balance between all parts of the country. In fact we are going to find the answers to the questions that: What are some comparative advantages of economic activity in rural areas? What is Gini coefficient of economic activities in rural areas than in the country? According to the comparative advantages of employment in the major occupational groups, how can we put different provinces in order?

The aim of this article is to examine comparative advantages of rural areas in different provinces for every major economic area and evaluating the amount of regional balance in every economic section. This is an applied study accomplished by the use of descriptive- analytical method. Required data has been taken from the census of 1385 and 1390 in Statistical Center of Iran. Along with data processing and classification, employment status of major occupational groups in rural areas has been accounted using Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient through Excel software. Moreover, geographical maps of comparative advantage of a variety of major occupational groups were drawn in ARC GIS software. Finally, rural population of different provinces was ranked based on different groups of economic activities, through the models of Standard factor, Topsis, factor analysis and clustering. The followings major occupational groups have been selected as Indicators for determining comparative advantage and regional balance to calculate the amount of employment in the provinces and rural areas.

Discussion and conclusion
We have selected 85 and 90 series as samples for the spatial analysis of the employment status in rural areas. Then, we have tried some working indicators on this group and analyzed its results. Results include some spatial patterns of working indicators in rural areas of Iran. In other words, it shows that almost in all major occupational parts of the country, there is no regional balance in the distribution of working population in rural areas: This type of inequality is more observable in the two sections of "Hospitality and catering" and "Real estate, renting and business activities "."Agriculture" is the only section containing comparative balance within different provinces.
Comparing Gini coefficient of rural population to the total number of employers of different provinces in major occupational groups, it is understood that this indicator exceeds its total number in rural areas and it's still increasing. Only in "agriculture" sector of rural areas Gini coefficient is less than its total which implies giving less attention to rural areas of the country and poor investment in rural areas comparing to the rate of investment in the entire provinces over the recent years.
Studying comparative advantages of different provinces in major occupational groups in rural population reveals the fact that there is a relatively observable advantage in 8 parts of Tehran province. After Tehran, there are the two provinces of Mazandaran and Kermanshah in 5 and 4 parts, respectively, and then Yazd, Booshehr, and Kohgilouye and Boyer-Ahmed in 3 parts of highly comparative advantages.
Among the entire provinces, Tehran and Booshehr contains the least amount of comparative advantage of employment only in "agriculture" sector.
Some provinces including Kerman in all its occupational groups, Sistan- Baloochestan in 8 parts, Kordestan in 5 parts, and Lorestan in 4 major occupational parts are among the deprived provinces in terms of job creation in major occupational groups.
 Based on the results of the study, despite of lots of experimental and theoretical studies on geographical distribution of unemployment and regional employment which have been recently doing by researchers, there is still some regional inequalities. It can be deduced that Gini coefficient in rural areas has been rising from 1385 to 1390. In fact, regional differences of job creation are increasing in rural areas. Studying comparative advantages of major occupational groups in rural district of Tehran, Booshehr, Yazd, Esfahan, Khorasan-Razavi, Fars, Mazandaran, and Gilan shows observable comparative advantage of employment in these areas. Although, there is an inappropriate condition of employment in some provinces including Sistan-Baloochestan, Hormozgan, and Kohgilouye Boyer-Ahmed.

Rural industrialization has been greatly discussed by researchers in recent studies of rural planning and development. It is due to its positive effects of economic, social and infrastructural factors. Moreover, researches are looking for ways to analyzed approaches to reduce harmful environmental impacts of industrial projects, as destructive life factors of geographical territory, in rural areas. For example, according to Misra and Chyvta (1990); rural industrialization and the prevalence of non-agricultural activities can seriously affect the increase of social welfare and providing essential goods and services for rural households. Experiences by several countries prove the fact that every structural change that happens because of industrialization, not only has an important economic role in rural areas, but also led to self-repulsive economy, as well. In addition to studying positive economic, social and physical aspects, it is needed to do some preparatory studies on negative eco-environmental effects of rural industrialization for proper siting of such industries to reduce its harmful eco-environmental and human effects and improve spatial planning.

This study is an analytical explanation using library and field study. Field data have been collected by questionnaires after the identification of variables. Then, the required data have been collected in the intended study area. Samples have been managed in two different social levels: 36 people from local experts (Council and village head assistants) using census method for ICOLD matrices, and 295 individuals from the head of the households selected among local people of villages to assess eco-environmental effects of using Prometea multivariate technique in villages by the use of Cochran formula of Alpha= 0.05. The already designed questionnaires have been modified in ICOLD matrices covering several factors of physio-chemical, biological, socio-economic, and cultural infrastructure environments that include 41sub criteria, totally. Collected data have been finally analyzed by ICOLD environmental assessment method and Promote multivariate techniques.

Discussion and conclusion
One of the new challenges facing rural planning when it is getting applied, is the presence of two viewpoints: environmentalism, and rural industrialization. Villages are accumulation points of environmental resources that, according to the theory of Sustainable Development, it is essential to protect them. In addition, we aim at diversifying economic sector by supporting rural industrial projects. Integration of the two approaches needs the evaluation of environmental effects of industrial activities to help moderate the intensity of environmental effects of industrial projects in rural areas. In this research, we are intended to study industrial mining extractive project of Zanjan cement factory, located and operated in a rural district, to analyze its eco-environmental effects on rural areas. Results from ICOLD demonstrates that its eco-environmental effects vary by distance, i.e., the nearer the villages are, the more they will be threatened by these effects, or vice versa.
Results from promote technic confirm the same. Since, villages in disturbed areas within the distance of less than 5 kilometers from the factory or less than 1 kilometer from the communication route to raw stone mining site, show the highest level of eco-environmental instability. These villages include; Majid Abad (rated at 81%), Zarand (rated as 73%) and Mazidabad (rated at 67%), respectively. These villages are close to the factory and to the passage of vehicles carrying raw stone. Much of the physical area of the factory is located in agricultural land of two villages of Majid Abad and Mazidabad. Moreover, wind direction of the area mostly causes much of the pollution from factory dust distributes in other agricultural areas of MajidAbad. Another village which its eco-environment has been recently affected is Zarand, located in a foothill area near to the raw stone mining site. Dust from loading raw stones, noise pollution caused by the breakage of the rock, animals and wildlife breaking out of the area, and destruction of crops and plants are among the major environmental damage in this area. Thus, we suggest to reduce environmental pollution from factories in rural areas by reviewing some ways of factory activities such as transportation of raw materials, methods used for the extraction of raw stones, development of appropriate transport infrastructures, installation of air pollution controlling systems, increase in the plantation of more green spaces within the margins of the factory, good management of wastewater and their disposal system.

Introduction
The first step in spatial planning is the recognition of the environment and its latent capabilities. However, planning for development, especially rural development, should be based on a real understanding of the potential and talents of rural areas. Evidently, a major factor implicated in the failure of rural development planning is the negligence of the environment; indeed, any geographical space has its own potential, capabilities, and facilities for development. Human communities cannot survive apart from economic, social, and physical factors and depend on nature, especially the environment, to meet their basic needs.

Methodology
The research was an applied, non-experimental, library, and document based study with a quantitative paradigm. The statistical population was composed of rural areas in Isfahan Province of Iran. The study was conducted at the county level so that 24 counties in Isfahan Province were investigated in terms of rural economic development. The research had two sets of variables.  a dependent variable, i.e., rural economic development, and independent variables including human resources development, access to infrastructural factors, and environmental capability, which were all quantitative. The data were both quantitative and imagery, collected by the library and document method. The ecological capability section was analyzed by Dr. Makhtoum’s multi-factor evaluation method. The criteria of the ecological capability were assigned with weights using the pairwise comparison technique of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Then, the criteria were integrated using the weighted linear combination method. Ultimately, the final fuzzy map was classified based on the mean and standard deviation (SD) of the value of its pixels in the ENVI5.1 software package. The aggregated index calculation method was employed to estimate other parameters including rural economic development, human resources development, and access to infrastructural factors. Eventually, the multivariate regression method was applied to explore the effect of independent variables on rural economic development. The software packages used in the research included SPSS and MS-excel for statistical analyses and the calculation of aggregated indices, Super Decisions for assigning weights to the environmental capability criteria by the pairwise comparison technique, ENVI5.1 for standardizing information layers of the criteria and categorizing land-uses based on the mean and SD of the pixel values, ArgGIS 10.1 for aggregating and preparing information layers, estimating the areas of each section, and producing the output maps, and SHAZAM for performing the regression analysis and testing the estimator hypotheses of ordinary least squares (OLS).

Discussion and Conclusion
According to the results, Isfahan County had the highest and Semirom County had the lowest rate of economic development in their rural areas. Naeen and Dehaqn Counties showed the highest and lowest levels of human resources development, respectively. The highest and lowest access to the infrastructural factors were related to the counties of Khomeynishahr and Semirom, respectively and Chadegan and Khour-va-Biabanak Counties had the highest and lowest ecological capabilities, respectively. A closer look at the results revealed that although some counties such as Chadegan, Bueen Miyandasht, and Semirom had high ecological potential; however, they were at the lowest level of the economic development of rural areas. In contrast, counties like Isfahan, Ardestan, Aran-va-Bidgol, and Naeen with weaker ecological capabilities were at higher levels of economic development in their rural areas.
Based on the analysis of the effect of variables on economic development with multivariate regression, the coefficient of determination (R²) was estimated at 0.806 for the model. The statistic shows that 80.6% of the variance in rural economic development is accounted for by three variables of ecological capability, human resources development, and infrastructural factors and 19.4% is related to other factors not included in the model. The results of the regression analysis show that the relative importance or effectiveness of the ecological capability is 0.23 whereas the relative importance of the access to infrastructural factors is 0.65 and the relative importance of the human resources development is 0.35. According to the results, rural economic development in Isfahan province is mainly affected by the variable of access to infrastructural factors and least affected by ecological capability. This is an unexpected result because the rural economy is based on ecological resources and capability since most of the people in the rural areas are employed in agriculture and related activities. Also, the results showed that the variances in the three independent variables are not consistent, reflecting the fact that the policies adopted by development planners have not distributed infrastructure endowments in accordance with environmental potential. If they were distributed proportionally, regions with higher environmental capability should have had more infrastructural facilities. Therefore, infrastructure development and credit distribution are influenced by factors other than environmental potential.
In general, if capabilities and facilities are considered for rural economic development, it will be possible to realize economic development in villages and achieve an optimal level of economic development in these areas. It is, therefore, necessary to adopt policies and strategies for rural development that are consistent with environmental potential.
 

Introduction
Today, in order to achieve sustainable rural development as well as optimization of local advantages, identifying the factors affecting the utilization of geographical advantages are essential. The villages of the country today are more than ever influenced by the political, economic, social and cultural conditions of their systems as external factors influencing the development of rural settlements. These are factors such as inappropriate government policies at all levels of planning, legislation, management and implementation, bias towards urban areas and large industries, lack of independent civil society organizations, fostering the transformation of villages into cities and so on. Moreover, the internal obstacles of rural communities are such as: low level of awareness of rural stakeholders on their internal and socio-economic capacities, restrictive norms, low power of transformation, and low the power of risk, overcoming traditional approaches to harnessing the potential of rural areas, and the uncertainty and trust between rural communities towards new perspectives and patterns, etc. Both factors are the reasons for neglecting rural areas and lack of  proper operation of the capacity and potential in this area. Rural settlements in Khorramabad county have not seen much growth and are facing instability of rural settlements, despite their high potentials and capacities in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. In this regard, the present study seeks to answer the following question: What are the factors influencing the role of geographical advantages in achieving sustainable development of rural settlements?

 Methodology
The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the role of geographical advantages in achieving sustainable development in rural settlements of Khorramabad. In this regard, it is a combination (quantitative-qualitative) research method with sequential strategy and exploratory - descriptive research design. Based on this orientation and evaluation, the Q model was selected for problem recognition and analysis. The statistical population of the study is the villages of Khorramabad. The qualitative participants were expert villagers who selected 30 theoretically saturated subjects and data were collected using semi-structured interviews and semi-structured interview card tools. In the quantitative section, we chose village experts. 150 villages out of 647 villages, were selected by simple stratified sampling. Next, one rural mayor or council was selected from each village. In the Q model, Q cards were used to collect data.

Discussion and conclusion
According to rural experts, the lack of role of geographical advantages in the feasibility of sustainable rural development in the study areas is influenced by the following factors: low level of skill and familiarity with modern knowledge, dominance of conservative mindset, lack of creativity and innovation, aging population, dominance of closed cultural beliefs, low income, inflation and uneven distribution of credit resources, market system instability, poor attention to infrastructure and welfare services, rural education and promotion system failure, weak legal-institutional arrangements, lack of system Integrated program for agricultural activities commensurate with domestic and foreign markets, service weakness Production support, low level of security and weakness of processing companies.
Rural experts' perceptions of the inability of geographical advantages to achieve sustainable rural development fall into five categories: economic factors, managerial-institutional factors, socio-cultural factors, human factors, and physical factors, which are economic factors with  25%, managerial-institutional factors with 23.66%, socio-cultural factors with 23.66%, human factors with 20.23% and physical factors with 8.70% had the most influence on the lack of role of geographical advantages in the feasibility of sustainable rural development.
According to the results, meticulous planning in organizing economic, social, political, organizational and managerial and cultural constructions, utilizing the geographical advantages of rural areas is one of the most important prerequisites for achieving sustainable rural development. As a result, planners need to identify and analyze the forces and relationships that make the most of these advantages by influencing shaping forces and processes, help improve the conditions in the geographic advantage process.
 

 Introduction
Many villagers depened on palm farming, in the date palm tree-growing regions of Iran. Nonetheless, the date markets are facing many challenges for some reasons such as unsanitary, lack of sales market, lack or absence of maintenance industries, long-distance from production to factory, dispersion of villages, low product prices, climate incompatibility, lack of proper access to capital, high waste and sale of low value-added products to market intermidearies. These challenges in Makkoran region, one of the country's date-growing regions, are more than other places due to climatic and environmental constraints and infrastructure deficiencies.
Date palm farming activity in Makkoran region has many problems in terms of marketing, price, exports, and required infrastructure; thus, the date product of this region are exported by middlemen often in bulk and low added value to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates and large cities in the country.
Therefore, the present study, in response to this need, uses the actor-network theory of Latour, Callon, and Law (1986-2009), aiming to identify the processes of translating actions and the spatial relationships between actors as a theoretical lens because according to Latour view (1987) actors (human and non-human) are negotiating and translating each other's goals to make a connection. Therefore, the present study seeks to answer these questions: What actors are involved in the date market of the Makkoran region, and what are the existing and emerging spatial relationships between these actors? Is there a significant relationship between them? In translation processes which actors and spatial relations need membership, expulsion, or reform?

 Methodology
This research employed an exploratory-sequential mixed-methods research design. The statistical population is 17493 date palm farmers in Makkoran region. Sampling was performed via a purposive-probability sampling method to determine the sample size via the "data saturation" criterion in the qualitative stage, and the "representation" criterion in the quantitative stage. The sample size consisted of 111 date palm farmers and 16 related experts in the qualitative stage and 376 date palm farmers and 32 experts in the quantitative stage. Qualitative data were obtained through in-depth semi-structured interviews with date palm farmers and experts, and quantitative data were obtained through a questionnaire from date palm farmers and experts. Then, based on "sequential mixed-methods analysis," qualitative data were processed and analyzed using NVIVO software, and quantitative data were processed and analyzed using SPSS software. According to Latour's argument (1987), the " translation " method made the final analysis and inference.

Discussion and conclusion
Based on research findings, sales status and the price of the date product improves from south to north of Makkoran region. Hence, situational and climatic actors play a crucial role in product sales status and price change, especially Mazafati dates in the south part of the region. These actors may force date palm farmers to harvest early (at the Kharak stage) and reduce product prices. To achieve their goals and interests, human actors (date palm farmers and governments) inevitably align with the tendencies of non-human actors (such as geographical location and climate). Also, according to local date palm cultivars, which almost all of them need refrigeration, and depending on how it is accessed, date palm farmers to the refrigerator and the capital have changed the product's price. These two actors (refrigerator and capital) and date palm farmers have faced severe challenges and obstacles in terms of sales and product prices. Hence, date palm farmers inevitably sell their produce to brokers at low and insignificant prices. Of course, this is not a one-sided situation; but with the constructive support of the government, date palm farmers can play a more constructive and effective role in raising capital and creating the necessary refrigerator. They can reduce the power of the two agents of the refrigerator and capital by changing the palm cultivars (expanding the dry cultivars without the need for a refrigerator) or selling access to the refrigerator so they can sell their product at a reasonable price. This issue causes them to be present in the date market with more power and influence.
Nevertheless, in the current situation, the alliance of these two actors with other actors (space distance, transportation technology, road location) has led to the widespread influence of traders in the date market and has weakened its functions. The capital actor has a more prominent role in this regard, As it has been able to change the tendency of most date palm farmers to use a refrigerator and, to their detriment, to ally with brokers (predominantly local and regional brokers). Of course, the non-use of cold storage is not only related to capital but also situational and climatic actors in the south region. Also, due to a lack of proper access to capital, date palm farmers inevitably accept the rate offered by brokers; Local and regional brokers, in a solid alliance with telephone and capital actors, have prevented both major traders from entering the market and dragged the refrigerator into their network. Hence they have severed or severely shaken possible and necessary links between date palms and date palm farmers with target markets.
Thus, multiple spatial relations between actors (human and non-human) exist. Meanwhile, date brokers have conquered the date market to the detriment of producers by creating a strong network of spatial relations and have found role and agency as the key actors. Often weakness and inefficiency of the main actors (palms and government) and the alliance of capital and cold storage actors with brokers have led to such a detrimental consequence; however, these spatial relations are transformed by the participation of new actors (non-native palms, cold storage, etc.).