Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
H.S. Kimaro; A.W. Kisingo
Abstract
Ecological studies on road’s impact on wildlife have concentrated on vertebrates although less is known of their effects on invertebrates. The current study presents public road influences on species richness, abundance, and diversity of ground dwelling insects in Arusha National Park in Tanzania. ...
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Ecological studies on road’s impact on wildlife have concentrated on vertebrates although less is known of their effects on invertebrates. The current study presents public road influences on species richness, abundance, and diversity of ground dwelling insects in Arusha National Park in Tanzania. Values from pitfall traps data were generally higher in core habitat than road verge. Nine species were only found in road verge and twenty eight species found only in core habitat. Results also show significant differences p≤0.01 in species richness, abundances and diversity of ground-dwelling insects, between road verge and core habitat with greater values for core area, where soil acidity was low and cation exchange capacity was high. Results suggest that high soil pH, relative to low soil pH, provides good conditions for different insects species. These findings provide evidence on the effect of public roads on distribution of wildlife communities in protected area and hence call for proper road design and management of established roads in protected areas.
Sustainable urban infrastructure
A. Edrisi; A. Nadi; M. Askari
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: After having struck in a major natural disaster like an earthquake, different organizations run about to decrease losses. The lack of accurate demand information is a common problem that all emergency response organizations have to encounter such a crisis. Evaluation of ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: After having struck in a major natural disaster like an earthquake, different organizations run about to decrease losses. The lack of accurate demand information is a common problem that all emergency response organizations have to encounter such a crisis. Evaluation of the City disaster level is a mean to feed this information to the disaster response operations. The objective of this research is eschedule a group of experts to assess relief demand. These evaluation teams need to be scheduled to minimize the evaluation time. METHODS: This paper aims to formulate the routing and scheduling of the assessment teams so that real demand information for savings and rescue would be available as soon as possible. The simulated annealing algorithm is used to solve the scheduling problem. FINDING: two cost functions, sum of arrival time and max completion time, were evaluated. The latest is found to perform better in evaluation of the teams performance. CONCLUSION:The performance of the approach is tested on several randomly generated networks and synthesized demand data. The results show a 13 % improvement in the total completion time of operation in comparison with previous approaches.
Urban and municipalities management
A. Narmilan; N. Puvanitha; G. Niroash; R. Vassanthini; M. Sugirtharan
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Increased demand for water has put pressure on the water supply system, which has led to environmental issues such as water resource over-exploitation and ecosystem balance breaks. This study aimed to examine household water consumption trends and management practices and compare ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Increased demand for water has put pressure on the water supply system, which has led to environmental issues such as water resource over-exploitation and ecosystem balance breaks. This study aimed to examine household water consumption trends and management practices and compare the efficacy of various water management interventions to reduce the Batticaloa district's water deficit.METHODS: The primary data was collected through a questionnaire survey from 300 households belonging to the urban area in Batticaloa District in Manmunai Pattu, Sri Lanka. The data were analyzed using correlation and linear regression analyses. A flow rate study was designed to assess the individual flow rate for each household.FINDINGS: The overall domestic water use is negatively correlated (p ≤ 0.01) with the household head's age and education level and positively associated with income level. As the household size, age, education level, number of taps, and household income showed statistical significance (p ≤0.05), the Linear regression model was statistically essential. Together, they accounted for 96.5% of the difference in per capita water consumption in the wet season. Moreover, most of the people are not aware of the cost of water per cubic meter and only 26.7% are aware of the cost and 88% of the respondents are more concerned about the quality of water and very few respondents (12%) are not concerned about the water quality.CONCLUSION: The results indicate that more water is used by people with higher incomes in urban areas than people with lower incomes. The use of water depends on household members' living standards, family size, age, education level, and the number of taps present in the household. Also, most household members are not aware of the efficient use of water in the study area.
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
M. Ranjbar; Gh. Sadeghnejadtalouki; M. Ghajar Sepanlou; F. Sadegh Zadeh; M.A. Bahmanyar
Abstract
An experiment was conducted as randomized complete block design with three replications and 14 fertilizer treatments in year 2014. The treatments were including the control, application of chemical fertilizers according the soil analysis, application of 15, 30 and 45 tons of municipal waste compost ...
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An experiment was conducted as randomized complete block design with three replications and 14 fertilizer treatments in year 2014. The treatments were including the control, application of chemical fertilizers according the soil analysis, application of 15, 30 and 45 tons of municipal waste compost per ha as simple and with 25, 50 and 75% of chemical fertilizers. The results revealed that the 7 years using of municipal waste compost significantly increased the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of the soils and rice grains and it improved the yield of rice as well. The highest concentrations of macro-nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) were obtained in the treatment of 45 t/ha of municipal waste compost + 75% chemical fertilizers. The concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were increased 73.68, 230.0 and 30.74%, respectively, compared to the control treatment. Treatment of 45 t/ha + 25% of chemical fertilizer had the highest 1000 grains weight. The percentage of 1000 grains weight was increased 9.82 compared to the control treatment. The highest yield of pad was obtained by using of 45 tons + 25% of chemical fertilizers that compared to the control treatment showed 51.33% increase. Finally, from the results, it can be concluded that the combination of municipal waste compost and chemical fertilizers are reliable organic waste and fertilizers management strategy to increase the concentrations of macro-nutrients in rice and increase the rice yield as well.
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
B.O. Adeleke
Abstract
The study examined the influence of population as proximate cause of wetland dynamics in the lower Ogun river basin of southwestern, Nigeria. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data included 100 questionnaires administered and distributed among the fadama users group ...
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The study examined the influence of population as proximate cause of wetland dynamics in the lower Ogun river basin of southwestern, Nigeria. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data included 100 questionnaires administered and distributed among the fadama users group representing 10% of the estimated population of the group. Satellite images of years 1972, 1984, 2000 and 2015 were analyzed using GIS technique, while corresponding year’s census figures were analyzed using descriptive percentage method. The results revealed among others that availability of fertile wetlands for farming accounted for 56% of factors responsible for sudden growth in population, followed by availability of economic trees (16%). The results further revealed that population which was 1033 in 1972 increased by about 121.69% in 1984, 62.777% in 2000 and 33.80% in 2015. The study concluded that population grow was responsible for the instability reported in all the land use classes during the period mostly affected were forested and the non-forested wetlands.
Sustainable urban infrastructure
K.C. Upendra; S. Bharat
Abstract
Parthenium hysterophorus, an invasive alien weed, is spreading rapidly across various land uses in Nepal. To understand how Parthenium is spreading across land uses at local scale, occurrence of this weed was recorded and its’ coverage in percent estimated along trails and road network at every ...
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Parthenium hysterophorus, an invasive alien weed, is spreading rapidly across various land uses in Nepal. To understand how Parthenium is spreading across land uses at local scale, occurrence of this weed was recorded and its’ coverage in percent estimated along trails and road network at every 100 meter distance in Kirtipur Municipality of Kathmandu valley. In addition, vegetation sampling was done in waste land, road side, tree plantation, and abandoned agriculture land where Parthenium cover was greater than 25 percent. Peoples’ perception about the problem of Parthenium was studied by interviewing 60 respondents using purposive sampling method. Parthenium was present in 15 percent of the surveyed locations and it was more common in urban area than in peri-urban. Peri-urban areas are those areas which are immediately adjacent to a city or urban area. It was frequently found in the waste land, road side, tree plantation, abandoned agriculture land, shrub land, grass land, settlement areas and play ground. In active agriculture land its invasion was negligible. Most of the people were not aware about the negative impact of Parthenium but 8 percent of them reported skin allergies and dermatitis due to regular contact with Parthenium. Therefore, public education can help to prevent spread of Parthenium from urban to peri-urban areas.
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
I. Sharma
Abstract
Normalized difference vegetation index and land surface temperature data, in a sample plot each from east, center and west of Nepal, from 2000 to 2015, were analyzed to identify and compare the trends of vegetation and temperature changes during the period. The data were obtained from moderate resolutions ...
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Normalized difference vegetation index and land surface temperature data, in a sample plot each from east, center and west of Nepal, from 2000 to 2015, were analyzed to identify and compare the trends of vegetation and temperature changes during the period. The data were obtained from moderate resolutions imaging spectro-radiometer. Normalized difference vegetation index charactiszes a resolution of 250×250 m2 and a 16-day composite period while land surface temperature has 8 days frequency with resolution of 1×1 km2. The analysis was separate for normalized difference vegetation index and land surface temperature. The data were seasonally adjusted and then divided into three groups of five year period each, separate for every region. The generalized estimating equations were fitted to each period data. For all three regions, the results showed, there was a trend of significantly rising vegetation in eastern and western sub urban parts while the central urban city had a significant decline in trend. Whereas the temperature showed statistically significant and uniform fluctuating pattern of change in all three regions. The rate of temperature rise is fastest in central region where the vegetation is continuously declining. However, the results revealed no relationship of trend of changing temperature with that of vegetation.
Sustainable urban infrastructure
R. Tayyebirad; Y. Vakil Alroaia
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: An emerging type of innovation that leads to dramatic improvement in management processes and methods, and at the same time promotes innovation, is entrepreneurship for preserving cleaner production. However, few studies have been conducted to examine the impact of entrepreneurial ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: An emerging type of innovation that leads to dramatic improvement in management processes and methods, and at the same time promotes innovation, is entrepreneurship for preserving cleaner production. However, few studies have been conducted to examine the impact of entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge management, and market orientation on sustainable competitive advantage and cleaner production that indicates the necessity and importance of conducting such research. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the impact of entrepreneurship, market, and knowledge management on sustainable competitive advantage and cleaner production. METHODS: The study is a descriptive research based on the method and an applied one in terms of the purpose. The statistical sample includes 289 senior executives of small and medium enterprises which are selected by random stratified method. The Structural Equation Model was used for inferential analysis and Analytic Network Process was used for prioritization. FINDING: According to the obtained results, entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and knowledge management affect cleaner production with the 0.75, 0.85, and 0.51 scores, respectively, and also, cleaner production leads to improvement of competitive advantage. As a result, companies operate more successfully when using a set of strategic guidelines for cleaner production and achieve the significant development, which produce a sustainable competitive advantage over competitors. The Analytic Network Process output also indicates that the knowledge orientation got first rank with the weight of 0.307, followed by entrepreneurial orientation and market orientation with the weight of 0.229 in the second rank, and cleaner production (0.141) and sustainable competitive advantage (0.095) ranked third and fourth, respectively. CONCLUSION: it seems that the existing knowledge of manufacturing operations is insufficient at this level to cover the rapid growth of this field, and many small and medium enterprises are still lagging behind in taking advantage of these new opportunities.
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
Z. Yaghoubpour; F. Habib; Z.S.S. Zarabadi
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Urban pause refers to those places where social interactions, human communication and the presence of people, which is the identity and meaning of the environment, are formed and are a place for citizens to gather. In fact, it is a pedestrian area or a public place for urban ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Urban pause refers to those places where social interactions, human communication and the presence of people, which is the identity and meaning of the environment, are formed and are a place for citizens to gather. In fact, it is a pedestrian area or a public place for urban open space. In modern applications, the social interactions of citizens in today's cities, including Tehran, have been severely damaged. The purpose of this study is to achieve a conceptual model including principles and criteria to increase social interactions of citizens in 15 Khordad Square in Tehran, Iran to determine how to realize the appropriate urban pause space, increase social interactions of residents and passers-by in this area.METHODS: The present study has been done in a descriptive-analytical manner and based on a survey strategy with an exploratory and mixed approach, various aspects of urban space, urban pause space and citizens' social interactions are examined. The statistical population included researchers and academic elites with knowledge relating to the research topic, as well as urban planning experts, senior managers and social science experts working in Municipality of Tehran. Using a snowball sampling method, a researcher made questionnaire were distributed to 100 people. Cronbach's alpha test was performed in order to achieve reliability and validation of criteria and sub-criteria of field measurement tools. Spss software were used to analyze the obtained data. FINDINGS: The results showed that based on the standard deviation calculations, the average score of all propositions (sub-criteria and criteria) was higher than 4 (based on 5 and average 3) accepted by experts and specialists. The standard deviation of the propositions below 1 showed that 3 functional, physical and semantic dimensions and a total of 18 components and 54 indicators in the formation of the final research model were accepted and approved by experts and specialists.CONCLUSION: Social interactions in parts of the city not only lead to the identity of the neighborhood and the region, but also lead to human communication and the presence of people and personality and give meaning to specific places with historical and nostalgic background in the city. Biological, spiritual and psychological needs and the most important aspect of the principles of urban management. Such a city can be the main link between dynamic urban spaces and tourists.
Information and communications technology in Urban Management
F.E.A. Afridi; B. Ayaz; M. Irfan
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Increase in online banking activities has been observed in the new normal of the Covid-19 pandemic. Previous studies argued that fraudsters tend to prey on unexpected events. This threat is also frightening online consumers of retail banking. Therefore, this study aimed to ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Increase in online banking activities has been observed in the new normal of the Covid-19 pandemic. Previous studies argued that fraudsters tend to prey on unexpected events. This threat is also frightening online consumers of retail banking. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how online retail banking users can be motivated enough to avoid online banking fraud threats while no compromise on health. METHODS: The population of the study is online banking customers in Pakistan. This study obtained data from 470 respondents who used online banking services by using questionnaires through an online survey. The structure Equation Modeling approach is used to investigate the relationship among study research variables. FINDINGS: Findings from a nationwide online survey confirmed the impact of the pandemic on consumer responses for online retail banking intention. Structure Equation Model results found that Perceived Vulnerability β = 0.24, Perceived Severity β = 0.31, and Response Efficacy β = 0.32 has significant impact on precautionary behavior. Surprisingly, Self-Efficacy was not significant to consumer precautionary behavior during the new normal of COVID-19.CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the literature on online banking and protection motivation theory. Results imply that bankers must invest in online banking and provide a secure environment that prioritizes the safety of the online transaction and create awareness to decrease the threat of fraud during the uncertain situation. The findings of this study particularly call for bankers, retailers’ attention to online management of security systems.
Urban and municipalities management
L.A. Chamwali; A.J. Mzava; S. Watundu
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Developing countries have been experiencing a rapid increase in their population. This comes in hand with more human activity and hence increased solid waste generation as one of the by-products. The continuous surge in solid waste generation is a challenge to these countries. ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Developing countries have been experiencing a rapid increase in their population. This comes in hand with more human activity and hence increased solid waste generation as one of the by-products. The continuous surge in solid waste generation is a challenge to these countries. Thus the need to make conducive decisions for solid waste management. To achieve this, in 2009, the Government of Tanzania privatized solid waste management services and enacted the Environmental Regulations Law. However, only 20% of solid waste generated in urban Tanzania is collected but instead dumped in landfills. In Morogoro, one of the urban centers in Tanzania, municipal officials can only collect and dispose in landfills less than 35% of the 200 tons of solid waste generated per day. This raises concerns about the technical efficiency of solid waste management and specifically solid waste collection services in Morogoro municipality. The purpose of this study is to measure technical efficiency and analyze the determinants of technical inefficiency for solid waste collection services in Morogoro municipality.METHODS: Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended questions. Morogoro municipality has a population of 290 waste management agents from whom a sample of 201 was selected using cluster and purposive sampling methods. A stochastic frontier approach was used to measure technical efficiency and analyze the factors determining technical inefficiency. STATA 14 software was used for model estimation and tests. .FINDINGS: Results show that technical efficiency for solid waste collection services in Morogoro Municipality is 81.56% that is below the technical efficiency threshold of 95%. Thus solid waste collection services in Morogoro municipality are inefficient. In addition, age of the waste management agent, number of houses participating in waste collection, and number of waste collection tools belonging to the waste management agents are significant determinants of technical inefficiency.CONCLUSION: Results suggest an improvement in solid waste collection through increased wide service coverage. Increased community participation is a necessity and thus mass awareness campaigns are unavoidable. It is appropriate to procurement enough tools and labor force by the solid waste collection agents. Morogoro municipal authority should provide a stern law enforcement process.
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
Kh. Moghani Rahimi; M. Behzadfar; S. jalilisadrabad
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Making society resilient is considered a critical and challenging issue in mental health planning or stress-relieving urban planning. However; although in recent years, many studies have separately addressed stress and urban resilience, no study has explained the relationship ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Making society resilient is considered a critical and challenging issue in mental health planning or stress-relieving urban planning. However; although in recent years, many studies have separately addressed stress and urban resilience, no study has explained the relationship between the two. Therefore, the present study aims to explain the relationship between urban stress and urban resilience in the Region 8 of the District 1 of Tehran Municipality. METHODS: This study is applied descriptive-analytical research. The required data are collected using both quantitative and qualitative methods and analyzed by regression analysis. First, using the library method, the indicators of urban stress and urban resilience were identified, then the study sample was selected using these indicators and the Delphi method. After; that, the information related to the indicators was collected using questionnaire and library methods, and finally, the relationship between urban stress and urban resilience was investigated through multivariate regression.FINDINGS: The research findings indicate a high correlation between the two abovementioned concepts (correlation coefficient= 0.925). Moreover; the adjusted R2 shows that resilience indicators explain 83% of the total variations in urban stress. Also; the most critical indicators affecting the citizens' stress include the status of open space, gender structure of the population, permeability, average building density, education level, resident participation, spatial diversity, citizen's sense of belonging, social diversity, violence, crime, the safeness of the environment, social capital, social solidarity, the strength of buildings, vulnerability to natural hazards, income status, employment status, environmental pollution, access to services, the age structure of the population, and safety, respectively.CONCLUSION: it is possible to significantly reduce urban stress by enhancing urban resilience and paying attention to its effective indicators.
Urban health, safety and environment (HSE)
A.R. Karbassi; M. Shahpasand; A.A. Rajabi; H.A. Ghafari
Abstract
Today many of wide scope and famous organizations design and develop HSE models to achieve a more suitable HSE management system for their own purposes. To implement such models some requirements should be considered in line with defined goals and missions. The present study was carried out in order ...
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Today many of wide scope and famous organizations design and develop HSE models to achieve a more suitable HSE management system for their own purposes. To implement such models some requirements should be considered in line with defined goals and missions. The present study was carried out in order to achieve the HSE management system for children and adolescents in education and training centers. This study was conducted in two phases, namely identification and assessment/ documentation. The study was carried out in districts one, four, six, seven and eight of Tehran municipality during eighteen months. The employer was Tehran Shahr-e-salem Company (Healthy City) and the contractor was the faculty of environment, University of Tehran. As the final result of study, based on initial data and by holding brainstorming meetings, the final citizenship HSE model was constructed in five panels: Management responsibility and commitment, Infrastructures and resources management and documentation, Planning, HSE operations management and Monitoring, analysis and improvement. This model was designed by consideration of existing capacities and with the goal of being responsive to all stakeholders (service provider, recipients of services and others).
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
Z. Alaghehmandan; M. Mahmoudi
Abstract
Natural ventilation is among those effective methods that is useful in hot dry climates. One of its important uses is in the atrium spaces in the office buildings. Although, as a passive solution, it has a significant impact on the reduction of energy consumption, the control of inlet and outflow of ...
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Natural ventilation is among those effective methods that is useful in hot dry climates. One of its important uses is in the atrium spaces in the office buildings. Although, as a passive solution, it has a significant impact on the reduction of energy consumption, the control of inlet and outflow of air as well as the control of air current temperature has always been a challenge for architects and engineers. This study aims at designing a model to reduce energy consumption and increase airflow inside the atrium. In so doing, the present study reviews the existing solutions in the inactive area. In this way, using computer simulations, the designed model in the energy software is analyzed and compared. The Design Builder Software is used to analyze the natural ventilation inside the building. The results clearly show that the use of a suitable form in the atrium ceilings with the aim of increasing the absorption of direct sunlight can have a direct effect on natural ventilation and thus reduce energy consumption in hot dry areas.
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
A.R. Sadeghi; M. Khakzand; M.A. Dehghani
Abstract
In the present era, the importance and role of green space in the life and development of cities are to the extent that it is mentioned as one of the indicators of sustainable development. In sustainable urban development, proportional distribution of green space according to the balanced distribution ...
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In the present era, the importance and role of green space in the life and development of cities are to the extent that it is mentioned as one of the indicators of sustainable development. In sustainable urban development, proportional distribution of green space according to the balanced distribution of the population is one of the principles of establishing geographical justice. The purpose of the present study is also to determine the status of green space per capita in ten districts of Shiraz city. The research type is applied-developmental and the research method is descriptive-analytical. The data has been collected from urban plans, and to investigate the spatial distribution of the share of green space in 10 districts of Shiraz city, Dispersion coefficient model was utilized. Shannon entropy also has been implemented for analyzing Population distribution during 2007, 2012 and 2016 in urban districts of Shiraz. The research results show that the highest per capita of urban green space is related to districts 9, 3, 6, 1, respectively, and the lowest per capita of green space is related to districts 8 and 7, respectively. The coefficient of dispersion was obtained as equal to 0.20, which, unlike the previous studies, indicates the realization of the principle of justice in spatial planning of green space index in 2016. The results of the entropy coefficient showed that distribution of the population in ten districts of Shiraz in 2007 has been balanced, in 2012 has moved toward unequal distribution of population, and then in 2016 again has moved toward balanced distribution.
Urban social and cultural welfare
F. Forootan Eghlidi; F. Karimi
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between the dimensions of glass ceiling and the organizational commitment of women employees at University of Isfahan, which was conducted by a correlational-type descriptive method. The study population consisted of the women employees working ...
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The aim of the present study was to determine the relationship between the dimensions of glass ceiling and the organizational commitment of women employees at University of Isfahan, which was conducted by a correlational-type descriptive method. The study population consisted of the women employees working at University of Isfahan, whose number stood at 428 individual and 202 individuals of them were selected using a stratified random sampling fit for the size. In order to collect data, two questionnaires glass ceiling and organizational commitment were utilized. For data analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, stepwise regression, and multivariate variance analysis test were used. The findings of the research indicated that correlation coefficient between glass ceiling) r=-0.215, p<0.01) and family barrier dimension )r=-0.174, p<0.05) and social barriers )r=-0.183, p<0.05), as dimensions of glass ceiling, and organizational commitment is negative and significant. Among the dimensions of glass ceiling, social barrier was the best predictor of organizational commitment (β=21.9).
Urban civil engineering and related management issues
I. Karabegović
Abstract
The term "INDUSTRY 4.0" or "fourth industrial revolution" was first introduced at the fair in 2011 in Hannover. It comes from the high-tech strategy of the German Federal Government that promotes automation-computerization to complete smart automation, meaning the introduction of a method of self-automation, ...
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The term "INDUSTRY 4.0" or "fourth industrial revolution" was first introduced at the fair in 2011 in Hannover. It comes from the high-tech strategy of the German Federal Government that promotes automation-computerization to complete smart automation, meaning the introduction of a method of self-automation, self-configuration, self-diagnosing and fixing the problem, knowledge and intelligent decision-making. Any automation, including smart, cannot be imagined without industrial robots. Along with the fourth industrial revolution, ‘’robotic revolution’’ is taking place in Japan. Robotic revolution refers to the development and research of robotic technology with the aim of using robots in all production processes, and the use of robots in real life, to be of service to a man in daily life. Knowing these facts, an analysis was conducted of the representation of industrial robots in the production processes on the two continents of Europe and Asia /Australia, as well as research that industry is ready for the introduction of intelligent automation with the goal of establishing future smart factories. The paper gives a representation of the automation of production processes in Europe and Asia/Australia, with predictions for the future.
Human capital in urban management
N.N. Yuliarmi; N.P. Martini Dewi; S.D. Rustariyuni; A.A.I.N. Marhaeni; G. Andika
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Small and medium enterprises still exhibit dominant contribution to the economy. Small and medium enterprises manage to absorb greater labor force and to survive the economic crisis. Various efforts to empower small and medium enterprises have been less successful. Financing ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Small and medium enterprises still exhibit dominant contribution to the economy. Small and medium enterprises manage to absorb greater labor force and to survive the economic crisis. Various efforts to empower small and medium enterprises have been less successful. Financing constraint, low quality of human resources, and limited marketing competence have been the typical problems of small and medium enterprises that harm small and medium enterprises performance. Despite these problems, SMEs still manage to survive. METHODS: Using the sampling method of stratified random sampling with area strata, this study generates 203 small business units as the sample. The research was conducted by using accidental sampling. The quantitative and qualitative data are from primary and secondary sources. The data was collected by using observation, interview, and in-depth interview. The variables in this research was analyzed by using path analysis. FINDING: Social capital positively affect small and medium enterprises ’ financing as indicated by the significance value of 0.000 (< α= 5%). The stronger social capital of small and medium enterprises implied greater access of external financing sources. Social capital, and small and medium enterprises financing positively affect small and medium enterprises performance with 1% confidence level, and human resources positively affect small and medium enterprises performance with 6% confidence level. The finding shown the stronger social capital and human resources increases SMEs performance. CONCLUSION: The results show that social capital and SMEs’ financing positively affect SMEs’ performance, and human resources positively affect small and medium enterprises performance. The results imply that stronger social capital and human resources increases small and medium enterprises performance. Social capital facilitates access to finance, marketing, production, and information. The results shows that human resources affect SMEs’ performance. Social capital and human resources positively affect small and medium enterprises financing. Similarly, social capital, human resources, and financing positively affect SMEs’ performance.
Human capital in urban management
F.E.A. Afridi; Sh. Jan; B. Ayaz
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Self-leadership is an uplifting concept in this technologically driven world. Given the potential benefits of self-leadership and its increasing popularity, it is surprising that self-leadership is an under-researched topic. The purpose of this study was to understand ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Self-leadership is an uplifting concept in this technologically driven world. Given the potential benefits of self-leadership and its increasing popularity, it is surprising that self-leadership is an under-researched topic. The purpose of this study was to understand the personality factors related to the use of self-leadership behaviors.METHODS: This study analyzed data obtained from 217 respondents through an online survey. The study proposed model was tested using multiple regression to analyze individual characteristics of self-leaders and the results indicated that the model was partially supported.FINDINGS: The findings indicate that individual characteristics do predict self-leadership. Personality traits variables conscientiousness (beta = .32, p < .01) and openness (beta = .26, p < .05) have a significant positive relationship with self-leadership practices. Surprisingly, this study found emotional stability has no significant relationship with self-leadership behavior.CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggested that conscientiousness is important in the development of self-leadership meta-skills possibly through self-directed self-regulation and the practice of self-leadership. This study also employed a rigorous validation technique therefore, this study was able to address some of the methodological limitations of previous studies such as common method variance by examining the proposed relationships in a longitudinal setting.
Urban health, safety and environment (HSE)
R. Oguntayo; S. F. Agberotimi; P. O. Ajao; O. T. Oladele; A. O. Olaseni; O. D. Ajibewa
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Environmental worry involve primarily the thoughts of some hazardous immediate and long-run side effects of degradation that happened to our ecological system. Despite the side effects of this phenomenon, psychometrics measuring environmental worry from the African context ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Environmental worry involve primarily the thoughts of some hazardous immediate and long-run side effects of degradation that happened to our ecological system. Despite the side effects of this phenomenon, psychometrics measuring environmental worry from the African context are insufficient. Therefore, the Environmental Worry Index (EWI-11) was developed to assess proximal and personal experiences of worry about climate change and environmental degradation. METHODS: This study used a qualitative method among environmental professionals and students (between the ages of 18 to 65) in a university to generate the themes and the pool of items that were used to determine the Environmental Worry Index (EWI-11). Thereafter, 925 participants were purposively selected and assessed from Ibadan city through a cross-sectional survey to ascertain the validity and reliability of this new scale. The participants were selected in Ibadan city, Nigeria. The software of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Version 26.0) was used for all analyses.FINDINGS: Using exploratory factor analysis, the construct validity and Varimax rotation showed that the scale has two components (KMO = 0.892, df=91, p.00), thus showing a strong validity. The reliability dimensions and subscales have meritorious reliability (Proximal, α =.894, and Personal experience of worry, α =.671). The overall Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.894.CONCLUSION: The EWI-11 is adequate for measuring environmental worry and could be useful for experts in mental and environmental research and practice. EWI-11 is therefore recommended as a reliable and valid screening tool for environmental worry and may be acceptable across Africa and other countries as well.
Urban health, safety and environment (HSE)
Z. Yaghoubpour; S. Givehchi; M.A. Tabrizi; F. Masoudi; L. Nourian
Abstract
This study focused on the public transport risk assessment in District one of Tehran through Fault Tree Analysis involving the three criteria of human, vehicle and road in Haddon matrix. In fact, it examined the factors contributing to the occurrence of road accidents at several urban black spots ...
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This study focused on the public transport risk assessment in District one of Tehran through Fault Tree Analysis involving the three criteria of human, vehicle and road in Haddon matrix. In fact, it examined the factors contributing to the occurrence of road accidents at several urban black spots within District 1. Relying on road safety checklists and survey of experts, this study made an effort to help urban managers to assess the risks in the public transport and prevent road accidents. Finally, the risk identification and assessment of public transport in District one yielded several results to answer the research questions. The hypotheses analysis suggested that safety issues involved in public transport are concerned by urban managers. The key reactive measures are investigation of accidents, identification of causes and correction of black spots. In addition to high costs, however, the reactive measures give rise to multiple operational problems such as traffic navigation and guaranteeing user safety in every operation. The case study highlighted the same fact. The macro-level management in the metropolis of Tehran is critical. The urban road casualties and losses can be curtailed by preventive measures such as continuous assessment of road safety.
Urban health, safety and environment (HSE)
M.H. Rahimi; N. Kalantari; M. Sharifidoost; A. Gashtasebi
Abstract
Nowadays, it is vital to pay attention more seriously to the urban environmental risks because of its effects on citizens' lives. One of these problems is groundwater pollution which threatens much valuable water resources. Drinking water in Qom City is provided from different resources, such as watersheds ...
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Nowadays, it is vital to pay attention more seriously to the urban environmental risks because of its effects on citizens' lives. One of these problems is groundwater pollution which threatens much valuable water resources. Drinking water in Qom City is provided from different resources, such as watersheds and water wells which are located within the city. Although there is a shortage of water supply, according to the extreme water demand, these wells are used to provide city drinking water. Unfortunately, Sewage collection network in this city has not been completed yet and only a small amount of municipal wastewater is collected by the sewer network. As a result the city aquifer has been contaminated by the wastewater infiltration through the septic tanks scattered across the city. In order to assess the amount of contamination in water wells in urban areas of Qom City, sampling and testing of 24 deep wells which are scattered in the city was performed on December 2013. The meseared qualitative parameters consist of color, T, TU, TSS, pH, EC, TDS, DO, BOD5, COD, Total Alkalinity, CO3, HCO3, Total Hardness, Ca, Mg, SO4, Cl, Na, K, NH4, NO2, NO3, PO4, Br, I, TC, FC, FS, HPC, Fe, Hg, Pb, Co, Cd, Ni, As, Zn, B, Cu, Mn, Sn, Ba, and Sr. In this study, the drinking water physical, chemical and microbiological specifications guidelines of Iranian Standards and Industrial Research and the World Health Organization standards were used to evaluate the amount of the aquifer pollution. The results indicate that the aquifer in Qom is polluted widely by B, NO3, TC, FC and HPC.
Human capital in urban management
H. Aramesh; M. Dehghani
Abstract
Today, most countries in the world are gearing up by innovation, seeking to increase productivity and improve their economic situation, and one of the important centers for innovative activities is the incubator centered companies. The majority of companies based in incubator centers are startups companies. ...
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Today, most countries in the world are gearing up by innovation, seeking to increase productivity and improve their economic situation, and one of the important centers for innovative activities is the incubator centered companies. The majority of companies based in incubator centers are startups companies. Considering that the failure rate of new firms in the early years of formation is greater, research should be conducted on the success factors of these companies. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the key factors for the success of knowledge-based companies Relied on academic incubator centers and it was carried out with the Meta synthesis method. Meta synthesis requires that the researcher carry out a thorough and in-depth review, combining the findings of relevant qualitative research. Using the Meta synthesis method, evaluated over 38 articles in the field of knowledge-based companies. Content mining was used to extract the dimensions and codes, and the significance and priority of each was determined by the use of the quantitative Shannon entropy method. 13 codes, 4 general concepts and 2 categories were identified by reviewing 38 articles. Shannon’s entropy was determined based on the results of the quantitative analysis. To evaluate the quality, the results are presented to one of the experts to be examined by the Kappa index Using SPSS software; a significant number of 0.000 and an index value of 0.706 were calculated. So it can be claimed that the extraction of the codes had a good reliability. The most important factor for the success of the companies located in the incubator centers of Sistan and Baluchistan University is the marketing and sales capabilities that have the highest coefficient and have the highest rankings in total. Based on the findings, it was found that the factors of marketing and sales capabilities, the presence of specialized staff and information technology related infrastructure (software, hardware, network, and brain ware), respectively, have the most impact on the success of knowledge-based companies Relied on university incubator centers.
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
M. Batool; Y. Jehan; N. Hayat
Abstract
Environmental pollutants have become a dreadful problem and burning issues for the present world irrespective of a country who is responsible for it. The objective of the study is to investigate impact of financial development and institutional quality on environmental degradation. The study is based ...
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Environmental pollutants have become a dreadful problem and burning issues for the present world irrespective of a country who is responsible for it. The objective of the study is to investigate impact of financial development and institutional quality on environmental degradation. The study is based on panel data for developing and developed countries over the time of 1996-2016. For the empirical analysis fixed effect and the random effect is carried out. Results show that institutional quality, economic growth, foreign direct investment, gross primary enrolment, and industrial growth have significant positive effect on corban emissions whereas financial development, population growth, trade openness, urban population and R&D expenditures have significant negative effect on corban emissions. One percent point increase in the index of institutional quality leads towards 0.006 percent points increase in the level of CO2 emissions. One percent point increase in the economic growth lead to increase the CO2 emissions by 0.39 percent points. One percent point increase in inflows of foreign direct investment increase the level of CO2 emissions by 0.016 percent points. One percent point increase in industrial growth leads to a 0.38 percent points increase in the level of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, one percent point increase in the index of financial development leads to 0.05 percent points decrease in the level of CO2 emissions. One percent point increase in urban population leads to almost 0.05 percent points fall in the level of CO2 emissions. Finally, one percent point rise in R&D expenditures leads to decrease in the level of CO2 emissions by 0.068 percent points.
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
M. Alavi
Abstract
ABSTRACT: Overall plant growth and microbial biomass can be effected by dust accumulation. The chloroform fumigation-extraction method was used to evaluating the effect of cement dust pollution emitted from Kurdistan cement factory on soil microbial biomass carbon. Chlorophyll content (a, b and total) ...
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ABSTRACT: Overall plant growth and microbial biomass can be effected by dust accumulation. The chloroform fumigation-extraction method was used to evaluating the effect of cement dust pollution emitted from Kurdistan cement factory on soil microbial biomass carbon. Chlorophyll content (a, b and total) of plants species was measured in different distance from cement factory. Microbial biomass C (Cmic) amounts ranged from 0.138 to 1.102 mg/g soils in the polluted sites and from 0.104 to 1.283 mg/g soils in the control area. Soils polluted with alkaline cement dust resulted in meaningful reduction in Cmic levels compared to control soils. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) show Cmic was positively correlated to soil CaCO3 content (r = 0.09). Cmic/Corg ratio was 2.54 and 1.92 in the control and cement polluted sites, respectively. Reduction in this ratio can be resulted from soil degradation in cement polluted soils. A significant decrease in the Cmic/Corg ratio in cement dust-polluted soils illustrated that this factor can be applied as a good indicator of soil quality. In the case of chlorophyll content of plant species, maximum reduction of total chlorophyll for Triticum aestivum L. was 45% compared to Hordeum vulgare L. with 60%. Therefore, results show higher sensitivity of H.vulgare than to T. aestivum.
