ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
O. Gotore; V. Mushayi; R. Rameshprabu; L. Gochayi; T. Itayama
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Water pollution and scarcity are becoming a serious challenge worldwide and methods of treating or recycling the wastewater are becoming expensive, especially in rural areas of least developed countries. An affordable wastewater recycling approach is imminent and should be ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Water pollution and scarcity are becoming a serious challenge worldwide and methods of treating or recycling the wastewater are becoming expensive, especially in rural areas of least developed countries. An affordable wastewater recycling approach is imminent and should be cost-effective, using local materials to alleviate the water shortage and pollution challenges. The use of adsorbents from different biomass has been on the highway and tree barks are no exception for that matter. This research, therefore, intends to test the use of novel material’s capacity to remove Iodine from an aqueous solution under set conditions and use Bayesian statistics to validate the results as compared to the Frequentist approach.METHODS: This study is qualitative and developmental research where Bayesian and Conventional statistics were applied to complimentarly validate the results. Kinetic models, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy were used to characterize the novel adsorbent to check for its potential and capability in removing Iodine from water. Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) was then used to select the best model.FINDINGS: The findings demonstrated that the Bayesian approach was simultaneously applied with classical methods to compare their parameter estimation. Mupane biochar performed better than Mushuma, Pseudo-Second-Order model described both materials better with lower AICc values of 37.76 and 38.03 than other kinetic models respectively, indicating a chemisorption mechanism. Bayesian approach remarkably revealed slightly higher qt estimations of 40.712 and 41.639 mmol/g than conventional statistics with 40.01 and 40.29 mmol/g for Mushuma and Mupane biochar. Elovich model subsequently fit the data, henceforth demonstrating a heterogenous surface property with chemisorption phenomena. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy exhibited C (81.93 mol% and 86.91 mol %) and O (16.12 mol% and 11.49 mol%) for Mushuma and Mupane respectively.CONCLUSIONS: Material performances were insignificant however, Mupane marginally outperformed Mushuma bark. However, further examination is required in determining the surface area, adsorption isotherms, and functional groups available. This African tree-bark biochar promised to be good adsorbents of wastewater contaminants and their kinetic mechanisms can be a benchmark to suggest their applications as potential candidates for environmental-ecosystem-protection and water re-use strategy, especially in rural and urban areas.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
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.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human capital in urban management
L. Wei; HL. Vasudevan
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Leadership styles will have different effects on company performance, so many literatures in China study the relationship between leadership styles and company performance in manufacturing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Leadership styles will have different effects on company performance, so many literatures in China study the relationship between leadership styles and company performance in manufacturing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles and company performance in Chinese manufacturing. As a result of ineffective management in leading employees, China is currently experiencing poor financial and marketing performance, which has resulted in poor business operations and lower productivity, both of which have a direct impact on the company's performance in China's manufacturing industry.METHODS: This study adopts quantitative research method to collect data of factors affecting company performance through questionnaires, the sampling technique is snowball sampling. A total of 450 questionnaires were sent out to the respondents, and a total of 384 questionnaires were returned. Among them, 290 questionnaires were usable. A preliminary study was conducted to ensure that the adjusted questionnaire items were appropriate and valid for the study. In actual data collection, 290 responses were successfully collected in this study, with a response rate of 65%. The SPSS software was utilized to analyze the data in this study.FINDINGS: Based on the quantitative data analysis, the findings found that dictatorial leadership style paternalistic leadership style, autocratic leadership style, and laissez-faire leadership style insignificantly correlated with company performance in China. Democratic leadership style significantly correlated with company performance in China. Further, research findings have been discussed in the discussion of results.CONCLUSION: These findings may provide the purpose of this study that characterize company performance, confirm leadership style in the Chinese manufacturing sector, and apply performance theory to further analyze the effect of leadership style. The Tannenbaum and Schmidt leadership styles should suggest that leadership behaviour varies along a continuum, with a level of follower participation and involvement in decision-making growing as leaders move away from the authoritarian extreme.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Urban and municipalities management
A. Jafari Shahrestani; E. Sangi; H. Mazaherian; S. Movaghar Hoor
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Given the tremendous progress of today's societies and the expectations of the people from public institutions that are increasing day by day, having complex organizations is inevitable. As a non-parametric border method, data envelopment analysis approach has been presented ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Given the tremendous progress of today's societies and the expectations of the people from public institutions that are increasing day by day, having complex organizations is inevitable. As a non-parametric border method, data envelopment analysis approach has been presented as a relative assessment tool to evaluate performance assessment of The Municipality of Tehran with 22 districts. This paper aims to assess all 22 districts of Tehran in terms of cash and sustainable income. METHODS: In this paper, BCC output-oriented model has been opted to employ DEA for the performance assessment of Tehran Municipality in 2020. In order to formulate optimal programs, especially in the income programs of the regions, it is necessary to consider the specific conditions and characteristics of each region. Therefore, while cash and sustainable incomes have been selected as the model's output, number of building permits, number of inhabitants, number of housing deals, and the price of the residential unit have been considered as inputs of BCC-O model. FINDINGS: BCC-O approach was implemented to classify 22 districts of the Municipality of Tehran. The findings revealed that 50 percent of districts namely 1, 6, 9, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 operated efficiently. Also, it was determined that there has not been a proportional analogy between cash and sustainable income in comparison with input indices. For such areas an alternative program is proposed using the method. CONCLUSION: Due to the continuous increase of Tehran's county population and consequently the increase of citizens' requests and the lack of resources and facilities in Tehran Municipality on the other hand, it is necessary to formulate and implement the annual plans of the regions with higher accuracy. Given that at present the annual plan of cash and stable income of regions are based on past years' performance ignoring specific conditions of each region, so it is possible to evaluate a more real and precise value of income plan through DEA model with considering the conditions of each district. Decision-makers of inefficient districts can modify the approved plans of cash income and sustainable income base on the optimal value of the proposed data envelopment analysis model. Based on BCC-O model, guidelines are provided for transferring inefficient districts from the current state to the efficient ones. These values can be the basis for compiling the revenue plan for next year in districts of the Municipality of Tehran.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
A.R. Sadeghi; F. Shahvaran; A.R. Gholami; T. Feyzabi
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The concept of place as a multidimensional approach in the evolution of urban design concepts has always sought to improve the quality of urban environments and spaces. “Place” results from humans’ environmental experiences and cognition of space which is ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The concept of place as a multidimensional approach in the evolution of urban design concepts has always sought to improve the quality of urban environments and spaces. “Place” results from humans’ environmental experiences and cognition of space which is perceived through meaning in people’s minds within the interaction of humans and place. Placemaking is considered a participatory process and a practical approach for urban designers, which can be implemented by improving the physical quality of urban spaces. In urban design studies, several perspectives have been proposed regarding the structure of the place model. This paper aimed to examine the evolution of placemaking in urban design theories to propose a place model based on behavior. How and in what way behavior can contribute to the formation of place is the primary question of this research. In other words, what is the role of behaviors analysis and behavioral patterns in the formation of an urban place? METHODS: Descriptive-analytical method is used to review the concept of place and its conceptual evolution to provide placemaking recommendations and suggestions based on the proposed place model. In the case study section, Studies have been done using behavioral observation tools such as place-based graphic maps, movement path tracing of individuals, and recording various behavioral patterns by time intervals at the Hafezieh intersection, Shiraz, Iran.FINDINGS: The results of analyzing behavioral maps of Hafezieh intersection and recommendations from global experiences regarding public life and behavioral studies revealed that the combination of four aspects of form, function, meaning, and ecosystem with emphasis on the specific role of behavioral studies could lead to flourishing placemaking.CONCLUSION: Paying attention to the role of behavior-based placemaking in recent urban thoughts can promote sustainable urban design and determine optimal policies for social interactions, communication, and the importance of human behaviors that define a thriving place and support its constant progress.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human capital in urban management
A.A. Bayati; A. Khodayari; N. Khalife
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVS: The theory of organizational trauma or organizational crisis, is one of the theories to deal with organizational unrest. Some of these crises show signs of a traumatic experience. If not properly managed, the experience of mass harm appears to disappear under the surface behind ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVS: The theory of organizational trauma or organizational crisis, is one of the theories to deal with organizational unrest. Some of these crises show signs of a traumatic experience. If not properly managed, the experience of mass harm appears to disappear under the surface behind the mask of silence, leading to dysfunctional tissue behavior. The aim of the present study is to design an organizational trauma model for Sports Organization in the Municipality of Tehran.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Survey methods are, mixed with exploratory approaches. Qualitative sampling were performed using the view of 11 faculty / managers and statistical sampling in the snowball sampling method and quantitative section, considering that 5 to 10 people are required for each item, so 350 people were selected by stratified random sampling method. The means of collecting data for the qualitative part of the interview was semi-structured, in that the results of the interview were designed in the form of a questionnaire with three main components. Expert content validity and composition validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) and combined reliability indicators include Cronbach's alpha, divergence and convergence validity, and structural equation modeling, SPSS software Version 23 and LISREL version 8.54 were used.FINDINGS: The results showed the final model in 3 factors: individual factors 26.268, structural and technological 21.517, environmental factors 15.228, which in total had 62.841% predictability. Also individual (T-Value = 11.70, β = 0.93), environmental (T-Value = 12.122, β = 0.92) and structural factors (T-Value = 9.91, = 0.76) b) had a significant effect on the concept of organizational trauma. In the goodness-of-fit test, a total of seven indicators of model fit were confirmed, so all three identified factors can be integrated into the structural model of the research.CONCLUSION: The results presented in this paper insinuate that in-service training, salaries and benefits based on organizational position and years of service and taking into account various environmental factors can be fruitful in developing the proposed model.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Sustainable urban infrastructure
S.Sh. Hossain; H. Delin; M. Mingying
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tariff policy has a significant impact on a country's economic progress. The primary objective of this paper was to describe the construction of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and then analyze the economic impacts among simulated countries by introducing policy ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tariff policy has a significant impact on a country's economic progress. The primary objective of this paper was to describe the construction of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and then analyze the economic impacts among simulated countries by introducing policy shocks like increases and decreases in tariffs. METHODS: Tariff reductions resulted in an increase in intraregional and interregional trade, which is expected to spur long-term investment and economic growth. To examine the economic implications in multiple ways, this article initially used a tariff removal scenario and subsequently increased the tariff. The relationship between production, activity, elements, and other economic sectors of regions was depicted in this paper using a computational general equilibrium model based on the global trade analysis project model. FINDINGS: The simulation resulted in a lower tariff having a beneficial influence on Korea's economic growth compared to other countries. In the agricultural and processed food sectors, Korea's trade balance improved dramatically, with exports and imports continuing high, while exports and imports in the manufacturing and service sectors declined. In contrast to other countries, Korea's processed food output surged by 198%. Finally, in comparison to other countries, Korea's welfare grew by $ US currency 17.56 billion. On the other hand, the trade balance between China and the United States fell by $US currency 6.25 billion and $US currency 7.95 billion, respectively. Korea's trade balance increased considerably, rising by $ 21.78 billion in US currency. Korea's GDP fell by about 0.8%, while China's dropped by nearly 0.3%. Other countries' gross domestic product changed slightly. CONCLUSION: The influence of various tariff policies on countries is examined in this research paper. Computational general equilibrium analysis of tariff policies in the agriculture, processed food, infrastructure, manufacturing, and service sectors has gotten little attention in the past, so this paper used the Global trade analysis project model to try to fill in the gaps and find the benefits of mutual economic policy among countries.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Human capital in urban management
M. Saveh; D. Gholamzadeh; H Safarzadeh
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Rapid technological advances, widespread globalization advances, and the strong desire of people to change their career paths make the question of job and career path selection and decision making, and future predictions important today. Future work self is a new concept in ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Rapid technological advances, widespread globalization advances, and the strong desire of people to change their career paths make the question of job and career path selection and decision making, and future predictions important today. Future work self is a new concept in the career path process that originates from the postmodern approach that has entered in the field of management in the last ten years and organizations that guide and manage individual career paths need to understand the factors that influence career path design. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of designing and explaining models of factors that influence the design of career paths by the postmodern approach.METHOD: This study is a mixed method (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of development goal. First, library methods, scientific texts and related articles, and internal and external research on the topic were reviewed, followed by qualitative interviews with the participation of 15 professors, experts and the middle management of Municipality of Tehran in the field of human resource management, psychology, career counseling and, which were selected by purposive sampling method, was performed. The data of this stage were collected with the help of semi-structured interviews and analyzed by the Thematic analysis method. The statistical population of the quantitative section included experts of human resources of the Municipality of Tehran, who were familiar with the subject of research, from which 94 people were selected by simple random method. The data of this stage were collected with the help of a questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modeling.RESULTS: At the individual level, 38 keywords in the form of 9 Sub-themes and 3 Main-themes, which were: self-concept, job concern, personality, and at the environmental level, 46 keywords, in the form of 16 Sub-themes, and 6 Main-themes, which were: key personalities, family circumstances, educational conditions, community conditions, media and technology and political conditions were extracted from the interviews. Findings from double confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor numbers are all greater than 0.4 and the significance of the relationship between indices, components and constituent dimensions has been confirmed and all items had a t-statistic greater than 1.96, so none of the items were removed from the model and in total, all coefficients were significant at the 95% level. And the study of model fit indices and the result of 0.573 showed a strong fit of the model.CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, individual factors (self-concept, job concern and personality) and environmental factors (key personalities, family conditions, educational conditions, community conditions, media and technology and political conditions) that affect the formation of career path were identified and the effect of these factors was determined through the model.
CASE STUDY
Urban architecture, design, development and planning
S. Arefpour; M.R. Anvari; Gh.R. Miri
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Vandalism or intentional destruction of public property and belongings is one of the social hazards that always leads to huge jeopardy and damage to municipal facades, furniture, municipal spaces and distorts the beauty of the city. In this regard, the present study investigated ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Vandalism or intentional destruction of public property and belongings is one of the social hazards that always leads to huge jeopardy and damage to municipal facades, furniture, municipal spaces and distorts the beauty of the city. In this regard, the present study investigated vandalism and its impacts on urban beauty in the city of Chenaran.METHODS: The research methodology applied in this study was mixed (qualitative-quantitative). At the outset, the qualitative section was conducted in a semi-structured interview with 16 people who were graduates of geography, urban planning and sociology in 4 focus groups of 4 people. Following that, by applying the information of this section, the main examples and cases of vandalism (destructive vandalism and written vandalism), various types of vandalism (recreational, property, ideological and vindictive vandalism), the effects of urban beauty vandalism (destruction of facades, destruction of furniture and destruction of urban spaces) as well as factors affecting vandalism (individual and social) were identified. Analyzes were performed in NVIVO 7 software. Then, by using the findings of the qualitative section and theoretical studies, a questionnaire (Based on the Likert scale) was prepared and distributed among the sample size of the quantitative section (382 citizens of Chenaran). Questionnaire analysis was performed with Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis model in SPSS software.FINDINGS: The findings demonstrated that factors like socio-economic status, degree of socialization, feelings of injustice and discrimination, association with vandals and individual factors are influential in vandalism. The results of regression analysis also illustrated that 63% of the alterations in vandalism are as a result of the relationship between a linear combination of independent variables and the remaining 37% or "Coefficient of Non-Determination" is as a consequence of other factors which were not considered in this study. Feelings of injustice and discrimination (0.168) and association and communication (0.161) have a direct impact, but the socio-economic status (-0.166), the degree of socialization (-0.154) and individual factors (-0.145) have the opposite effect.CONCLUSION: Vandalism affects the beauty of the city in several ways, including feelings of abuse and discrimination with a value of 0.168 and then meetings and communication with a value of 0.161 in which factors such as alteration of people's notions, reconstruction and fixing damaged equipment and the participation of citizens are crucial.
CASE STUDY
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
J. Figueroa Jiménez1; N. Guerrero Del Castillo; J. C. Musa Wasil; K. Malave-Llamas; C. Morales Agrinzoni
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In the state of Florida there are more than 2.5 million acres of fresh water available; rivers, streams, springs, artificial canals, wetlands, and lakes. Polk and Osceola Counties are under a class III classification, which means that are considered recreational waters, ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In the state of Florida there are more than 2.5 million acres of fresh water available; rivers, streams, springs, artificial canals, wetlands, and lakes. Polk and Osceola Counties are under a class III classification, which means that are considered recreational waters, and people can carry out fishing and/or swimming activities within the facility. Some of the problems these lakes face is eutrophication due to pollutants such as phosphorous, nitrogen, and growth of cyanobacteria, impacting directly the quality and public health. The aim of this analysis is evaluating the effect of the presence of Total phosphorus and Total nitrogen in the water quality, and an indirect analysis of cyanobacteria by the evaluation of Secchi Disk and Chlorophyll-a analysis, in order to identify statistically differences between two counties in Florida state, to contribute with a possible improvements and ecological buffer plan to be used to reduce pollution in the lakes of the state of Florida.METHODS: Based on this premise, it is intended to analyze secondary data on the quality of the water in the lakes of Polk and Osceola counties by evaluating the trophic status in each lake, and statistically evaluated using ANOVA, histograms and pareto analysis.FINDINGS: Results obtained determined that lakes from Osceola County are more contaminated that lakes from Polk County since it has three lakes in eutrophic status vs two lakes in eutrophic conditions at Polk County (from 52-69 for Osceola County and 42-59 for Polk County). Similar pattern is observed when evaluating histograms and pareto plots for each parameter between the counties. ANOVA test showed that F>F critical and p-value<α, demonstrating that there is difference between both counties.CONCLUSION: After the analysis was completed, it is recommended an evaluation by zone and improve water quality. It has been demonstrated that there is a need of new alternatives for the conservation and preservation of lakes in the state of Florida. Buffer zones are an alternative that can be very beneficial to conservation of lakes functioning also as a natural home for the flora and fauna. For the zone studied, it is recommended the use of Riparian buffers. These systems are known to improve and maintain water quality; at the same time protecting and improving fish and wildlife habitat.
