Mohammad Paydar and Asal Kamani Fard
Promoting social interaction contributes to social sustainability in the urban setting. And, legibility is one of the key qualities of successful urban places. This research aims…
Abstract
Purpose
Promoting social interaction contributes to social sustainability in the urban setting. And, legibility is one of the key qualities of successful urban places. This research aims to examine the impacts of legibility and the quality of seating areas on the level of engagement with place as well as social interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The levels of social interaction in different public spaces of the selected neighbourhood were observed. On this basis, the neighbourhood park and neighbourhood entry plaza were selected. A sample of 234 people was determined and a quantitative approach was used to examine the objectives.
Findings
Inhabitants were more interested in passive engagement with place. Certain cultural and spatial attributes contribute to enhancing social interaction. Legibility was poorly recognizable especially due to the weak level of visibility. The quality and quantity of seating area provision as well as visual connectivity are to be improved so that the legibility as well as the social interaction enhances. Finally, the implications in regards the prospect-refuge theory were described.
Originality/value
Promoting social interaction has been less regarded by urban planners and policy makers in the context of Asian cities. In a historical context with a mix of native-born citizens and immigrants, where different types of crime exist and it suffers from illegible structure in its different parts, understanding the urban design interventions of engagement with place as well as social interaction is an important subject. Policy makers may apply these findings to improve the positive social interactions in such residential neighbourhoods.
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Mohammad Paydar and Enayatollah Rahimi
Iran’s metropolitan areas are growing rapidly, and, among them, Shiraz has experienced a high rate of urban sprawl in recent decades. On the other hand, besides wasting the…
Abstract
Purpose
Iran’s metropolitan areas are growing rapidly, and, among them, Shiraz has experienced a high rate of urban sprawl in recent decades. On the other hand, besides wasting the resources, urban sprawl does not follow the principles of sustainable urban development and its consideration would help to determine and employ the required type of sustainable urban development approach. The purpose of this paper is to assess urban sprawl in Shiraz.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the indicators and their weights for Shiraz’s sprawl assessment are identified through Delphi and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods. In addition, the degree of urban sprawl is assessed using the preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE).
Findings
The Delphi method produced the four criteria of “land use,” “urban fabric,” “social characteristics,” and “accessibility,” and “urban fabric” was the most important criterion per the AHP. Finally, the results of the PROMETHEE analysis indicated a high amount of urban sprawl in most of Shiraz’s municipal zones.
Practical implications
Therefore, due to the high degree of urban sprawl in Shiraz and its geographical limitations for horizontal development, a study on sustainable approaches to urban development in Shiraz, including Smart Growth and sustainable urban regeneration, seems mandatory for this city. However, this study indicates the requirement for more studies on urban sprawl in major cities of Iran, but by comparison of these findings with other relevant studies, it is inferred that using sustainable urban development approaches seems crucial for the majority of the cities in this country. Finally guidelines on how to impede urban sprawl and encourage sustainable urban development in Shiraz and Iranian cities as well as certain implications in this regard are discussed.
Originality/value
The findings of this study are expected to contribute valuable information for policy makers in terms of urban planning and the development of the cities in Iran.
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Syed Shah Alam, Mohammad Masukujjaman, Samiha Susmit, Sumaiya Susmit and Hassanuddeen Abd Aziz
This study evaluated the determinants of augmented reality (AR) adoption in Malaysia's travel and tour operator sectors through an integrated technology-organization-environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
This study evaluated the determinants of augmented reality (AR) adoption in Malaysia's travel and tour operator sectors through an integrated technology-organization-environmental (TOE) and diffusion of innovation (DOI) model.
Design/methodology/approach
The TOE and DOI were considered the primary theoretical models but are combined and extended by including few additional variables. Data were collected from 220 respondents of travel and tour operating businesses in Malaysia and analyzed by applying PLS structural equation model technique.
Findings
The empirical results established that perceived cost, relative advantages, complexity and compatibility, observability, competitor pressure, value alignment, customer pressure, and trialability are positively connected with the behavioral intention except for external support. The results reveal that value alignment partially mediates the association between relative advantages and behavioral intention, complexity and behavioral intention, compatibility and behavioral intention, perceived cost and behavioral intention except in between trialability and observability.
Originality/value
This research is unique as the value alignment construct is included in the model, and thus it fulfills the literature gap by adding the mediation construct. This study contributes to enhancing AR's understanding of the Malaysian travel and tour operator industry through the lenses of owners or managers. It offers an integrated model that combines the TOE and DOI models, rare in this sector, and can be replicated or extended with validated scales.
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Mitra Seyyedpour Esmaeilzadeh, Ahad Nejad Ebrahimi and Vahid Vaziri
Sustainability is one of the major factors in the way of creating new structures in historical contexts. The economic principle plays a very significant role in sustainability…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainability is one of the major factors in the way of creating new structures in historical contexts. The economic principle plays a very significant role in sustainability besides the environmental and social components. Tabriz Historic Bazaar that has been inscribed on the World Heritage list has witnessed various developments in its surrounding area over recent years. The purpose of this study is to analyze the infill structure indicators in this region in terms of economic sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
First, based on related literature reviews and approaches, the indicators that should be considered in the creation of infill structures in historical contexts were collected. Later, by considering the vicinity zone of Tabriz Historic Bazaar, the effect of each indicator on the economic sustainability of the building was gathered by means of AHP questionnaires and in-person interviews with experts and analyzed by the Expert Choice software.
Findings
The findings present a guideline which indicates that the type of materials being used is the most important factor in order to create an economically sustainable infill structure in this setting. Accordance with the Climate of the region ranks second place and the Cultural land-use as the Suitable land use for this site goes for the third. The mentioned guideline includes 25 indicators and can help designers with a clear path.
Originality/value
This paper clarifies the order of indicators' importance for enhancing the design and consequently function of infill structures, being built in this historic context, with the aim of economic sustainability. The prioritization of indicators in this research depends mainly on their relevance to the conditions of the study area, but the methodology can be used helpfully in similar cases.
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Hajar Eskandar, Elham Heydari, Mahdi Hasanipanah, Mehrshad Jalil Masir and Ali Mahmodi Derakhsh
Blasting is an economical method for rock breakage in open-pit mines. Backbreak is an undesirable phenomenon induced by blasting operations and has several unsuitable effects such…
Abstract
Purpose
Blasting is an economical method for rock breakage in open-pit mines. Backbreak is an undesirable phenomenon induced by blasting operations and has several unsuitable effects such as equipment instability and decreased performance of the blasting. Therefore, accurate estimation of backbreak is required for minimizing the environmental problems. The primary purpose of this paper is to propose a novel predictive model for estimating the backbreak at Shur River Dam region, Iran, using particle swarm optimization (PSO).
Design/methodology/approach
For this work, a total of 84 blasting events were considered and five effective factors on backbreak including spacing, burden, stemming, rock mass rating and specific charge were measured. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed PSO model, multiple regression (MR) model was also developed, and the results of two predictive models were compared with actual field data.
Findings
Based on two statistical metrics [i.e. coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE)], it was found that the proposed PSO model (with R2 = 0.960 and RMSE = 0.08) can predict backbreak better than MR (with R2 = 0.873 and RMSE = 0.14).
Originality/value
The analysis indicated that the specific charge is the most effective parameter on backbreak among all independent parameters used in this study.
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Mohammad Haider, Ashok Kumar Jha, Rakesh Raut, Mukesh Kumar and Sudishna Ghoshal
The short/fast-food and perishable food supply chains (PFSC) have similar characteristics of lower lifespan and variable demand, leading to significant waste. However, the global…
Abstract
Purpose
The short/fast-food and perishable food supply chains (PFSC) have similar characteristics of lower lifespan and variable demand, leading to significant waste. However, the global population surge and increased health awareness make it impossible to continue wasting food because it is responsible for the loss of economy, resources, and biodiversity. A sustainable transition in short and PFSC is necessary; thus, addressing challenges is critical to explore the best strategy for redesigning PFSC.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive literature review helped to identify 40 challenges, while a Delphi study highlighted 21 critical challenges. The fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method establishes a causal relationship between sustainable development (SD) challenges to help redesign PFSC.
Findings
From a strategic development perspective, frequent transportation disruption is the main critical challenge. Lack of supplier reliability is the most substantial cause of independence, with a causal value of 2.878. Overhead costs and lack of green maintenance strategies are part of the performance-oriented challenges. As it belongs to the driving zone, the second quadrant requires control while transforming PFSC for better sustainable development.
Practical implications
The study has several implications, such as lack of supplier reliability and frequent transportation disruption, which have the most robust causal value used as short-term strategy development. For short- and fast-food supply chains, it is necessary to study market and consumer behavior patterns to optimize inventory and customer service. Combating transportation disruption and supplier reliability challenges is vital in both PFSC and short and fast-food supply chains to reduce waste and promote sustainability.
Originality/value
The study’s findings are unique and put value toward the sustainable transition of PFSC by revealing critical challenges and their impact.
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Khadijeh Hassanzadeh, Kiumars Shahbazi, Mohammad Movahedi and Olivier Gaussens
This paper aims to investigate the difference between the impacts of indicators of trade barriers (TBs) on bankrupt enterprises (BEs), new enterprises (NEs) and other enterprises…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the difference between the impacts of indicators of trade barriers (TBs) on bankrupt enterprises (BEs), new enterprises (NEs) and other enterprises (OEs).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper has used a multiple-step approach. At the first stage, the initial data has been collected from interviews with 164 top managers of SMEs in West Azerbaijan in Iran during two periods of 2013–2015 and 2017–2019. At the second step, multiple correspondence analysis has been used to summarize the relationships between variables and construct indices for different groups of TBs. Finally, the generalized structural equation model method was used to examine the impact of export barriers.
Findings
The results showed that the political legal index is the main TBs for BEs and NEs, but it had a more significant impact on BEs; the financial index was the second major TBs factor for BEs, while OEs did not have a problem in performance index, and the financial index was classified as a minor obstacle for them. All indicators of marketing barriers (except production index) had a negative and significant effect on all enterprises; the most important TBs for NEs was the information index.
Originality/value
The results indicated that if enterprises have a strong financial system and function, they can lessen the impact of sanctions and keep themselves in the market.
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Sara Nodoust, Mir Saman Pishvaee and Seyed Mohammad Seyedhosseini
Given the importance of estimating the demand for relief items in earthquake disaster, this research studies the complex nature of demand uncertainty in a vehicle routing problem…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the importance of estimating the demand for relief items in earthquake disaster, this research studies the complex nature of demand uncertainty in a vehicle routing problem in order to distribute first aid relief items in the post disaster phase, where routes are subject to disruption.
Design/methodology/approach
To cope with such kind of uncertainty, the demand rate of relief items is considered as a random fuzzy variable and a robust scenario-based possibilistic-stochastic programming model is elaborated. The results are presented and reported on a real case study of earthquake, along with sensitivity analysis through some important parameters.
Findings
The results show that the demand satisfaction level in the proposed model is significantly higher than the traditional scenario-based stochastic programming model.
Originality/value
In reality, in the occurrence of a disaster, demand rate has a mixture nature of objective and subjective and should be represented through possibility and probability theories simultaneously. But so far, in studies related to this domain, demand parameter is not considered in hybrid uncertainty. The worth of considering hybrid uncertainty in this study is clarified by supplementing the contribution with presenting a robust possibilistic programming approach and disruption assumption on roads.
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Ali Heidari, Mohammad Khalilzadeh, Dragan Pamucar and Fatih Ecer
The purpose of this study was to address waste management in the food supply chain (FSC) through the integration of inspection processes in production and distribution centers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to address waste management in the food supply chain (FSC) through the integration of inspection processes in production and distribution centers under uncertain conditions, aiming to enhance sustainability across environmental, economic and social dimensions. The study introduces a sustainable forward and reverse FSC network using a closed-loop supply chain network approach to prevent the transfer of spoiled products, ultimately providing competitive advantages to stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
A robust multi-objective mathematical programming model is proposed, incorporating inspection processes to manage perishable products effectively. The model is solved using the Augmented Epsilon Constraint technique implemented in GAMS software, providing Pareto-optimal solutions tailored to decision-makers’ preferences. Furthermore, the methodology is applied in a real-world case study and solved with the Benders Decomposition algorithm to validate its practicality and effectiveness.
Findings
The proposed methodology effectively minimizes waste and enhances sustainability in the FSC by optimizing decision-making processes under uncertainty. The illustrative examples and real case study demonstrate the efficiency of the model and solution approach, highlighting the significant role of inspection in improving all three dimensions of sustainability.
Practical implications
The study offers valuable insights into and tools for food industry managers to make informed strategic and tactical decisions. By addressing waste management through advanced supply chain modeling, the research helps organizations reduce costs, improve sustainability and gain a competitive edge in the market.
Originality/value
This research is novel in its focus on integrating inspection into the FSC network and addressing uncertainty through robust mathematical modeling. It contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating the impact of inspection on sustainability in FSCs and providing practical solutions for real-world implementation.
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Fatemeh Mostaghimi, Mohammad Saeed Jabalameli and Ali Bozorgi-Amiri
Supply chain management has become critical in today’s globalized environment, with growingly intense competition on the international level. The particular characteristics of…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chain management has become critical in today’s globalized environment, with growingly intense competition on the international level. The particular characteristics of modern trade have led companies to globalize and devise increasingly sophisticated supply chains to meet customer demand worldwide. Motivated by the need to address these challenges, we have developed a new model for a global supply chain that incorporates uncertainties in exchange rates, demand fluctuations, and the quantity of produce.
Design/methodology/approach
The objective of the proposed model is to maximize supply chain profitability. Our model optimizes several critical decisions in the proposed global supply chain, including the location of domestic and foreign distribution centers, allocating the centers to customers, transportation mode selection, storage temperature, optimal farm purchase quantities, product flows across the network, and the shelf-life of products. Scenario-based stochastic programming approach is employed to account for the inherent uncertainties within the model. A pistachio supply chain is examined as a case study in this article, and the efficiency of the proposed model is demonstrated through computational results.
Findings
The model was solved using the CPLEX solver in GAMS and the results, the Sirjan DDC and Turkey FDC have been selected. In general, 40% of demand for customers from FDC (turkey) and 60% of demand from DDC (sirjan) is provided. Changes in the demand of foreign customers make the net profit more effective than changes in the demand for domestic customers. The decrease in exchange rate decreases the network profit with a higher slope and the increase in exchange rate will increase network profit with a relatively stable slope.
Originality/value
While research on GSCs for perishable products has been ongoing for several years, the importance of the subject necessitates continued investigation in this area. This paper aimed to address this gap by presenting an optimization model for designing GSCs for perishable products under uncertainty and with various transportation modes. The proposed model was designed with the aim of improving supply chain performance and real-world applicability.