Search results

The vulnerability of worn-out textures in the face of natural disasters is one of the most significant challenges that have forced planners and urban managers to intervene in these structures. In this context, the new-urbanism, or the new urbanization, movement is one of the most novel approaches. This paper aims to organizing one of the worn-out neighborhoods in Rudsar, northern Iran with an approach toward the new urbanism.

The procedure adopted in this research is a combination of both quantitative and qualitative practices with an applied approach. Therefore, through utilizing the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and space syntax methods, the principles of the new urbanism are examined using the Expert Choice and Depthmap software. Subsequently, the appropriate priorities are mentioned for organizing the neighborhood with the new-urbanism approach using the building information system (BIM) and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) techniques.

The findings of this study indicate that among the main characteristics of the new urbanism, walkability is recognized as the most important factor. Afterward, the components of maintaining the traditional structure of neighborhoods and connectivity were in the second and third ranks, respectively, of importance. Accordingly, by identifying the societal potential of roads according to their spatial configuration, it is possible to boost walkability, as well as economic prosperity in these areas.

The combination and correlation of the four utilized methods in this research can be adopted in the future studies as a new outlook of the mixed methods in the field of urban studies.

The current study was aimed to assess health action process approach (HAPA) effectiveness in sunscreen using among paddy workers

This interventional study was conducted on 177 paddy workers from Rudsar city. The subjects were randomly assigned into motivational, volitional and control groups. The motivational and volitional groups received the educational intervention based on HAPA. Three groups were evaluated in terms of HAPA constructs, intention and behavior at three times before the intervention, immediately afterward and one month later. Chi-square, repeated measure test were used to analyze the data using SPSS software version 19.

The mean age was 47.78 ± 12.66. The majority of the participants were female (69.3%) and had diploma. based on repeated measure test results the score of the use of sunscreen during the time in intervention groups as well as between the three groups were changed. Based on the results of this study, the score of the constructs of both phases of HAPA in the two groups (motivational and volitional) compared to control group was significantly improved (p < 0.05).

The study shows the use of HAPA for the behavioral change related to sunscreen use among the paddy workers as the high-risk group.

North of Iran

This paper aims to combine Eringen’s micromorphic and nonlocal theories and thus develop a comprehensive size-dependent beam model capable of capturing the effects of micro-rotational/stretch/shear degrees of freedom of material particles and nonlocality simultaneously.

To consider nonlocal influences, both integral (original) and differential versions of Eringen’s nonlocal theory are used. Accordingly, integral nonlocal-micromorphic and differential nonlocal-micromorphic beam models are formulated using matrix-vector relations, which are suitable for implementing in numerical approaches. A finite element (FE) formulation is also provided to solve the obtained equilibrium equations in the variational form. Timoshenko micro-/nano-beams with different boundary conditions are selected as the problem under study whose static bending is addressed.

It was shown that the paradox related to the clamped-free beam is resolved by the present integral nonlocal-micromorphic model. It was also indicated that the nonlocal effect captured by the integral model is more pronounced than that by its differential counterpart. Moreover, it was revealed that by the present approach, the softening and hardening effects, respectively, originated from the nonlocal and micromorphic theories can be considered simultaneously.

Developing a hybrid size-dependent Timoshenko beam model including micromorphic and nonlocal effects. Considering the nonlocal effect based on both Eringen’s integral and differential models proposing an FE approach to solve the bending problem, and resolving the paradox related to nanocantilever.

It has been revealed that application of the differential form of Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity theory to some cases (e.g. cantilevers) leads to paradoxical results, and recourse must be made to the integral version of Eringen’s nonlocal model. The purpose of this paper, within the framework of integral form of Eringen’s nonlocal theory, is to study the bending behavior of nanoscale plates with various boundary conditions using the isogeometric analysis (IGA).

The shear deformation effect is taken into account according to the Mindlin plate theory, and the minimum total potential energy principle is utilized in order to derive the governing equations. The relations are obtained in the matrix-vector form which can be easily employed in IGA or finite element analysis. For the comparison purpose, the governing equations are also derived based on the differential nonlocal model and are then solved via IGA. Comparisons are made between the predictions of integral nonlocal model, differential nonlocal model and local (classical) model.

The bending analysis of nanoplates under some kinds of edge supports indicates that using the differential model leads to paradoxical results (decreasing the maximum deflection with increasing the nonlocal parameter), whereas the results of integral model are consistent.

A new nonlocal formulation is developed for the IGA of Mindlin nanoplates. The nonlocal effects are captured based on the integral model of nonlocal elasticity. The formulation is developed in matrix-vector form which can be readily used in finite element method. Comparisons are made between the results of differential and integral models for the bending problem. The proposed integral model is capable of resolving the paradox appeared in the results of differential model.

The purpose of this paper is to perform a systematic review on the application of different multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods in solving the site selection problem across multiple problem domains. The domains are energy generation, logistics, public services and retail facilities. This study aims to answer the following research questions: Which evaluating criteria were used for each site selection problem domain? Which MCDM methods were frequently applied in a particular site selection problem domain?

The goals of the systematic review were to identify the evaluating criteria as well as the MCDM method used for each problem domain. A total of 81 recent papers (2014–2018) including 32 papers published in conference proceedings and 49 journal articles from various databases including IEEE Xplore, PubMed, Springer, Taylor and Francis as well as ScienceDirect were evaluated.

This study has shown that site selection for energy generation facilities is the most active site selection problem domain, and that the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is the most commonly used MCDM method for site selection. For energy generation, the criteria which were most used were geographical elements, land use, cost and environmental impact. For logistics, frequently used criteria were geographical elements and distance, while for public services population density, supply and demand, geographical layout and cost were the criteria most used. Criteria useful for retail facilities were the size (space) of the store, demographics of the site, the site characteristics and rental of the site (cost).

This study is limited to reviewing papers which were published in the years 2014–2018 only, and only covers the domains of energy generation, logistics, public services and retail facilities.

MCDM is a viable tool to be used for solving the site selection problem across the domains of energy generation, logistics, public services and retail facilities. The usage of MCDM continues to be relevant as a complement to machine learning, even as data originating from embedded IoT devices in built environments becomes increasingly Big Data like.

Previous systematic review studies for MDCM and built environments have either focused on studying the MCDM techniques itself, or have focused on the application of MCDM for site selection in a single problem domain. In this study, a critical review of MCDM techniques used for site selection as well as the critical criteria used during the MCDM process of site selection was performed on four different built environment domains.