Development and implementation of a GIS-based tool for spatial modeling of seismic vulnerability of Tehran

Achieving sustainable development in countries prone to earthquakes is possible with taking effective measures to reduce vulnerability to earthquakes. In this context, damage assessment of hypothetical earthquakes and planning for disaster management are important issues. Having a computer tool capable of estimating structural and human losses from earthquakes in a specific region may facilitate the decision-making process before and during disasters. Interoperability of this tool with wide-spread spatial analysis frameworks will expedite the data transferring process. In this study, the earthquake damage assessment (EDA) software tool is developed as an embedded extension within a GIS (geographic information system) environment for the city of Tehran, Iran. This GIS-based extension provides users with a familiar environment to estimate and observe the probable damages and fatalities of a deterministic earthquake scenario. The productivity of this tool is later demonstrated for southern Karoon parish, Region 10, Tehran. Three case studies for three active faults in the area and a comparison of the results with other research substantiated the reliability of this tool for additional earthquake scenarios

Cone-Beam Computed Tomographic Assessment of Anatomical Variations of the Interforaminal Region in a Selected Iranian Population

Objectives This study assessed the anatomical variations of the mental foramen (MF) and presence and length of the anterior loop and the incisive canal in a selected Iranian population using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Methods This descriptive, cross-sectional study evaluated CBCT scans of 256 patients (123 males, 133 females) over 18 years of age. The CBCT multiplanar reformatted panoramic images (10-mm thickness) were used to assess the anatomical position of the MF and presence/absence and length of the anterior loop. The cross-sectional images were used to assess the presence/absence and length of the incisive canal. The anatomical variations were compared in the right and left sides and between males and females using dependent and independent t-test. SPSS version 21was used for statistical analysis. Results The most common position of MF was adjacent to the apex of the second premolar, noted in 41.4% of the patients. The second common position of MF was between the apices of the first and second premolars (30.1% of the patients). The anterior loop was present in 44.3% of the patients. The mean length of the anterior loop and the incisive canal was 2.64 mm and 7.15 mm, respectively. No significant difference was noted between males and females or right and left sides in any variable (P>0.05). Conclusion Anatomical variations of the anaterior mandible indicate the significance of 3D imaging to prevent nerve traumatization by proper treatment planning

Gaussian pulse generator circuit for UWB systems by discrete switches and integrated circuit

A Gaussian pulse generator circuit is a component of an ultra-wideband transceiver (transmitter and receiver) circuit that generates a narrow pulse for imaging, detecting, and various other applications. In UWB transceivers Gaussian pulse is always converted to a Monopulse to be DC-free and more compatible for transmission via an antenna. This Monopulse is created using Avalanche transistors as discrete switches and a differential CMOS transistor in 65 nm technology as an integrated circuit. Discrete switches generate high amplitude voltage with a moderate pulse width, improving the detection range in UWB transceivers. However, using a 65 nm integrated circuit (IC) instead of a discrete circuit can capture a sharper pulse with less pulse width, increasing the range resolution. The first design is consists of three-stage Avalanche transistors, to increase the amplitude of Gaussian pulse by a factor of three. The final Monopulse is created by a balun that subtracted two Gaussian pulses, which have different phases. In this design, the final Monopulse is connected to the antenna and sent by the transmitter circuit. After receiving the transmitted signal and analyzing the data by the computer, the buried object in 45 cm depth is detected and separated from the sand. The second design consists of a differential pair circuit that generates a sharp pulse due to the voltage difference between its two inputs. The desired Monopulse is formed by sharpening this pulse using an inverter chain and mixing three pulses with different phases. These Gaussian pulse generator systems can be utilized in different applications, such as detecting buried objects, underwater imaging, through-wall imaging, diagnosing cancer glands without using harmful methods like an X-ray beam, etc

Bridging Geospatial and Semantic Worlds: Enhancing Analysis of Place-Based Concepts in GIS

People’s actions and behaviours contribute to the diversity and personality of a space, transforming it into a vibrant and thriving living environment. The main goal of this research is to present a GIS-based framework for assessing places. The framework is constructed based on the idea of conceptual spaces, integrating spatial and semantic concepts inside a geometric structure. The explanation of place-related concepts is achieved via the use of linear programming and convex polytopes. By projecting these concepts into the spatial domain, a strong connection between geographical and semantic space is established. This connection allows a wide range of analytical calculations using geographic information systems to be carried out. The study focuses on the sense of city centre in Tehran, Iran, by employing questionnaires administrated on-site to evaluate the correlation between identified city centres and the participants’ responses. The findings demonstrate a good correlation, as shown by a Pearson correlation value of 0.74 and a rank correlation coefficient of 0.8. Interestingly, the city centres that were selected did not always align with the geographic centre. However, participants still perceived them as city centres. This framework serves as a valuable tool for planners and policymakers, providing a comprehensive understanding of the built environment. By considering both semantic and geographical aspects, the framework emphasises the importance of emotions, memories, and meanings in creating an inclusive environment

Evaluating citizen satisfaction and prioritizing their needs based on citizens' complaint data

© 2019 by the authors. Citizen Relationship Management (CiRM) is one of the important matters in citizen-centric e-government. In fact, the most important purpose of e-government is to satisfy citizens. The '137 system' is one of the most important ones based on the citizen-centric that is a municipality phone based request/response system. The aim of this research is a data-mining of a '137 system' (citizens' complaint system) of the first district of Bojnourd municipality in Iran, to prioritize the urban needs and to estimate citizens' satisfaction. To reach this, the K-means and Bees Algorithms (BA) were used. Each of these two algorithms was executed using two different methods. In the first method, prioritization and estimation of satisfaction were done separately, whereas in the second method, prioritization and estimation of satisfaction were done simultaneously. To compare the clustering results in the two methods, an index was presented quantitatively. The results showed the superiority of the second method. The index of the second method for the first needs in K-means was 0.299 more than the first method and it was the same in two methods in BA. Also, the results of the BA clustering were better at it because of the S (silhouette) and CH (Calinski-Harabasz) indexes. Considering the final prioritization done by the two algorithms in two methods, the primary needs included asphalt, so specific schemes should be considered

Prediction of spatial distribution for some land use allometric characteristics in land use planning models with geostatistic and Geographical Information System (GIS) (Case study: Boein and Miandasht, Isfahan Province, Iran)

Although traditional census can present unbiased information about different land uses, it is spatial independent and do not present particular  information about spatial distribution of studied characteristic. In this study, we used geostatistic and Geographical Information System (GIS) to estimate some different land uses allometric characteristics in Isfahan Province (Iran). Thus, samples information was surveyed considering their geographic position in the studied area. After optimizing variogram parameters,  empirical variogram was prepared to investigate spatial structure of different land uses allometric characteristics. Our results confirme that spatial  structure for the quantitative characteristics of different land uses has a moderate degree of spatial correlation, except for type variable that has no spatial structure. Nugget effect for variogram obtained from the quantitative characteristics of different land uses was equal to 35 to 64%. We used ordinary Kriging for preparing Kriging map and Kriging standard deviation of different land uses. Also, we used geostatistic and GIS to compare geostatistical and algebraic interpolation methods and nine different interpolation methods (Kriging, local polynomial methods, inverse distance weighted, radial basis functions, global polynomial, moving average  weighted, natural neighbor, nearest neighbor and triangulation with Linear Interpolation) were investigated. Spatial distribution of different land uses quantitative characteristics were validated with ordinary Kriging and algebraic methods. Our results confirm that ordinary Kriging has more accuracy than other methods for spatial prediction of different land uses quantitative characteristics.Key words: Geostatistic, interpolation method, land use allometric  characteristics, Kriging

GIS-Enabled Multi-Criteria Assessment for Hospital Site Suitability: A Case Study of Tehran

In developing countries, the interaction between rapid urban expansion and population growth brings forth a host of challenges, particularly concerning essential services like healthcare. While interest in site suitability analysis for identifying optimal hospital locations to ensure equitable and secure healthcare access is on the rise, the absence of a holistic study that encompasses social and environmental aspects in the assessment of hospital site suitability is evident. The objective of this research is to introduce a hybrid methodology that combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) weighting methods. This methodology aims to create hospital site suitability maps for districts 21 and 22 in Tehran, taking into account socio-environmental factors. In addition to the conventional Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) weighting method, this study employs two relatively less-explored methods, the Best-Worst Method (BWM) and Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA), to enhance the analysis of hospital site suitability. In the SWARA method, there are minimal variations in weights among criteria, indicating that all socio-environmental factors (e.g., distance from existing hospitals, distance from main roads, distance from green spaces) hold significant importance in the decision-making process. Additionally, the findings indicate that the western part of the study area is the most suitable location for the construction of a new hospital. To achieve the average hospital bed availability in Tehran, an additional 2206 beds are required in the studied area, in addition to the existing facilities. Considering the ongoing urban development, population growth, and the potential for natural disasters and epidemics, it becomes essential to enhance the healthcare system by increasing the number of hospitals and available hospital beds. The sensitivity analysis showed that GIS-based SWARA-WLC was the most suitable and stable model for determining hospital site suitability in the study area. This methodology can be adapted for use in other regions and further improved by incorporating additional criteria. In conclusion, the study recommended three specific alternative sites for establishing a new hospital in the study area

Simulation of Land-Use Development, Using a Risk-Regarding Agent-Based Model

The aim of this paper is to study the spatial consequences of applying different Attitude Utility Functions (AUFs), which reflect peoples’ simplified psychological frames, to investment plans in land-use decision making. For this purpose, we considered and implemented an agent-based model with new methods for searching landscapes, for selecting parcels to develop, and for allowing competitions among agents. Besides this, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) as a versatile and powerful medium of analyzing and representing spatial data is used. Our model is implemented on an artificial landscape in which land is being developed by agents. The agents are assumed to be mobile developers that are equipped with several land-related objectives. In this paper, agents mimic various risk-bearing attitudes and sometimes compete for developing the same parcel. The results reveal that patterns of land-use development are different in the two cases of regarding and disregarding AUFs. Therefore, it is considered here that using the attitudes of people towards risk helps the model to better simulate the decision making of land-use developers. The different attitudes toward risk used in this study can be attributed to different categories of developers based on sets of characteristics such as income, age, or education.</jats:p

A contextual hybrid model for vessel movement prediction

Predicting the movement of the vessels can significantly improve the management of safety. While the movement can be a function of geographic contexts, the current systems and methods rarely incorporate contextual information into the analysis. This paper initially proposes a novel context-aware trajectories’ simplification method to embed the effects of geographic context which guarantees the logical consistency of the compressed trajectories, and further suggests a hybrid method that is built upon a curvilinear model and deep neural networks. The proposed method employs contextual information to check the logical consistency of the curvilinear method and then, constructs a Context-aware Long Short-Term Memory (CLSTM) network that can take into account contextual variables, such as the vessel types. The proposed method can enhance the prediction accuracy while maintaining the logical consistency, through a recursive feedback loop. The implementations of the proposed approach on the Automatic Identification System (AIS) dataset, from the eastern coast of the United States of America which was collected, from November to December 2017, demonstrates the effectiveness and better compression, i.e. 80% compression ratio while maintaining the logical consistency. The estimated compressed trajectories are 23% more similar to their original trajectories compared to currently used simplification methods. Furthermore, the overall accuracy of the implemented hybrid method is 15.68% higher than the ordinary Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network which is currently used by various maritime systems and applications, including collision avoidance, vessel route planning, and anomaly detection system

Advancing Urban Healthcare Equity Analysis: Integrating Public Participation GIS with Fuzzy Best–Worst Decision-Making

This study provides an innovative collaborative spatial decision support system (SDSS) that aims to ensure an equitable spatial distribution of healthcare services. Evaluating the equality of access to health services across different geographical areas is important, as it requires the analysis of various criteria such as the proximity of health centres and hospitals (HCHs), the quality of services offered, connectivity to primary roads, the availability of public transportation hubs, and the density and distribution patterns of HCHs. This purpose is accomplished via the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods. The proposed model includes the weights of the criteria, which are determined through the ordered weighted average (OWA) and evaluated based on their ORness, which ranges from 0 to 1. Furthermore, this model is improved by the best–worst fuzzy method (F-BWM). This approach produces a spatial map that clearly shows the equity of healthcare systems in urban environments. The findings show that the maximum score observed in this study was 0.38% (with an ORness value of 1), whilst the minimum score recorded was 0.28%. In the most severe scenario (ORness = 0), over 70% of the region shows different degrees of fairness, ranging from moderate to suitable and very suitable conditions. Governments and health authorities can use this information strategically to allocate resources and address inequities in access to healthcare facilities