An evaluation of small businesses in Iran

As one of the most important and fundamental issues, employment is an indicator of development and welfare in any country. Due to the rapid growth of population over the past decades in Iran, investigating unemployment and the obstacles hindering employment is of paramount importance. In this study, a questionnaire was used and a group of experts were interviewed in order to identify four groups of legal, economic, social as well as individual factors, which could improve or hinder the growth of small businesses and self-employment. In this paper, having determined the factors influencing the expansion or downsizing the small businesses, the entrepreneurs, agents supporting small businesses, and the members of employment groups in Mazandaran Province, Iran rated the four categories. Finally, the most important growth factors or challenges faced by small businesses from the three aforementioned perspectives were compared

The Aspects of Biological Culture Recreating and its Relationship with the Approach of Contextual Architecture (Bandar Abbas City)

In the recent years, by evolution of urban development and restoration, urban recreation has taken a lot of attention in action research. Like integrated and comprehensive account of urban development, recreation of urban culture is a circuit that, on one hand, regards all aspects and constraints in intra-city culture development, and on the other hand tries to change each available opportunity to a useful instrument aimed at attaining development. In this regard, context-oriented approach  is one of the most common view points in architecture that assumes context as a historical and cultural event. In contextual architecture, purely physical dimensions were taken into primary accounts. Gradually, however, the focus was expanded to include human aspects like culture and socio-cultural dimensions of the society. In this article, we attempt to evaluate  the manner of  bio-culture recreation progress with approach of contextual architecture, by referring to its concepts and dimensions of concepts and thus it can provide a context that lead to promotion of the popular rich cultures interactions. This is believed that it can make preparations for a context where peoples’ cultural interactions. Methodology of this article is descriptive and experimental. Considering specific conditions of warm and humid climate of the region, this research wishes to present guidelines to make optimized use of the techniques applied in native contextual structures. Results of this study indicate that arrangement and composition of spaces and elements are following traditional and sustainable methods. In addition, increasing population in Bandar Abbas not only did not lead  to high density but also it led to the growth out of the harbor. In  fact, it can be claimed as one of the reasons for its healthy and organic context

Mediatory effects of psychological empowerment and self-regulation on the relationships between leadership styles, self-efficacy and structural empowerment with job performance

Background: This study aimed at designing and testing a model of indirect relationship between leadership styles, self-efficacy, structural empowerment and job performance with the mediation of psychological empowerment and self-regulation among teachers in Khoramabad city.   Methods: The study was a correlation research via structural equations modeling. Population of the study were selected from high school teachers in Khoramabad city. We applied these questionnaires: Misha-Spreitzer psychological empowerment; Kappa Aydin et al self-regulatory; Patterson job performance; Blanchard-Hersey leadership styles; Kordnaij, Bakhshizadeh and Fathollahi structural empowerment; Woolfok and Shanen-Moran self-efficacy.   Results: Participants in this study were 202 (52.5%) females and 183 (47.5%) males. In regard to education, 6 (1.6%) participants had diploma degree; 36 (9.4%) participants had above diploma degree; 251 (65.2%) participants had bachelor degree; 91 (23.6%) participants had master´s degree and 1 (0.3%) participant had a doctorate degree. The results of data analysis including 385 questionnaires completed by participants with Smart PLS (Partial Least Squares) software showed that model fits with data. Justifying and participatory leadership styles as well as structural empowerment had causal and indirect effects on job performance with mediation of psychological empowerment. Psychological empowerment and self-regulatory mediate the relationships between justifying leadership style and job performance; structural empowerment and job performance as well as self-efficacy with job performance.    Conclusion: Improving self-efficacy of teachers and structural empowerment helps to have self-regulating teachers with higher psychological empowerment. Self-regulation and self-efficacy and change in leadership style lead to structural empowerment in schools

An Intelligent Method for Industrial Location Selection: Application to Markazi Province, Iran

Decision-making and selection are important and sensitive aspects of planning. An important part of land-use planning is the location of human activities. Locating activities in the right places determines the future space of a region. Selection and definition of natural and human indices and criteria for location always face uncertainty. Thus, this study aimed to develop an intelligent method for industrial location. In this study a developmental-applied approach was used along with a descriptive-analytical method for data analysis. Through the review of related literature and a Delphi survey, 18 criteria were extracted and 6 main components were categorized. The data were analyzed and modeled by GIS, MATLAB software, and the Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) methods. For each modeling three industrial domains were extracted, i.e. weak, medium, and premium. A total of 42,968 hectares of premium industrial location with a score higher than 0.7 resulted from combining the produced maps. Other important findings were related to the architecture and methodology applied in the research based on computational intelligence and knowledge-based systems to analyze and understand the processes that influence the score of locations. The novelty of this method lies in the use of high computing power and information evaluation based on artificial intelligence (AI), making it possible to analyze and understand the processes influencing industrial location.   Abstrak. Pengambilan keputusan dan seleksi adalah aspek-aspek penting dan sensitive dalam perencanaan. Bagian yang penting dalam sebuah perencaan penggunaan lahan adalah terkait lokasi kegiatan manusia. Alokasi kegiatan manusia pada tempat yang benar adalah penentu ruang masa depan dari suatu wilayah. Dalam hal seleksi dan definisi index, juga kriteria lokasi selalu menghadapi ketidakpastian. Sehingga, studi ini dilakukan untuk mengembangkan metode yang berguna dalam alokasi industri. Pada artikel ini, digunakan pendekatan terapan-terkembangkan dengan metode analisis deskriptif dalam hal analisis data. Berdasarkan tinjauan pada literatur terkait dan survey Delphi, 18 kritersia diekstraksi yang dikategorikan pada 6 komponen utama. Data dianalisis dan dimodelkan menggunakan GIS, MATLAB, Fuzzy Inference System (FIS), dan metode Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). Untuk setiap model, tiga domain industry ditentukan, yakni: lemah, moderat, dan premium. Terdapat lokasi industry premium dengan total 42,968 ha dengan nilai lebih dari 0.7. Hasil penting lainnya berkaitan dengan arsitektur dan metode terapan dalam penelitian yang berdasar kepada ilmu komputasi untuk memahami proses yang memengaruhi nilai untuk suatu lokasi. Kebaruan dari metode ini ada pada penggunaan model komputasi tinggi dan evaluasi informasi berdasarkan kecerdasan buatan (AI) yang memungkinkan untuk melakukan analisis dan memahami proses yang memengaruhi lokasi industri.   Kata kunci. Fuzzy Inference System (FIS), Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), lokasi industri, Provinsi Markazi

Simulation in thoracic surgery—A mini review of a vital educational tool to maximize peri-operative care and minimize complications

Thoracic surgery is an increasingly expanding field, and the addition of national screening programs has resulted in increasing operative numbers and complexity. Thoracic surgery overall has an approximately 2% mortality and 20% morbidity with common specific complications including persistent air leak, pneumothorax, and fistulas. The nature of the surgery results in complications being unique to thoracic surgery and often very junior members of the surgical team feel underprepared to deal with these complications after very little exposure during their medical school and general surgical rotations. Throughout medicine, simulation is being increasingly used as a method to teach the management of complicated, rare, or significant risk occurrences and has shown significant benefits in learner confidence and outcomes. In this mini review we explain the learning theory and benefits of simulation learning. We also discuss the current state of simulation in thoracic surgery and its potential future in aiding complication management and patient safety

Development of a Procedure for Risk-Based Qualification of Additively Manufactured ‎Components: Adopting to Oil and Gas Industrial Applications

Recent advances in additive manufacturing (AM) technology provide the potential for on-demand and rapid production of spare parts during urgent repair times. Recently, big oil and gas companies have shown early progress in using additive technology in manufacturing specific heat exchangers, downhole cleanout tool nozzles, offshore risers, gas turbine nozzles, and subsea chemical stick injection tools. Despite the mentioned progress, the current adoption level of additive technology for the offshore oil and gas industry is very limited. Non-destructive and destructive evaluation methods of additively manufactured metallic components have been studied extensively. However, the technique selection procedure and scope of the required test methods have not been studied sufficiently. This paper discusses various elements related to the qualification of additively manufactured components for application in the oil and gas industry. A risk-based qualification method for identifying the scopes of required non-destructive and destructive tests and the resulting qualification procedure for additively manufactured spare components in offshore oil and gas applications is suggested.Development of a Procedure for Risk-Based Qualification of Additively Manufactured ‎Components: Adopting to Oil and Gas Industrial ApplicationspublishedVersio

Designing the Structural Model of the Relationship among Perceived Leadership Styles, Self- Efficacy, Structural Empowerment, and Psychological Empowerment in Teachers

This study aims at designing and examining the relationship amongst perceived leadership styles, self-efficacy, structural empowerment and psychological empowerment. Structural equation modeling was used conducting this study. The population of this study is comprised of 385 10th grade teachers in Khoramabad city selected using the multi-stage cluster sampling method. Spreitzer and Mishra’s Psychological Empowerment Scale (1995), Hersey and Blanchard Perceived Leadership Style Scale (2012), Kordnaij, Bakhshizadeh & Fatholahi Structural Empowerment (2014), and Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy Teacher Self-efficacy Scale (2001) were used in this study. The findings indicated that among perceived leadership styles, the relationship between the delegating (Laissez-Faire) and selling leadership styles, and self-efficacy was significant; however,  the relationship between self-efficacy and participating and telling leadership styles was not significant. The results also suggested that selling and participating leadership styles had direct, positive, and significant effects on psychological empowerment. Moreover, indirect effects of selling and delegating leadership styles on psychological empowerment with the mediation of self-efficacy were significant. However, the results were not indicative of a direct and significant relationship between structural empowerment and psychological empowerment