Tehran Municipality Research Articles

Municipal Solid Waste Characterization, Tehran-Iran

Effective waste management has been greatly restricted by insufficient statistical data on the generation, processing and waste disposal. This study was undertaken in the municipality of Tehran. A total of 6,060 samples were compared by statistically comparing source generation, destination and intermediate stations. The results from these analyses showed that the average per capita waste generation in Tehran was 589 g day(-1). It was also observed that, of the total amount of waste generated in the municipality of Tehran, 73% was domestic waste and 27% was non-domestic waste. In addition, 68% of total household waste was organic waste, while 41% of non-domestic waste was organic waste. Furthermore, 61% of waste in Tehran was generated at the source, while 72% of the waste coming into the Aradkoh disposal and processing center was organic waste. The physical analysis was showed that there was no significant difference between the wastes generated in 2004 and those generated in 2009 and that there was not equal percentage of wet waste coming into the disposal center with urban service stations. This indicates that active source separation programs in metropolitan Tehran.

A social work study on the effect of quality of life improvement on reduction of work-family and family-work conflicts

Article history: Received May 2, 2013 Received in revised format 25 June 2013 Accepted 7 July 2013 Available online July 11 2013 This paper investigates whether a quality improvement program can reduce workfamily and family-work conflicts or not. The proposed study of this paper selects 30 female employees of municipality of Tehran, Iran and divides them into two groups of test and control group. The first group is asked to participate in eight 90-minute sessions of quality improvement program and after the program ends, both groups are requested to fill in Netemeyer’s work-family questionnaire. We then analyze the results using different statistical tests. The results of our survey indicate that quality improvement program statistically improves quality of life among the first group in reducing the work-family as well as family-work conflicts (P<0.01). © 2013 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A study on the effects of remote working on quality of services: A SERVQUAL survey on central office of Tehran municipality

During the past few years, there have been tremendous efforts on developing remote working among women in an attempt to help females take care of their family related responsibilities. In this paper, we study the impact of remote working on quality of services in central office of Tehran municipality of Iran. The proposed study designs a standard questionnaire to survey remote working and using an existing standard SERVQUAL questionnaire measure the level of quality of work because of remote working. The survey indicates that women who participated in remote working program were satisfied from this program in terms of personal, social as well as organizational productivity. Remote workers were highly satisfied from financial advantage of this program. Managers were, however, highly satisfied from the results of their female’s remote working. In our survey, remote contract workers were more satisfied than remote formal workers were. The surveyed people believed organizational structure was the most important challenge for remote working followed by economical, personal and social issues. The results of SERVQUAL also indicate there were some meaningful relationship between remote working and quality of work.

EVALUATION OF THE RELATION BETWEEN POVERTY AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE PEOPLE OVER 60 YEARS-OLD IN THE DISTRICT 4 OF TEHRAN MUNICIPALITY IN 2009-2010

Please cite this article as : Heidarnia MA, Ghaemian T, Montazeri A, Abadi AR. Evaluation of the relation between poverty and health-related quality of life in the people over 60 years-old in the district 4 of Tehran municipality in 2009-2010. Novel Biomed 2013;1:23-28. As the articles in recent years well indicate, more than all other factors, social determinants of health are involved in people's health status and quality of life (QOL). Among these social factors, the economic one is introduced as the main factor determining health status. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of poverty on QOL. The health-related QOL of poor people under coverage of a public charity institution (group 1) was compared with the QOL of ordinary people (group2) using the SF-36 questionnaire. The QOL scores in the groups 1 and 2 were analyzed by Mann-Whitney, Kruskal -Wallis tests and logistic regression using the SPSS 16.00 software. A total of 400 individuals were studied. The results showed significant differences between the two groups in the QOL measures of SF-36, except for physical and mental health measures (P<0.001). With regard to the adverse consequence of the Physical Component Scale (PCS), employing logistic regression analysis, statistically significant relationships between the two groups in the demographic characteristics, except age and marital status, were found. For the adverse consequence of Mental Component Scale (MCS), logistic regression showed statistically significant differences between the two groups in the demographic characteristics, except for age. The findings indicate that poverty diminishes the QOL in most aspects; however, considering all aspects of QOL is necessary to promote the individuals' health.

Identifying knowledge management problems using a process‐based method (a case study of process 137)

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to develop, test and improve a method that draws upon business process improvement literature and combines it with knowledge management approaches for modeling and analyzing knowledge‐intensive business processes.Design/methodology/approachAnalyzing and integrating previous meta models served in knowledge oriented business process researches, a preliminary meta model was developed for modeling knowledge‐intensive business processes. Then an initial version of Proper Arrangement of Knowledge Management Processes (PAKMP) framework was developed according to the knowledge management processes approaches. Third round of interviews with process 137 members were conducted in order to test applicability and completeness of both preliminary meta model and initial version of PAKMP framework in order to improve them. In addition, a five‐steps analysis method achieved through case study which is based on the application of both final Meta model and PAKMP framework. In fact this five‐steps method was applied in Tehran's Municipality which redounded to improve preliminary meta model and initial version of PAKMP framework and endorsed the applicability of the proposed method in real world.FindingsThis paper has a contribution in enriching the literature related to integrating KM efforts and BPM efforts by presenting a five‐steps analysis method and testing it in a real case. This method considers both KM and business process management points of view.Research limitations/implicationsThe general applicability of the method due to the weak generalization of the single case study is a limitation.Originality/valueThis paper combines the advantages of the business process improvement and knowledge management approaches and suggests a practical method for modeling and analyzing the knowledge management status in knowledge‐intensive business processes. After analysis, managers should put emphasis on improving the arrangement of KM processes for critical knowledge objects which led to improve the performance of knowledge‐intensive business process trough removing KM problems. The paper concludes by suggesting some topics for future research.

INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL BASED COOPERATIVES ON SOCIAL HEALTH OF FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS

This study aims to evaluate the influence of participation in society-based cooperatives on social health of female households, which is an important factor in the life of these women. The statistical society of this research is all female headed households who have visited the Social Services Center of Region 3 of Tehran Municipality since early 2011. The participation of female headed households in group activities such as formation of cooperatives has shown strong effects on improving social health index. Among the indices of social health such as participation, integration and actualization, social acceptance is more matured indicating the influence of such activities on the growth of positive feeling on others and environment and it has an important role in developing the process of empowerment.

A multi-objective analysis for import quota policy making in a perishable fruit and vegetable supply chain: A system dynamics approach

This study investigates a supply chain of perishable fruits and vegetables. A simulation model using system dynamics approach is proposed to study the behaviors and relationships within the supply chain and to determine the impact of the supply, demand and price interactions. The proposed model yields an insight into the overall agricultural system, taking into account the influence of import quota policies. The purpose of this study is to develop a multi-objective model identifying the best import quota policy for Tehran Municipality Organization of Fruits and Vegetables. The multiple objectives are considered to be price mean, price variation and markup. Key conclusions were reached on how to conduct the multi-objective analysis with the aim of import quota policy making. The multi-objective analysis provides not a single solution but a complete non-dominated set of alternatives as potential compromise solutions among multiple objectives. A close examination of surface and contour plots reveals informative trade-offs. The obtained Pareto frontier contour plots assist decision makers to develop quick import quota policies by presenting a range of choice available to decision makers and providing them with the trade-off information among multiple objectives effectively.

FTiS: A new model for effective urban management: A case study of urban systems in Iran

As citizens’ needs increase and become more complex, governments must implement special policies and services to improve citizens’ satisfaction levels. In this context, the municipality of Tehran, the capital of Iran, established an urban management system to respond to complaints about urban services. The system’s database includes detailed information about citizens’ calls and can be analyzed to identify their needs. One of the techniques that can be useful for extracting useful knowledge is data mining. In this paper, we use the citizen relationship management (CiRM) and data mining approaches to identify urban citizens’ primary needs. Accordingly, a novel model is presented that is composed of three major factors: “Frequency”, “Time interval” and “Satisfaction”. Using these variables and the clustering technique, a new division of urban needs is proposed based on primary, secondary and uncommon needs. The results show that the data mining and CiRM approaches are useful for improving urban management. This approach could also be used in customer relationship management (CRM) in the public sector domain.

Toward Community-Based Waste Management: Tehran as a Case Example

This paper analyses the community-based waste management (CBWM) process in region one municipality of Tehran, Iran and reports the roles and actions of the community level stakeholders in this process and their relationship with the city authorities. This study also describes reasons that justify the need for a CBWM approach and explains the rationale for community participation. Based on semi structured interviews and direct observation conducted on the field in region one municipality of Tehran, it was found that, despite efforts to improve community participation in waste management, there is a lack of comprehension in the participation of community level stakeholders such as NGOs/CBOs, neighbourhood council, private sector (formal and informal), that must be included simultaneously to improve the planning, implementation and evaluation of municipal solid waste management.

The Effect of an intervention based on the PRECEDE- PROCEED Model on preventive behaviors of domestic violence among Iranian high school girls

BackgroundDomestic violence is one of the major health problems among women. Promoting preventive behaviors of domestic violence among women and girls can play crucial role in reducing this health problem.ObjectivesThis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of an intervention based on PRECEDE-PROCEED Model on preventive behaviors of domestic violence among Iranian high school girls.Patients and MethodsAn interventional study was completed during 2010-2011 in 10 high schools in the district 17 of Tehran municipality with 510 female students. We used the components of the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model for planning, implementation and evaluation of the program. Based on the results of need assessment, an appropriate environmental and educational intervention was implemented in the intervention group. Changes in predisposing, reinforcing, enabling factors and especially preventive behaviors immediately and two months after the intervention activities were assessed by questionnaires based on PRECEDE-PROCEED Model.ResultsThe intervention had significantly positive effect on predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors immediately and two months after the intervention (P < 0.05). Repeated measures Analysis of variance showed a significant positive increase in preventive behaviors score in the intervention group from baseline to two months.ConclusionsThe PRECEDE-PROCEED Model can be applied as a conceptual framework for identifying the relevant behavioral and environmental risk factors associated with domestic violence. Development and implementation the skills-based education using this model can lead to the promotion of preventive behaviors of domestic violence and reduction in domestic violence cases.

Determination of Local Fatigue Model Calibration Used in MEPDG for Iran’s Dry-No Freeze Region

Load-associated fatigue cracking is one of the major distress types occurring in flexible pavement systems. This paper identifies two important calibration factors for the dry-no freeze climatic region of Iran for use in the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). According to recent research, approximately 51~% of Iran’s total land area is located in this region. Tehran, the capital of Iran, is located in this region and therefore three of its highways are selected for this research. The gathering of the data required for calibration is labor intensive because the data resides in various incongruent data sets. Spreadsheet templates specifically designed to manage the calibration data were used to collect pavement performance data from the Tehran municipality organization. Calibration factors were then derived by minimizing the differences between observed and predicted pavement performances. The pavement performance field data in some sections of three highways were employed for calibration initially, and the distresses predicted with these calibration factors were compared to pavement field performances in the other sections. These calibrated models in the MEPDG assure the reliable prediction of pavement distress and its symptoms, such as longitudinal and alligator cracks.

A survey relation of organizational culture and organizational citizenship behavior with employees’ empowerment

A B S T R A C T The aim of this study is to study the relationship between organizational culture and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with employees' empowerment. Empowering employee's breeds success by providing a suitable framework to utilize the necessary skills in an attempt to realize organizational goals. In this paper, four dimensions of employees' empowerment including meaningfulness, choice, competence and impact are investigated. We also identify four dimensions for organizational culture including adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission. The paper also specifies five basic dimensions of OCB, which consists of altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue. These basic dimensions of both independent and dependent variables construct the research conceptual model and the required data is gathered from the Tehran Municipality. This proposed study considers 180 employees who participated in our survey. The investigation of the proposed model is also performed based on the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

A Conceptual Model for Success in Implementing Knowledge Management: A Case Study in Tehran Municipality

In this “information and knowledge” age, instead of traditional financial assets and even large markets, knowledge capital has been the competitive edge for major corporations. This has lead to a new concept called “knowledge management”. Indeed, the identification of knowledge in business sectors as a competitive advantage and strategic resource intensifies the necessity of implementation of knowledge management (KM) in organizations. Knowledge management is the process of identifying, selecting, organizing, and transferring important information and skills, which exists as disorganized form in the organization. However, there are several stories of failed implementation of knowledge management in organizations. In order to succeed in implementing knowledge management, identification of the success factors for knowledge management is of great importance. The current research has therefore presented a conceptual model for implementing knowledge management successfully in Tehran municipality. This study has first identified effective variables on success of knowledge management; then has evaluated its significance and developed a conceptual model for the critical factors on successful knowledge management in the organization under study. According to the conceptual model offered by this research, these critical success factors are dimensions of organizational culture, strategy and leadership, organizational structure, information technology infrastructure and human resources

Identifying Effective Organizational Factors on Corporate Entrepreneurship in Tehran Municipality's Department of Urban Services

the companies have realized the need for entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial thoughts have penetrated in the administrative structures, because the growth, dynamics and survival of the modern organizations depends on the implementation of organizational entrepreneurship. Consequently, nowadays most of the organizations need organizational entrepreneurship development for growth and survival. The objective of the present paper is to fill the existing gap in the studies. The method of the research is a mixed one; in the qualitative stage, semi-structured and open interviews and investigation of related documents were used, and in the quantitative stage, the questionnaire was applied to gather data. In the research’s quantitative stage, a statistical population consisted of managers, employees of the case study were considered, and the simple random sampling method was used. In addition, in this stage, the questionnaires were used as the data collection tool and the experts in the qualitative stage measured the research’s validity, and the questionnaire’s reliability was approved through Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88. The mean analysis was applied in this stage for the data analysis. The findings of this paper shows that the effective organizational factors in organizational entrepreneurship in Tehran Municipality's Department of Urban Services are categorizes in the seven issues of managerial support, availability of resources, reward systems, corporate culture, entrepreneurial strategies, and risk taking.

An investigation of the reasons for non-compliance with FAR regulations in Tehran

The majority of the Tehran metropolitan region’s problems are associated with building contraventions, which intensified after migration from other parts of the country to the region increased. This migration coincided with a boom in the construction sector and an increase in density selling by the Tehran municipality.Because of the far-reaching consequences of this phenomenon and the Tehran municipality’s inefficient and inappropriate building controls, it is important to identify the reasons and origins of these contraventions so that solutions and mitigation measures can be developed.After conducting a literature review and a questionnaire study, the reasons for the occurrence of one of the most common building contraventions, namely non-compliance with floor area ratio (FAR) regulations, are discussed in this paper. The questionnaire investigated the following indicators: level of awareness, violation of regulations to meet the minimum needs of housing (housing-related motives), violation of regulations with the aim of gaining financial profit (profit-making motives), owners’ income level, the experience and expertise level of the developers, and the quality of supervision and monitoring. The questionnaire was answered by 150persons whose cases were under investigation in the municipality, and the results were utilized to evaluate each of the above-mentioned indicators. A Pearson correlation test and a path analysis were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that developers’ level of awareness is the most influential factor leading to non-compliance with FAR requirements. Following this indicator, income level and housing-related motives have the greatest influence on non-compliance with FAR regulations.

The use of analytical hierarchy process in priority rating of pavement maintenance

Decision makers often perform pavements repairs without considering the maintenance priority and without utilizing a systematic procedure. These kinds of arbitrary decisions do not usually guarantee the effectiveness of budget allocation.Rating approach in Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the most effective techniques in decision making process which was used to facilitate the prioritization of alternatives on the basis of important parameters like pavement condition index, traffic volume and road type. In this study, relative weights of criteria, sub-criteria and inconsistency rate in each pairwise comparison matrix were calculated with the help of MATLAB software, coded M-Files as well as Expert Choice software. Finally, with Ideal-Mode synthesizing in Expert Choice software, final weights for all criteria and sub-criteria were obtained. As a case study, a number of streets in district number 6 of Tehran municipality (Iran) were selected and the final rating model was run to determine the maintenance priority index for 131 sections. It was concluded that based on the existing conditions, the rating approach in AHP method prioritized the impaired sections for maintenance easily and effectively. Key words: Analytical hierarchy process, pavement maintenance, pavement condition index, traffic volume, roadway width.

Pavement rehabilitation and maintenance prioritization of urban roads using fuzzy logic

With regard to limits in budget, inevitably, one must choose prioritized projects in pavements rehabilitation and maintenance process. This paper looks into prioritization based upon a model including all effects of important factors like pavement condition index, traffic volume, road width as well as rehabilitation and maintenance cost. Since defining a model that introduces all those factors was difficult, a more advanced modeling named fuzzy logic was referred for the problem of prioritization. Although analytical hierarchy process can be used for decision making process as well, fuzzy modeling lets one have more precise choices for the outcome. Finally with the help of MATLAB software and coded M-files, inference engines such as Product engine, Dienes–Rescher and Lukasiewicz were all tested and the logical favorite separation for this application was found in product inference engine. As a case study some streets located in district No. 6 of Tehran municipality were selected and the favorite mathematical model was executed on those streets. This model was used for prioritizing these 131 sections.

An econometric panel data‐based approach for housing price forecasting in Iran

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to estimate long‐run elasticities for housing prices in Tehran's (capital of Iran) 20 different zones relative to several explanatory variables available for use such as land price, total substructure area, material price, etc. Moreover, another goal of this paper is to propose a new approach to deal with problems which arise due to a lack of proper data.Design/methodology/approachThe data set is gathered from “The Municipality of Tehran” and “The Central Bank of Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI)”. One‐way fixed effects and one‐way random effects approaches (which are panel data approaches) are applied to model housing price forecasting function in Tehran's 20 different zones. Results are compared with ordinary least squares approach which is a common approach in this field. Finally, outcomes of the preferred approach are discussed and analyzed with regard to the economic point of view.FindingsResults show that one‐way fixed effects approach provides more accurate forecasts and can be considered as a suitable tool to deal with housing price forecasting problems in environments which are: uncertain, complex, and faced with a lack of proper data. Moreover, it is found that land price is the most effective factor that has impact on total housing cost in Tehran, i.e. the main portion of house prices in Tehran is affected by land price, so appropriate policies have to be made by the government to control fluctuations of this factor.Practical implicationsThe proposed approach will supply policy makers with improved estimations with decreased errors in uncertain and complex environments which are faced with a lack of proper data, and it extracts valuable information which enables policy makers for handling non‐linearity, complexity, as well as uncertainty that may exist in actual data sets with respect to housing price forecasting. Moreover, the proposed approach can be applied to similar housing price case studies to obtain more accurate and more reliable outcomes.Originality/valueApplying panel data approach for estimation of housing prices is relatively new in the field of housing economics. Moreover, this is the first study which employs panel data approach for analyzing the housing market in Tehran.

Interoperability Evaluation of Iranian Organizations through Proposed National E-government Interoperability Framework (Case Study of Tehran Municipality)

Interoperability is a property for connecting systems, information and work methods both inside and outside enterprises in national, regional and local levels. Interoperable enterprises can offer services with better quality and lower prices. In order to obtain interoperability in enterprises, it is necessary to use specific frameworks or models. The purpose of this article is providing an interoperability framework for enterprises through studying different interoperability frameworks and using countries' experiences. The proposed framework has different interoperability dimensions such as business, information, semantic and technical including different components. The framework is evaluated by expert’s opinions. Finally, the level of interoperability in Tehran municipality organizations is assessed with using the proposed framework.

Citizen Relationship Management Critical Success Factors: an empirical study of Municipality of Tehran

Nowadays, governments realise that they must deliver services to citizens efficiently and effectively in a customised way to citizens' needs. These changes lead governments to Citizen Relationship Management (CzRM). The same as many new technologies; CzRM has faced many implementation failures. This paper presents a model for assessing critical success factors (CSFs) of CzRM strategies and their effects on successful CzRM implementation. Municipality of Tehran was chosen as a case and quantitative methods were selected with explanatory research approach by means of a survey strategy. The findings show that all of the CSFs are highly correlated with CzRM success.