The aim of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the acceptability of a bicycle sharing system (BSS) in Mashhad, which is the first BSS to be introduced in Iran. Given the low usage rated of the BSS, we distributed a survey in all stations. 134 users answered the questionnaire. We clustered the potentially relevant factors in five dimensions: Socio-cultural, Economic, Infrastructure, System function and Environmental. We eliminated the Environmental dimension because of invalid loading factors. Next, we evaluated the importance and significance of these factors and the four remaining dimensions for the acceptance of BSS in Mashhad. Furthermore, MANOVA was used to evaluate the relationship between the demographic characteristics and dimensions. The findings indicate that the system is mainly used by young people, students, people with a low-income and those without a vehicle. The results of the evaluations show that all four dimensions are effective, the impact of the Economic dimension being less important than the three other dimensions. The most important factors are the authorities' use of the system and driving behavior (Socio-cultural dimension), easy use and registration, and proper and timely maintenance (System function) and the availability of bike lanes and suitable bike equipment (Infrastructure). This study is the first attempt to investigate different factors and dimensions important for BSS acceptability in Iran. It can be said that the factors affecting the acceptability of BSS is different in different contexts. Nevertheless, we expect our results to be useful for the design and implementation of BSSs in other cities in Iran, and likely also in other developing countries. applies to sustainable urban mobility (Berloco and Colonna, 2012;Ahmad and de Oliveira, 2016). In addition to public transportation urban cycling can play an important role in sustainable mobility, partly

The World Bank has prioritised and implemented the Citizen Charter National Priority Program (CCNPP) – a community‐driven development program aiming to broadly engage local communities in planning and implementation of the community‐driven development projects in Afghanistan. This paper has utilised Arnstein's model of citizen's participation – the eight stages of citizen participation ladder – to assess the major barriers affecting citizen engagement in community‐driven development projects in Afghanistan. Employing a qualitative approach, we have conducted semi‐structured interviews and focus group discussions with local communities, elders of the community development councils, community development experts and practitioners. The paper has found out that poverty, deinstitutionalised Community Development Councils (CDCs), low level of literacy, lack of volunteering culture, male‐dominance in decision‐making processes, defects in CCNPP operational processes including limited time frame, predefined services, power‐seeking facilitating partners, area selection, and weak CDCs are among the major barriers affecting citizen participation in community‐driven projects in Afghanistan. This paper concluded that citizen's participation in community‐driven development projects in Afghanistan is placed at informing and consultation stages and, in some projects, could be placed at the placation stage of Arnstein's model of citizen participation.

PurposeThis research is an empirical study that addresses whether knowledge resources impact on, or do not impact on, innovation development and if this impact is mediated by dynamic capabilities in the medical tourism sector in Mashhad city, Iran.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research methodology was applied and questionnaires were used for data collection in this study. A total of 108 questionnaires were collected of which 102 questionnaires were valid. Data were analyzed using structural equation modelling technique.FindingsEmpirical evidence obtained from the study reveals that the dynamic capability of learning plays a significant role in transforming knowledge resources into innovation in the medical tourism sector. The mediating role of coordinating capability in the relationship between explicit and tacit knowledge and innovation is considerable and it influences human capital, as well. Sensing capability also exhibits some degree of a mediating role; however, integrating capability is not influential and its role in transforming explicit knowledge to innovation is rejected.Originality/valueMost studies on innovation in medical tourism focused on market and its typology, and neglected the role of knowledge resources and dynamic capabilities. The current study bridges this gap and thus contributes to the scientific literature.

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The present study aimed at conducting a pathological analysis of challenges related to systems thinking studies in Iran. The data were obtained through 18 in-depth interviews. These individuals were selected through snowball sampling. Results showed that among the major challenges of implementing this method are deficiencies of training and awareness raising about systems thinking in organizations and society, issues related to methodology and analytical tools, low degree of research consistency with the needs of the society and deficiencies in knowledge sharing and networking. Among the major recommendations for resolving the aforementioned challenges are defining the aim, scope, communication pattern and potential challenges related to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects at the beginning, holding training workshops and forming knowledge networks on national and international levels, raising awareness and knowledge of employees about systems thinking at different levels of organizations and encouraging researchers to choose topics that are of interest to beneficiary organizations.

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This study tries to design a model for assessing and prioritizing human resources risks, using systems thinking and relying on the experiences of Mashhad Municipality in Iran. Reviewing various sources, this study identifies risks in human resources and uncovers the cause and effect relationships between their dimensions and components. Then, using qualitative and quantitative methods, the proposed model is evaluated. Results show five main subsystems of human resources operational risks, personal risks, professional risks, human capital risks and contextual risks. The results also show that there is a dynamic relationship between the components of these subsystems. It is shown that human resources' operational risks have the highest probability of occurrence and intensity of impact and human capital risks have the lowest probability of occurrence and intensity of impact. The system diagrams of this study provide researchers and practitioners with a comprehensive perspective to consider human resources risks in public organizations.

Concerns over rising fuel consumption have prompted research into the influences of built environments on travel behavior. On the basis of data from origin-destination(OD) travel survey data of Mashhad (74287 trip data in 2011) and using Geographically Weighted Regression, socio-demographic characteristics, are shown to be strongly and positively associated with the fuel consumption per capita (car ownership elasticity=0.347878); we also found a positive association between distance to center and designs that are not pedestrian friendly with fuel consumption (average block size=0.147489, distance to center =0.334953) Although the study demonstrates a moderately strong negative elasticity between population density and the fuel consumption(population density = -0.259335). It suggests that the largest energy consumption reductions would come from creating compact communities which have land-use diversity and more walkable areas with pedestrian cycling infrastructure around all of the stations along transit lines.In order to enhance a sustainable urban plan, the socio-economic driving factors should be considered as one of the main element of energy consumption as well.