Using an Evolutionary Algorithm in Multiobjective Geographic Analysis for Land Use Allocation and Decision Supporting

Usually, allocation of resources is an optimization problem which involves a variety of conflicting economic, social, and ecological objectives. In such a process, advanced geographic analyst tool for manipulation of spatial data and satisfaction of multiple objectives is essential to the success of decision‐making. The present research intends to demonstrate the application of a multiobjective optimization method based on NSGA‐II 1 (we call it HNSGA‐II), along with Geographical Information System (GIS) 2 to select suitable sites for the establishment of large industrial units. Having defined the elements of HNSGA‐II for the site selection of industrial units, the method is tested on the data of Zanjan province, Iran, as the case study. The results showed that the proposed approach can easily find a variety of optimized solutions, giving the decision‐makers the possibility to opt for the most propitious solution. Using this method, the achievement level regarding each objective function can be studied for any of the nondominated solutions.     

Iran's “Twenty-Year Vision Document”: An Outlook on Science and Technology

In 2005, Iran outlined its goals in economic, science and technology for the next twenty years, Sanad-e- Cheshm Andaz-e Bist Saleh (The Twenty-Year Vision Document), a working plan to raise the country's ranking to that of the first in the region. This article aims to map Iran's scientific and technological performance over five years since the ratification of the plan. Three main areas of science and technology—the percentage of GDP invested in knowledge, scientific performance and technological performance—were used to compare Iran's scientific output with a set of regional countries. The study revealed that Iran's investment in science to inspire technology (the linear model) has been able to nourish scientific performance in the form of rising publication, whereas the neighboring countries followed a more diversified pathway and inspired science from technological advances. Thus, the number of countries in the region capable of competing with and even outstripping Iran in terms of technological and hence scientific performance has increased.     

Final /n/ Deletion in Ghayeni Persian: Opacity in Harmonic Serialism and Parallel Optimality Theory

This paper explores the application and non-application of final /n/ deletion in Ghayeni Persian. In this dialect, final /n/ deletion is a productive phonological process whose application in different domains and environments is affected by several opaque counterbleeding and counterfeeding interactions as well as bleeding. This research presents new empirical data about these aspects which could be of general theoretical interest. It is also an attempt to make a contribution to current debate in phonological opacity. In so doing, it adopts Harmonic Serialism (HS) to accommodate counterbleeding opacity. It offers an analysis to survive a pitfall challenging HS in handling counterbleeding opacity in derived words. With regard to counterfeeding opacity, it adopts Parallel Optimality Theory (POT) using Local Constraint Conjunction (LCC). It discusses how POT and HS in particular could treat opaque interactions in Ghayeni dialect. In addition, this paper argues that a candidate which undergoes the same process twice in the same step could also be included in HS’s gradualness condition.     

Land suitability assessment for locating industrial parks: a hybrid multi criteria decision‐making approach using Geographical Information System

Industrial areas play a critical role in urban and regional planning, especially for developing countries where reliable strategies for these areas can promote economic and environmental efficiency. The present study provides an integration of hybrid multi‐criteria decision‐making (MCDM) theories and Geographical Information System (GIS) processes in order to assess the suitability of an industrial location. Unlike traditional models, an efficient decision analysis demands handling uncertainties and considering dependencies between criteria. The proposed MCDM framework uses fuzzy theory because of the vagueness of experts' judgements. Moreover, Decision‐Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) is employed to investigate interrelationships among the criteria. In the proposed empirical solution, analytic network process (ANP) principles are used to deal with systematic interactions. We considered several factors such as accessibility, topography, proximity, and socioeconomic characteristics in the decision‐making procedure for a sustainable industrial park. The system is applied to Hamadan province, Iran to determine appropriate locations that are the results of the aggregation of criteria maps in a GIS environment. The results demonstrate that accessibility and economic indicators are essential for choosing an industrial park's location. Additionally, the proposed method can be applied for an efficiency evaluation of available industrial parks.     

Technical Studies on the Bronze Age Metal Artefacts from the Graveyard of Deh Dumen,South‐Western Iran (Third Millennium BC)

During the excavations of the graveyard at the site of Deh Dumen in south‐western Iran, 15 graves from the Early/Middle Bronze Age were uncovered that contained a variety of metallic artefacts. This paper reports on the analysis of nine metal artefacts, including eight broken vessels and a decorative strip that covered the handle of a dagger. The ICP–MS results showed that the bodies of the vessels are made of tin bronze alloy with variable amounts of tin, while the internal piece of the base of one vessel is made from an arsenical copper alloy. Further, the metallic strip is a thin sheet manufactured with partially pure silver. Microanalytical and microstructural information yielded by SEM–EDS revealed elongated Cu–S inclusions and lead globules as various phases formed in bronze solid solution. This study presents some information about the transition from arsenical copper to bronze metallurgy in the third millennium bc in south‐western Iran.     

Mapping character types onto space: the urban-rural distinction in early statistical writings

This article investigates the construction of urban/rural binary distinctions in 18th- and 19th-century social scientific literature, and in particular in the writings of the statistical societies in England. The 18th-century writers were primarily concerned with the spread of luxury, vice, and effeminacy among the upper social strata in large cities. Later on, statisticians began to focus on moral hazards among the urban working poor. These writings are significant in several respects: they contributed to the spatial mapping of moral character, played a role in the development of quantitative social scientific techniques, and foreshadowed later sociological debates over the nature and consequences of social evolution from simpler to more complex societies.