نشریه جغرافیا و برنامه ریزی محیطی
سال سی و سوم شماره 3 (پیاپی 87، پاییز 1401)

The Balochistan province of Pakistan is mostly affected by severe drought events due to little amount of precipitation. “Several Large Scale Climate Drivers (LSCDs) are known for their effects on precipitation worldwide but studies in the region are missing; a wide variety of LSCDs and lagged associative information”.The current study aimed to identify the significant LSCDs in the Balochistan province of Pakistan and improve the prediction skill of monthly precipitation by employing the Principal Component Analysis, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Bayesian Regularization Neural Network (BRNN), and Multiple Regression (MR) Analysis using the 12 months lagged LSCDs such as Nino-1+2, Nino-3, Nino-3.4, Nino-4, QBO at 30 and 50hpa (QBOI and QBOII), Sea Surface Temperature (SST), 2m air temperature (T2M), 500hpa and 850hpa geopotential heights (H500 and H850), 500hpa zonal velocity (U500), 500hpa and 850hpa meridional velocity (V500 and V850), Latent and Sensible Heat Fluxes Over Land (LHFOL and SHFOL), and Surface Specific Humidity (SSH). To collect the data, Global Land Data Assimilation System, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, MERRA-2, NOAA, Freie University Berlin, and HadISST datasets were used. The results of the study showed that significant LSCDs with a 99% confidence level were SSH, SST, LHFOL, SHFOL, T2M, U500, Nino-3.4, and Nino-4. During the test period, compared with MR models of 0.15 to 0.49 and principal components of -0.16 to 0.43, the ANN and BRNN models had better predictive skills with correlation coefficients of 0.40 to 0.74 and 0.34 to 0.70, respectively. It can be concluded that the ANN and BRNN models enable us to predict monthly precipitation in the Balochistan region with lagged LSCDs.

Vesicular horizons are common on the surface of landforms in arid regions and play an important role in the hydrological properties and pedogenic processes in these areas. Vesicular pores are a characteristic feature of vesicular horizons and include separate pores with spherical to elliptical shapes and dimensions of micrometers to millimeters in diameter (Dietze et al., 2012). The eastern region of Isfahan located in the eastern part of the Zayandehroud River basin is affected by environmental disasters due to severe environmental drought, destructive human activities, and desertification processes. Although vesicular horizons are frequent in the soils and landforms of the eastern region of Isfahan (Bayat et al., 2018), there is no information about the geochemical and mineralogical properties of these horizons. The aim of the present study was to investigate the physical, chemical, geochemical, and mineralogical properties of vesicular horizons at different elevation levels of three landforms in the eastern region of Isfahan.

The study area is located in the center of Iran, east of Isfahan and around Segzi Playa. According to the meteorological stations of the region, the mean annual precipitation and temperature are about 107 mm and roughly 15 ˚C, respectively. Groundwater in piedmonts and plateaus of the region is deep and there are no signs of groundwater activity in the studied soils and landforms. The studied landforms include a remnant paleosurface across the Zayandehroud River (RP), a pediment in Jey industrial city (JP), and an alluvial fan near the Zefreh (ZA). Seven samples of vesicular horizons were taken from vesicular horizons in RP (at altitudes of 1542 and 1552 m), ZA (altitudes of 1623, 1764, and 1901 m), and JP (at altitudes of 1542 and 1557 m) landforms. The samples were described according to Schoenberger (2012) and analyzed regarding standard methods (Soukup et al., 2008; Soil Survey Staff, 2014).

The thickness of the studied vesicular horizons varied in the range of 3-6 cm, and on the alluvial fan, the thickness of the horizon increases with increasing the elevation. The chemical properties of the studied samples indicated very low electrical conductivity and organic carbon content and were similar to vesicular horizons in the Mojave Desert of California (McFadden et al., 1998). The particle size distribution indicated the predominance of sand particles in all samples and all samples were characterized by a bimodal distribution of particle sizes suggesting the contribution of at least two mechanisms in the transfer of particles to the studied vesicular horizons (Karimi et al., 2017; Sweeney et al., 2013). Mineralogical analysis of the samples showed the predominance of quartz and calcite in all samples and varied concerning the presence of mica and fibrous minerals. It seems that quartz is inherited from the parent material while calcite and mica minerals originated from the parent material and were also added by the wind. Fibrous minerals were probably of autogenic origin. The geochemical properties of the samples were consistent with the mineralogical results and showed the abundance of SiO2 and CaO in all samples. Among the trace elements, the highest abundance is observed in the strontium, which is due to the association of this element with carbonates (Ding et al., 2019). A comparison of geochemical properties of vesicular horizons with associated rocks showed the enrichment of SO3 and CaO relative to corresponding parent material indicating the addition of soluble ions, carbonates, and especially gypsum to the surface of the studied landforms. The Zr/Al ratio showed an increasing trend with increasing the silt content which proved the aeolian source of the silt particles as previous studies have shown a very strong correlation between aeolian sediments and the element zirconium (e.g., Waroszewski et al., 2018).

Increasing the amount of silt and the ratio of fine-grained particles to sand with increasing the elevation indicated the role of aeolian processes in adding fine-grained particles to the surfaces of different landforms of eastern Isfahan. Mineralogical and geochemical evidence also confirms the effect of dust on the formation of these horizons, so that the addition of mica minerals along with silt particles has occurred at higher altitudes. The geochemical study of vesicular horizons and application of Zr/Al ratios show that the composition of past and current dust in eastern Isfahan was the origin of dust for different landforms of the region is the same.Finally, the existence of developed vesicular horizons in the surfaces of the landforms of the region demonstrates long-term processes of wind erosion and dust influx into the soils. These natural processes are probably intensified by anthropogenic activities in recent years.

The role of the transportation industry in the development of tourism, as a basic and pivotal pillar, accounts for only 5.8% of GDP which is very small. The present study tries to examine the quality of tourist train programs (tourism stimulates economic cycles and better use of resources) on Haldman and Sherman’s (1994) theory of loyalty of tourists to the tourism host community. Tourism is not possible without extensive improvement and development of the network and the quality of transportation. In this regard, the sample community of this study was the passengers of the Lorestan tourist train who intended to visit the Lorestan tourist destination with this train. The obtained data were analyzed using Smart pls software and Wizard scenario. The results of the study show that the most effective components of the origin-destination programs of the tourist train are related to the components of paying attention to the expectations and wishes of the tourists, up-to-date tourism at the destination, and attractive travel destinations.

One of the problems faced by contemporary cities is the existence of inefficient urban structures, which often cause instability in various dimensions and make urban neighborhoods encounter serious challenges. Despite the existence of "theoretical foundations", unfortunately, the "comprehensive approach and attitude" in dealing with these spaces has not been able to provide a basic solution to organize the chaotic and disturbed faces of these urban neighborhoods. Perhaps, the lack of processing theoretical bases in addition to security has distorted their historical and architectural identities to a great extent. Considering the necessity of reviving these types of spaces, the current study aimed to improve the environmental qualities of such neighborhoods and find effective quality criteria in reviving inefficient spaces.

In this applied research, which was prepared using a descriptive-analytical method, the five "physical", "social", "functional", "economic" and "management" factors were evaluated by surveying the residents of the studied neighborhood and performing a one-sample T-test. Then, they were prioritized by using the factor analysis test. The research statistical population included the residents of Bisim Neighborhood in Zanjan and the statistical sample consisted of the 20-year-old residents of this neighborhood.

The results indicated the low level of environmental quality in Bisim Neighborhood and the residents' dissatisfaction with its poor condition. Thus, improvement of this situation required attention to the residents' preferences and their mental perceptions. The evaluations also showed that the "economic" factor with a weight of 0.621 was the first priority; the "functional" and "physical" factors with a weight of 0.592 were in the second place; and the "managerial" and "social" factors with the weights of 0.583 and 0.507 were in the next ranks, respectively. From the points of view of the residents of Bisim Neighborhood, the components of "housing price", "presence of spaces", "repair and maintenance of buildings", "spatial organization and permeability", and "access and spatial communication" respectively had the greatest impacts on improving the environmental quality of this neighborhood.

Since paying attention to the physical, social, economic, functional, and management dimensions are necessary and complementary to each other in order to improve the condition of inefficient tissues, in this research, the effective factors in improving the environmental quality in inefficient urban spaces were extracted from the theoretical bases and research literature. They were investigated after being implemented in the Bisim Neighborhood of Zanjan City. The results of the assessment of these factors indicated the residents' dissatisfaction with the poor condition of Bisim Neighborhood. The values ​​obtained from the results of the one-sample T-test also showed the fact that this neighborhood was at a low level of environmental quality and improving this situation required paying attention to the residents' preferences and their mental perceptions.

The term geosite is a new concept in tourism land and is very important in understanding the geological history and historical geological evolution of a region. Geosites are landforms that have gained special value over time due to human awareness, thus creating the necessary context for the development of tourism activities and special infrastructure in an area. Geosites may exist individually or in broader perspectives. They may be altered, damaged, or even destroyed by the effects of human activities. Different regions have different potentials in terms of geosite diversity and consequently the development of geotourism depends on geological, geomorphological, and hydro-climatic factors. One of the areas that has high potential in the development of the geotourism and tourism industry is the karst areas. Kamyaran city in Kurdistan province is one of the areas located in karst formations. Kamyaran city, despite having developed karst areas, types of landscapes, rivers, and springs, has a high potential for the development of the geotourism industry and geostourism. Despite the natural conditions in the region, it seems that more attention has been paid mainly to cultural issues. Due to the importance of the issue, in this study, the geotourism situation of Kamyaran city is studied and optimal geotourism models in this city have been presented.

In this research, in order to achieve the desired goals, library information, interviews, field visits, the digital model height of 30 meters, geological maps 1: 100000 and topographic maps 1: 50000 have been used. ArcGIS and SPSS software are the research tools. Also in this research, the Kubalikova model has been used to evaluate geosites and fuzzy logic and ANP models have been used to identify areas prone to geotourism development. This research has been done in three stages. In the first stage, using field visits, interviews, and library studies, the geosites of the region were identified and evaluated using the Kubalikova method. In the second stage, 9 parameters (the distance from the river, landscape, urban areas, communication lines, cultural sites, distance geosites, altitude, slope as well as vulnerability potential) and fusion logic integrated model and AHP were used to identify areas prone to geotourism development in Kamyaran city. In the third stage, based on the results obtained from the previous stages and the location of geosites, appropriate models for visiting geosites were presented.

The results of the evaluation of geosites based on the Kubalikova model indicate that among the geosites of the region, Palangan valley has the highest score with a total of 10.25 points, followed by Gavoshan dam, and Tangivar River with 10 and 75 points, respectively. The results also indicate that the geosites of the western regions of Kamyaran city had the highest score in terms of the Kubalikova method. In this study, after evaluating geosites, areas prone to geotourism development have been identified. Based on the results, the southern and western parts of Kamyaran city due to the distribution of potential geosites, the presence of permanent rivers, proximity to cultural sites, and proximity to communication lines had a great potential for geotourism development goals. According to the results, Palangan and Tangivar River geosites have the highest potential for geotourism development goals because they have a high score in terms of evaluation methods and are also in classes prone to geotourism development. Also, in this study, based on the location of geosites in the study area, 6 patterns were presented for visiting and planning for geotourism development goals. The results of evaluating the scores of geosites obtained in different models indicate that the total averages percentage of scores of the visited geosites were 26.25, 33.75, 30.75, 23.25, 13, and 71.75 in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth patterns, respectively.

Today, environmental issues are one of the serious problems of societies and human beings can be effective in protecting it with awareness. Television as an attractive medium can be effective in raising awareness. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between watching TV and increasing environmental literacy based on the 3 dimensions of knowledge, attitude, and behavior. This research was a survey in terms of nature and method. Its statistical population included the citizens of Tehran. The sample size was determined to consist of 384 people by using Cochran's formula, which was done by the two-stage cluster sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the data and SPSS22 software was applied to analyze them. The questionnaire validity was evaluated in a formal way and its reliability was determined at the knowledge, attitude, and behavior levels of 0.91, 0.84, and 0.78 by using "Cronbach's alpha coefficient", respectively. Pearson’s correlation test was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that 62% of the respondents were aware of television. The values of the correlation coefficient for the dimensions of knowledge, attitude, behavior, and environmental literacy were respectively 0.648, 0.679, 0.599, and 0.694, which confirmed the existence of a significant relationship between them. This meant that watching TV had a significant relationship with the acquisition of knowledge, attitude, and behavior. In general, watching TV explained strengthening of environmental literacy. To achieve a better result, it is expected that the national media make the necessary policies to strengthen environmental knowledge, attitude, and behavior.