دکتر محمدعلی باقرزاده

Organizing the collection of valuable recyclable waste at the city level has always been a major challenge for municipalities due to unprincipled activities. So far, various attempts have been made to organize these people in Iran, but all of them have failed. Almost all municipalities have accepted the presence of these people as an informal part of urban waste management. The purpose of this study is to create a new financial structure in the form of an activity license and investigate the informal flow of waste collectors in three scenarios by the causal loop diagram of the waste management cycle in Vensim software. The causal loop model obtained in this research brings a new and complete understanding of stakeholders, effective variables in cooperation, and competition between formal and informal actors in the waste management cycle of Kerman City.

To simulate the performance of different financial license pricing scenarios, the concepts of simulation of system thinking, dynamic planning, and CLD model have been used in Vensim software. At first, the CLD model of the waste cycle in Kerman City was drawn and analyzed using local conditions, the infrastructures of Kerman Municipality, and the behavior of actors in collecting recyclable waste. The drawing model was developed in Vensim software based on the collected field data and statistics from 2021 to 2022. The new scenario was defined based on the use of financial licenses to organize the informal collectors of recycled waste and separation from the origin of the definition and the assumptions of the model. Three scenarios of the existing situation, the basic license price of 500000 and 1000000 Tomans were examined and compared with each other.

  According to the results, in scenario 2, the municipality's share of the recycling market has increased by about 204%, and the amount of the municipality's profit, including the amount of the license issuance along with the discount, has increased by 232%. In scenario 3, the municipality's share of the recycling market has increased by about 400% compared to the current situation, and compared to the second scenario, it has increased by 64%, and the amount of the municipality's profit has increased by 507% compared to the current situation.

Financial licenses in the field of municipal waste management have been used in their simplest form so far, which have been mostly ineffective. The use of smart financial and licensing systems based on field conditions, the dynamics of actors' behavior, and smart policies can be a suitable solution for organizing urban waste management, especially the informal waste collection fleet.

Waste management has always been a significant challenge for municipalities. Alongside the formal operational cycle of municipalities, other stakeholders and actors also play an informal role in urban waste management. The majority of the segregation of valuable waste is carried out by these individuals. This study presents the waste management of the city of Kerman, focusing on both formal and informal recycling collection cycles and utilizing financial permits and municipal oversight to regulate these activities.

In this study, the waste management cycle model of the city of Kerman is initially introduced, emphasizing the formal and informal recycling collection cycles. Subsequently, a simulated model in MATLAB software is presented, along with a fuzzy controller system for determining the purchase price of recyclable materials by the municipality to compete with the informal cycle.

The model's results, including the number of individuals attracted by the formal network, the municipality's revenue from the purchase and sale of recyclables, and the sale of permits for a scenario with a permit price equivalent to ten million Rials, were examined. According to the results, the existence of an activity permit tool significantly impacts the municipality's share in attracting the participation of informal collectors throughout the city.

To prevent protests and a lack of support for the plan, it is recommended that the permit price be lower at the initial implementation stage, and the intensity of oversight be increased as much as possible to ensure collectors are required to obtain an activity permit. Issuing activity permits can not only enhance the financial benefits for the municipality but also have positive social and environmental effects, improving the supervision of individuals' activities.

Air pollution is recognized as one of the fundamental challenges in the field of environmental engineering. This study examines the impact of vehicle tires on air pollution and explores methods to reduce it. A significant portion of the energy generated by the vehicle engine is lost through tire rolling resistance. Consequently, reducing tire rolling resistance leads to decreased fuel consumption and, consequently, reduced air pollution. Modifying the formulation of tire tread compounds can be an effective approach to reducing tire rolling resistance. One proposed method for modifying the formulation is the addition of nanoparticles as fillers. In this research, the impact of adding varying amounts of nanosilica to the tire tread compound formulation, which is the main factor contributing to vehicular energy dissipation, has been investigated. The results indicate that the addition of nanosilica increases tire rolling resistance. Furthermore, the influence of tire thickness on its lifespan and rolling resistance has been examined, demonstrating an increase in rolling resistance over time. Additionally, necessary changes in the production process conditions and their impact on the mechanical properties and performance of the produced materials have also been investigated. Rheological analysis reveals that the addition of nanosilica leads to increased viscosity. Moreover, the examination of mechanical properties shows an increase in the modulus values of both 100% and 300% materials with the addition of nanosilica.

The integration of advanced technologies, such as smart automation systems and the Internet of Things (IoT), has revolutionized modern greenhouses by enhancing product quality, precise plant growth control, disease and pest reduction, chemical and toxin minimization, waste reduction, and overall operational efficiency. This study focuses on the development of a wireless configuration to transform conventional greenhouses into smart ones with minimal expenses and modifications. The proposed system employs a comprehensive range of sensors to monitor crucial environmental parameters, including temperature, air humidity, light intensity, soil moisture, and CO2 concentration. WiFi and ZigBee protocols are evaluated to establish seamless communication between these sensors and the central monitoring station. WiFi protocol is deemed cost-effective in greenhouses where no interference occurs within the 2.4 GHz frequency range. However, in cases where frequency interference is present, utilizing ZigBee modules operating at sub-one gigahertz frequency (900 MHz) or using the WiFi in the 5 GHz band is recommended. This wireless configuration minimizes installation and setup time and costs and enables remote monitoring and control of greenhouse conditions, empowering users with real-time access to intelligent control system information anytime and anywhere. The proposed solution contributes to the advancement of smart greenhouse automation, offering an economical and efficient approach for the widespread adoption of intelligent systems in the agricultural sector.

Nowadays, aided Inertial Navigation System (INS) is implemented to increase accuracy of navigation. However, in some cases, it is not possible to use integrated methods, or if the link to the navigational aiding system is lost, INS should be able to operate standalone with the required accuracy, until the link is accessible again. Therefore, the accuracy of INS should be enhanced to the highest extent. Some of the most significant factors in reducing the accuracy of INS are: measurement noise, inertial sensors error, misalignment, and sensor installation error on the body of vehicle. In this article, methods of compensating these factors are presented to increase the accuracy of strapdown inertial navigation systems consisting of MEMS sensors. First, the effect of noise cancelation on accuracy of INS has been studied in practice. Then, a method is presented for calibration of MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes. In addition, compensation of installation error and sensor misalignment with body-frame coordinate is studied. Efficiency of the compensating methods has been evaluated and reported in practical implementations.