International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management
Volume:4 Issue: 3, Summer 2019

This study investigates the underlying factors elucidating why solid waste management in Eldoret Town, Kenya, has up to now remained inadequate notwithstanding the existing legal framework that mandates the County Government of Uasin Gishu to ensure that all residents have access to a clean and healthy environment. The study adopted a descriptive research design. While, primary data were collected through field photography and a questionnaire administered to the Director of Environment and Enforcement, secondary data was obtained from the County Government publications and reports. The study findings indicated that the reasons why the County Government of Uasin Gishu was not successfully discharging its statutory mandate included understaffing, low education level of technical staff, lack of an adequate number of receptacles, irregular solid waste collection, inadequate number of transportation vehicles, limited prioritization in the funding of solid waste management and a scarcity in the engagement of stakeholders. Key recommendations included preparing a comprehensive staff establishment policy that includes succession planning, prioritizing solid waste management within the annual development planning, regular solid waste collection, incorporating system approach to solid waste management, and adoption of smart waste management through the integration of Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing. This paper contributes to the international debate on urban management by critically investigating the institutional barriers towards solid waste management.

This study aims to conceptualize business excellence model and identify its variables and indicators. The philosophical foundations of the pragmatic, humanistic theory of symbolic interactionism has been, quietly and the strategy of grand theory deal with open, axial and selective coding; whose output is a new concept. Data collection is based on documentation studies on excellence models. The population under study more specifically includes the models existing in prestigious journals and magazines with theoretical sampling logic in order to reach theoretical saturation. To measure validity, Critical Appraisal Skills Program was applied and to assess reliability, two encoders were used. Reliability was calculated to be 0.86 through the agreement between two encoders and Kappa coefficient for 102 samples; the reliability was good. For analysis, MAXQDA software has been employed. Out of 102 conceptual excellence models under investigation in the coding step, 869 concepts or open codes were obtained. Common basic codes were divided into 50 major categories in terms of meaning, which, in the selective coding step, led to the creation of five dimensions with the names of people, market, work, management and the underlying factors. The conducted study is a small step towards the extraction of indicators and concepts of business excellence from 102 classic models.

In contrast to existing trends and expected deteriorating water quality in the river Yamuna in Delhi which carries potential cultural economical and health importance, March 2016 water data showing improvement despite large public gathering at river bank during Cultural Festival. The reasons and factors were investigated. The paper presents the test reports of eco- enzyme which was found to be used during the event of World Culture Festival at the river bank in March 2016. The eco- enzyme is found to positively affect pH (from 6.7 to 7.2) reducing solids (from 884 to 745) suspended solids-(from 121 to 47) hardness and chlorides in a stable water body- Pond. The eco- enzyme testing in drain water showed optimum water cleaning effect on 0.5% concentration by showing the reduction of Biological Oxygen Demand  from 690 to 231, Chemical oxygen demand from 537 to 384, nitrates (from 5.54 to 3.39) Coliform count by 10%. Considering cost-effectiveness of the enzyme it is considered feasible technique to mitigate polluted water bodies.

This study was carried out to reveal the plastic wastes separation practice and disposal mechanism as well as awareness of the negative impact of plastic wastes on the environment, in Makurdi area of Benue State, Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered to 468 individual respondents in 6 sub-locations of the city. Inquisition was also made from 10 hospitals, 6 market centers and the waste management body. The results revealed that 81.2% of the respondents do not separate plastic wastes from other waste stream. All the hospitals and markets do not sort at all. The government agency responsible for the final management of the waste stream does not have a practice of sorting plastic wastes from the whole waste collected with a view to achieving material and energy recovery. The most adopted methods of disposal for plastic wastes by all the stakeholders considered are dumping/burning and dumping.  50.4% of the respondents adopted dumping/burning as a disposal method for plastic wastes while 19.2% burn theirs. Although almost 50% of the population examined for the study claimed to be aware of the dangers of plastic wastes, there is still indifference in the way these wastes are handled as can be observed by the indiscriminate dumping of these wastes, creating litters around the environment. These result revealed a need for the development of a proactive and sustainable management system involving individuals, businesses, hospital managements and waste management body that will protect the environment and enhance resource and energy recovery from plastic wastes.

The main objective of this research is to determine the role of passive defense in urban crisis management from the perspectives of experts and urban managers Municipality of Tehran- District, 5. In order to carry out the study, an analytical-applied research method and a combination of documentary, descriptive, analytical and case study methods are used. All managers and experts of Tehran’s municipality in the District (n=950) at all divisions and departments constitute the population of this study. 274 samples are selected using simple random sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire is used as research tool whose validity and reliability are tested based on the views of the research supervisor, advisor, experts and managers of the municipality, and Cronbach's alpha test (a= 0787), respectively. Then, data analysis is performed using SPSS software (v21). According to the research findings, passive defense is effective in reducing damages to cities and application risk, and developing a proper pattern for urban sustainability using experts and managers perspective (p<0.05).

Human resources play a crucial role in the evolution of the organizations, and huge organizational developments caused by unlimited intellectual capacity of human resources. Therefore, of the priorities of any organization is to preserve these valuable resources. In this regard, an appropriate alternative is to improve the quality of work life in organizations. To this aim, the quality of work life was investigated among the staff employed in General Department of Human Resources of Municipality of Tehran (the study population was included of 3 types of employments one official and two contractual employments), during 2017- 2019. The research method is descriptive-survey and the data were collected using the Walton work quality of life questionnaire (1973) and a researcher-made questionnaire on demographic characteristics. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and statistical Tests including frequency, mean and standard deviation, and inferential statistical test including one-way T, Pearson correlation and analysis of F variance. The results indicated that the status of quality of work life in the studied area is 3.03 and above mean from the staff point of view. Also, the mean scores of life quality amongst Hadianshahr (one of the tow contractual employments) were lower than official (fixed) staffs and Khadamate Edearie Shahr (one of the two contractual type of employments). In terms of demographic variables, an adverse relationship was observed between quality of work life and age.

Constructing new urban facilities requires precise study of the proper sitting in different parts of a city. The first point for the accurate allocation of urban facilities, is to select the optimal site regarding different conditions and it matters when it comes to important factors such as saving lives and safety of the people. Therefore, the optimal site selection of fire stations is essential because of the importance of the people who are in danger of fire and hazards. This research is applied in terms of purpose and in terms of method, is descriptive and in terms of data collection is a survey research. For this purpose, using the Analytic hierarchy process analysis in GIS, the results were analyzed by questionnaire. Using the overlapping method, the weighted criteria were combined and the optimal sites for the constructing of fire stations are specified. Results determined areas that have a higher priority and better conditions for the constructing of fire stations. The areas which have the most suitable conditions because of their proximity to the road, residential areas, the existence of health centers, as well as commercial centers, along with the existence of worn out structures, were in the first priority for the construction of new stations. However, other parts of the district are well-suited for construction of new stations that are compatible and in fact confirm the current situation and the status.

Quality of urban environment as a subset of quality of life now represents the search for happiness and personal satisfaction in urban environment and is a broad concept which is concerned with the overall well-being in urban environment. The purpose of this study was to investigating the quality of urban environment according to the 5 urban landscape indicators; Land use, Green space, Population and Floor density, Accessibility and physical quality in Noor Town of Tabriz. In order to achieve this goal, the two-step research method has been used. The first step was field observation and conduction an organized interview with the citizens and the next step was the implementation of the results on the map using Geographical Information System analysis. The results of the research showed that the highest quality of urban environment related to green space and people are satisfied with the availability of green space in Noor Town. In contrast, the lowest quality of urban environment was related to the aspects of land use, such as the existence of wastelands in the southern parts of the study area and existence some industrial sites as air pollution sources near to the study area.