This paper presents a survey on the role of citizenship education in development of urban branding in city of Tehran, Iran. The study considers the effects of attitude, subjective norms, perceived control and intend adopted by the local community on development of urban branding. We design a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 400 randomly chosen people in city of Tehran, Iran. Cronbach alphas for all components of the survey are well above the desirable level. Using Pearson correlation test as well as stepwise regression techniques, the study has determined a positive and meaningful effects of perceived control and intend adopted by the local community on urban branding.

Privatization is considered as the transfer of business from the government to the private sector. This process is often accomplished in an attempt to reduce the size of government, increase the productivity and export activities. There is no doubt that in an export oriented economy, government tries to promote expert based activities by making necessary changes on rules and regulations. This paper presents an empirical investigation to determine important factors on promoting export in Iran. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among some experts active in steel industry. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy is equal to 0.839 and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity yields an approximation Chi-Square value of 2485.02 (Sig. = 0.000, df = 276). Using principle component analysis with Varimax rotation, the study has detected five important factors including human resources development, productivity management, marketing management, creating competitive environment and building necessary infrastructures, which influence the most on export activities.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of transformational leadership style and organizational culture on the formation of organizational cynicism in the Agricultural Bank in city of Tehran. The population of this study consisted of 1022 employees of the Agricultural Bank of Tehran. A total of 304 questionnaires were distributed, of which 264 valid questionnaires were collected. These questionnaires were distributed randomly among the male and female employees in Tehran branches of Agricultural Bank. Standard questionnaire of transformational leadership model, standard questionnaire of organizational culture model and organizational cynicism were applied in this study. In this study SPSS19 and Smart PLS software were used to analyze the collected data. Hypothesis testing showed that at first, Transformational leadership style had no significant effect on the formation of organizational cynicism in the Agricultural Bank in Tehran, and organizational culture had a significant negative impact on the formation of organizational cynicism in the Agricultural Bank in the second hypothesis.

This paper aims to examine the role of spirituality and ethics in higher education quality improvement. Two questionnaires were made by the researchers, the first one was completed by heads of departments of Islamic Azad University, Science & Research Campus, Tehran, Iran (N1=n1=200) to determine the components of spirituality, ethics and quality improvement (Cronbach’s alpha=0.82). The second one was completed by PhD students (N2=1475 & n2=206) in order to find out whether or not there are positive correlations among spirituality, ethics and higher education quality improvement and to determine the role of spirituality and ethics in higher education quality improvement (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.85). To ensure the validity of measurement instruments, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were applied. Findings of the research indicated there was a positive correlation among spirituality, ethics and higher education quality improvement.

In the current world, all human beings are forced to work for the living to provide their living requirements. Meeting these needs faced human with numerous psychological problems. One of the psychological problems of humanity in the current world is associated with stress caused by working conditions that human are daily forced to face with them. Finding the right solution for management of unconventional stress requires understanding the capabilities of individuals and strategies to face with them in stressful situations. This paper presents a survey to study the quality of working life and social support by considering the mediating role of resiliency. The study has accomplished among all 215 environmental guards of Mazandaran province, Iran. The results of this survey indicate that enhancing the social support of environmental guards by the relevant institutions especially communication and supporting them by friends played an important role for increasing their resilience.

Nowadays, due to the transition from the old economic model to the global village constituting patterns, different functional requirements are needed. In other words, for success in the modern production management, strategic decisions must create the conditions for taking new systems for enterprises and create conditions for the competitiveness of manufacturing firms. This paper presents a survey on diagnosing barriers to make strategic decisions in a manufacturing firm named Pakshoo company in city of Tehran, Iran. The study tries to find the obstacles for the implementation of strategic decisions in this firm. The study determines 14 different factors influencing on the development of strategic planning and using analytical hierarchy process, prioritize them, accordingly. In our survey, behavioral factors are considered as the most important factors followed by structural and context issues.

Polyaniline (PANI) was synthesized chemically in an acidic medium in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an oxidizing agent. PANI/montmorillonite nano-composites were prepared in the presence of various amounts of modified clay (from 1 to 5 wt.%) by solution casting method. The free standing film of polyaniline and PANI/clay nano-composites was obtained by vaporization of solvent contain. Products were characterized by FT-IR spectra, SEM image, and XRD pattern. Thermal stability was also studied by TGA analysis, electrical conductivity was measured by four point probe technique and mechanical properties were studied by tensile strength. The PANI/clay nano-composites thermal and mechanical properties were observed to be remarkably improved. For example, polyaniline containing nano-clay has less weight loss compared to pure polyaniline. In addition Young’s modulus and strength at break point was increased in the case of polyaniline containing nano-clay The importance of our work is to provide a narrow look on the thermal and physical properties of polyaniline by the incorporation of montmorillonite into its structure as well as investigation of the conductivity of PANI/MMT nanocomposites as a potential conductive polymer to be used in solar cells or have corrosion protection applications.

The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of knowledge management on the productivity of the staff working at Islamic Azad University, Bonab Branch. The study uses knowledge management based on Nonaka and Takeuchi & apos; s theory in four cases of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization of social knowledge. The population of the present study includes all 89 staff working at Islamic Azad University. Regarding the small number of the population, the whole population was selected as the sample, i.e. the census method was used. After collecting questionnaires, the obtained information were summarize and categorized using descriptive statistics and to test research hypotheses, bivariate regression was used. The present study employs a survey research for collecting data and it is an applied research in terms of objective. The results indicate that knowledge management and its dimensions are effective on the productivity of the staff working at Islamic Azad University.

In this paper, we present a hybrid method of game theory and dynamic systems to study the behavior of firms in an oligopoly market. The aim of this study is to build a model for an oligopoly game on the basis of feedback loops and system dynamics approach and to solve the resulted problems under some special conditions where traditional game theory methods are unable to handle. The method includes a combination of qualitative methods including interviews with industry experts to prepare the model and quantitative methods of system dynamics, simulation methodologies and game theory. The results indicate that competitive behavior and the important parameters such as volume of demand, interest rates and price fluctuation will be stabilized after a transition period.

Proper functioning of electrical connectors used in high oscillation is of great importance. Vibrations in connector pins cause stress and electrical resistance variations in the contact surface. In the present paper, the impacts of vibrational loads on electrical connectors is being modeled using the finite element method, and the electrical resistance oscillations of the connectors will be examined. Ultimately, the parameters affecting the electrical resistance oscillations of contacts will be determined and their relations with oscillations in electrical resistance are specified as well.