فصلنامه مطالعات جغرافیایی مناطق خشک
پیاپی 37 (پاییز 1398)

The creation of urban space so that all segments of society can benefit from its facilities, provides opportunities for community participation and social activity and prevents their social isolation. In this study, we investigate the status of people with special needs access of urban space and its impact on volunteer activity in Mashhad. The approach of the present study is qualitative-quantitative and data collection tools, in-depth individual interviews and researcher-made questionnaires based on theories, prior research and qualitative sector paradigm model. The sample age range is 15-40 years and the sample was selected in qualitative part through snowball method and interviewed with 15 people whit special needs and in the quantitative section, a whole number of members of the eductional charity complex rehabilitation in Mashhad. The number of respondents is 137. The categories extracted from the qualitative sector paradigm model showed the additional pressure that people with special needs have to indure in irban space and in their personal and administrative affairs. People with special needs have difficulty accessing in various parts of the urban space such as banks, offices, parks, sidewalks, transportation, educational places, etc. Therefore, we extracted from the qualitative part of the research, with the aim of investigating the access of people with special needs to an unobstructed environment in urban space, the variables of accessibility in workplaces, public transport system, office space, organizational and public space, educational places and residence for statistical analysis in the quantitative section. The results of Pearson correlation test and linear regression show that the level of accessibility of urban space to people with special needs has an impact on the accessibility of them to voluntary activities. But the frequency distribution of responses indicates that 70% of respondents rated the urban spece access medium downward.

The rapid growth of urbanization and its consequences has led to an increase in the detrimental effects of the environment, social and economic disadvantages in many cities, especially metropolises. Mashhad metropolis is one of those cities that is affected by the rapid growth process inequality in access to facilities and pressure on bio resources. The purpose of this paper is to investigate sustainable city indicators in different dimensions of urban sustainability. At first, sustainable city indices were identified in six dimensions and 53 variables and indices were identified through questionnaires and map information, and then, by using paired weighted linear method (WLC), the stability of city neighborhoods was ranked by paired comparisons. The highest level of sustainability at the local scale is Kouye Doktora, Goharshad, Ershad, Valiasr neighborhoods. Zone 1 with four neighborhoods has the highest number of high-stability neighborhoods. Neighborhoods of KenehBist, Keshavarz, Derwey, Shahid Maghoul have the lowest levels of sustainability among neighborhoods. Zone 5 with four neighborhoods has the highest number of unstable neighborhoods among urban areas. Finally, using ArcGIS clustering functions based on F statistic and Mashhad clustering rules, it was divided into 7 homogeneous regions based on sustainability dimensions.

Vegetation is one of the most important physical properties of the earth's surface that plays an important role in reducing the occurrence of wind erosion and reducing dust particulate matter emissions, especially in arid and semiarid regions. The extent of development or destruction of vegetation in an area is usually affected by climate change at different times. This study aimed to investigate the temporal variations in western rangelands of Kerman province and to determine its relashionship with climate factors using the most accurate model derived from ordinary least squares (OLS) method between meteorological and vegetation data. For this purpose, the monthly data of the Modified Vegetation Difference Index (NDVI) and meteorological variables (mean temperature, precipitation, wind speed, maximum air temperature, and minimum temperature) for the months of April to September during 2000 to 2017 were used. Models were compared to each other and evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R2), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Variance Inflation Factor (VIF). The results showed that the relationship between NDVI and average minimum and maximum temperatures, wind speed and rainfall  has higher accuracy than other models due to higher R2 (0.24) and as well as, lower RMSE (0.196) and VIF (3.2) values. Based on this relationship, the most important climatic factors affecting the vegetation status of the study area were identified as mean minimum temperature, precipitation and surface wind speed. Such results could improve our understanding from the impact of climate change on vegetation conditions in arid regions.

Optimal management of the farm and increasing production efficiency can be achieved by collecting accurate and appropriate information from the fields. The aim of this study is to determine the location of soil moisture sensors in pistachio orchards. For this purpose, initial information was obtained using satellite image processing. Then, using clustering method the information was clustered to different class, representing moisture and canopy cover changes at the garden level, and at each class, the position of every sensor is selected using maximum covering location methods. Classification of garden data demonstrated nine different classes of soil moisture and vegetation. The results showed that in each garden with flood or drip irrigation systems, soil moisture classes with different conditions can be identified. Moreover, the results showed that satellite images can provide valuable information for agricultural area. And also, through proper site selection of sensors, all changes and variation of the desired parameters at the garden level can be measured. Sensor’s site selection confirms that this garden requires at least 9 soil moisture sensors for proper irrigation planning.

Climate change is nowadays a major cause of concern in water related fields because it may cause more severe, shortened or prolonged droughts or floods in the future. In this research was tried to the best model of climate change is determined from the climate change models to determining the minimum temperature, maximum temperature and precipitation for the Birjand synoptic station. For this reason, 35 models of GCM were determined for each of variables of the minimum temperature, maximum temperature and precipitation. Initially, for each of the weather variables, the values ​​of each of the fifth report models for the base period and the synoptic station of Birjand were determined and compared with the results of the synoptic station in Birjand. Results showed that the rainfall data of GISS-ES-R, CNRM-CM5, CSIROMKMK3.6 models are most similar to the data of the Birjand synoptic station. For maximum temperature, GISS-ES-R, CNRM-CM5, CSIROMKMK3.6 models and for the minimum temperature, the GISS-ES-R, GFDLCM3 and MIROC-ESM models have the minimum error values and results of these models had the best similarity with the observed data. From comparison of model data with synoptic station data showed that the highest percentage of relative error of rainfall, minimum temperature and maximum temperature is shown for 1(January), 2(February) and 5(May) months, respectively. In comparing the differences between GCM models and Birjand station data for precipitation, the maximum temperature and minimum temperature are the fifth (May), third (March) and first (January) months, respectively, than the rest of the months.

Climate change, including the occurrence of drought, has a major impact on the activities and livelihoods of rural households, especially in the villages of the border regions that face a lack of livelihood options. Given the importance of this position in the present study is to investigate the effects of drought on livelihoods of rural households and experiences can be addressed Mirjaveh Township. The purpose of this research is applied and its method is descriptive-analytical. The data collection tool was a questionnaire and a free interview. The statistical population of the rural households is Mirjaveh township in Sistan and Baluchestan province (N = 29752). Using the Cochran formula, 348 households were selected as sampling by quota sampling. For analyzing data, descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression model (LM-Newton-Marcard-Raphson method) were used. The results showed that among 18 variables, the drought had the most effect on the five variables of agricultural production decrease (0.886), reduction of income and savings (0.756), increase of rural migration (0.699) Reduction of water resources (0.643) and decrease of vegetation and family diversity in the region (0.561). In addition, in terms of activities and livelihood of rural households, drought had the most effects on economic dimensions (0.417), physical environment (0.326) and social dimension (0.318). The results of this research can be used to reduce drought effects on rural activities and livelihoods and to adapt to its important effects.