Geography and Urban Planning

Safety is a basic issue in every social system and communities consider safety as one of their main priorities. One of the most important factors that put the safety of various communities at risk is the threats caused by crime occurrence. This paper is aimed to spatially analyze crime occurrence in various regions of Iran with an emphasis on safety. The research method is descriptive-analytical and a documentary and library data collection method is used. In this paper, the Similarity, COPRAS, mean rank method, and cluster analysis method are applied. The final results of the cluster analysis based on the mean rank method indicate a wide gap between the provinces of the country in terms of survey indicators, so that the final coefficient obtained for the provinces in the sixth cluster (the most unsafe group) is about 45 times of the final coefficient of the provinces in the first cluster (the safest group).

Micro clima of the present study was performed in a region of 58,730 hectares within the cities of Yazd, Ashkzr, Zarch, Shahedyh and Hamydya by the use of Remote sensing techniques. To analyze the relationship between the land use/cover changes and heat island city of multi temporal Land sat images 4 and 7 of TM and ETM sensors related to the dates 11 September 1990 and 10 July 2002 were used. The results, through the classification of images and statistical information extracted from each class shows that the city of Yazd in recent years has had relatively fast growth, resulting in significant changes in land use that has been created. Physical expansion of Yazd city from the view point of construction building area, has caused the decrease of 1.9 percent during the vegetation period of 13 years (1990-2002). Simultaneously with the increase of construction building areas and reduction of vegetation cover ,the extent of heat island located on the downtown has increased. This study also showed that thermal characteristics of land surface and its patterns, can be found through the type and quality of land uses. Results of the relationship between NDVI and land surface temperature using correlation and regression analysis, expressing the effect of vegetation cover on reducing temperature due to the surface evaporation and transpiration .

Environmental sustainability assessment represents a set of measures that provide useful information about the effects of the environment on humans and vice versa. Assessing the environmental sustainability of cities is necessary to achieve appropriate urban planning in line with the variables of the natural environment. Considering the role and importance of the environment in the lives of citizens and the existence of environmental problems in Zahedan, the present study aimed to investigate the environmental sustainability of Zahedan city in comparison with its rival cities in the province. The present study was applied and descriptive-analytical in terms of purpose and method. The statistical population of the study was officials, professionals, and related experts in the selected cities of the province. For this purpose, cities with more than 50,000 people (Zabul, Saravan, Iranshahr, Chabahar, and Zahedan) were selected. The Meta-SWOT model was used for data analysis. For many years, the use of the SWOT model has shown that this model, in addition to being based on mental inspirations, lacks predictive power due to avoiding quantification. So, in this study, the Meta-SWOT model was used to eliminate the disadvantages of the SWOT model. The results obtained from environmental sustainability showed that the city of Zahedan had the first rank in the production of waste materials. Also, in terms of macro-environmental factors that need special attention, the development of the use of renewable energy resources and reducing and minimizing the consumption of fossil fuels were the priorities. Factors that rank next included establishing laws for environmental sustainability, increasing funding for environmental clean-up, and optimizing waste management and waste recycling.

In this study, the energy reserves of prediapause and diapausing adult bugs were examined using colorimetric biochemical techniques to determine carbohydrates, lipids, glycogen, and protein content. To this end, 45-day-old bugs were obtained from three different sources: laboratory colony, cold-stored insects, or natural habitat. The results showed that prediapause males and females had significantly lower lipids than laboratory cultured bugs, those were collected in natural habitat, and cold-treated diapausing insects. In contrast to lipids, carbohydrate and glycogen contents were significantly higher in prediapause males and females than in diapausing insects. Glycogen content in laboratory-reared females and males were significantly higher than in their counterparts from natural habitat. In conclusion, Sunn pest energy reserves change from prediapause to diapause phases. Prediapause Sunn pest bugs accumulate lipids for their metabolic needs during diapause and for post-diapause functions that include dispersal and reproduction.

Sunn pest, Eurygaster integriceps, is a serious pest of cereals in the wide area of the globe from Near and Middle East to East and South Europe and North Africa. This study described for the first time, identification of E. integriceps trypsin serine protease and cathepsin-L cysteine, transcripts involved in digestion, which might serve as targets for pest control management. A total of 478 and 500 base pair long putative trypsin and cysteine gene sequences were characterized and named Tryp and Cys, respectively. In addition, the tissue-specific relative gene expression levels of these genes as well as gluten hydrolase (Gl) were determined under different host kernels feeding conditions. Result showed that mRNA expression of Cys, Tryp, and Gl was significantly affected after feeding on various host plant species. Transcript levels of these genes were most abundant in the wheat-fed E. integriceps larvae compared to other hosts. and Tryp transcripts were detectable in both salivary glands and gut. Also possibility of Sunn pest gene silencing was studied by topical application of cysteine double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). The results indicated that topically applied dsRNA on fifth nymphal stage can penetrate the cuticle of the insect and induce RNA interference. The Cys gene mRNA transcript in the gut was reduced to 83.8% 2 days posttreatment. Also, it was found that dsRNA of Cys gene affected fifth nymphal stage development suggesting the involvement of this protease in the insect growth, development, and molting. C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sunn pest is a serious pest of cereals causing severe damage to the crop especially wheat. Its life cycle is comprised of two different phases, one is the growth and development phase and the other is diapause phase which takes place at the adult stage. In this study the effects of juvenile hormone analogue Pyriproxyfen, ecdysone analogue methoxyfenozide and a mixture of Pyriproxyfen plus methoxyfenozide on diapause termination of < 24-h-old-, 45day old-, and 90 day old adult Sunn pests were examined using topical application. Pyriproxyfen and a mixture of Pyriproxyfen plus methoxyfenozide induced the growth of the female reproductive organ whilst methoxyfenozide had no effect on adult diapause termination. Also, Pyriproxyfen failed to induce egg deposition in sexually immature adults of Sunn pest. Pyriproxyfen, methoxyfenozide and a combination of the two exerted no effect on the termination of diapause in < 24-h-old treated adult Sunn pests. However, Pyriproxyfen alone and a mixture of Pyriproxyfen plus methoxyfenozide successfully terminated reproductive diapause of 45, and 90 day old adult Sunn pests. Treatment of female only with Pyriproxyfen (10,000 ppm) induced termination of diapause and made egg-laying activity appear. However, egg number and percent of hatchability (27.6±7.5 and 9.77±4.89% respectively) were significantly lower than the treatment of both males as well as females with Pyriproxyfen (53.5±4.8 and 33.18±2.7% respectively) (P< 0.01). Treatment of the insect with these Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs) i.e. Pyriproxyfen and a combination of Pyriproxyfen plus methoxyfenozide produced significant differences in the egg and haemolymph protein concentrations, too. Thus, it is shown that these treatments affect vitellogenesis in Sunn pest.