Mazandaran

The Sassanid era is one of the most brilliant in the Iranian civilization in terms of various arts development. The coastal areas of the Caspian Sea, especially Mazandaran, has long been the site of artistic manifestation with countless examples of art works kept in different museums inside and outside the country. The Sassanid art particularly depict life and glory of the kings. With a deep insight into the works, one can easily find the use of a vast array of birds, animals, plants, gods and mythological beings in symbolic ways. After reviewing and researching all the works created in the Sassanid period, a common feature attracts opinions, and that is the similarity and harmony of decorative motifs in all of these works, especially bas-reliefs, metal wares, fabrics and seals. The purpose of this research is to investigate the images of sacred animals on the Mazandaran artifacts of the Sassanid period, in response to the question of what is the relationship between the designs of sacred animals and the motifs on discovered metal works of Mazandaran. The results of this study clearly show that in most of the concepts and representations in the works produced in every part of this civilization, a common goal was pursued, and it is a struggle against evil forces. The symbolic emblems of sacred animals in Iran can be found in close connection with the beliefs and religions of that era, some of which are manifested in the form of boar and lion in the body of gods and goddesses.

Purpose- This study aims to demonstrate the factors affecting the current development pattern of second homes, emphasizing on the role of spatial planning in the forest villages that are considered as the tourism destinations of Mazandaran province.Design/methodology/approach- This is a descriptive-analytical study carried out in nine villages of nine county of Mazandaran as tourism destinations. The statistical population consisted of 18 rural managers and 1980 rural households in the under-study villages.Findings- The ANOVA results showed that the institutional-political factor of social-cultural dimension, with the mean of 3.7133 had the highest effect on the current development pattern of second homes.Research limitations/implications- As the statistical population of the present study consisted of rural managers, it was difficult to have access to the managers since they were involved in agricultural works.Practical implications- Based on the current pattern of second home development, the distribution pattern of the spatial planning of second homes was designed. In order to sustain second home development, the negative points in each step of the input, activity, short-term, and long-term consequences should be reduced or eliminated.Originality/value- Since second home tourism is one of the different types of rural tourism that plays a main role in the development of rural areas, and considering the importance of second home tourism in the development of rural areas and their impact on the villagers' life, it is necessary to clarify the factors affecting second home development. Therefore, this study aims to improve the proper distribution of spatial planning in second homes by providing a spatial planning pattern for second home development.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the design of a model based on the impact of information technology on the empowerment components of professors with mediating role of social resilience in the Payame Noor University of Mazandaran province. The research method was descriptive-correlational. Method: The statistical population of this research included all professors (scientific and invited) in Payame Noor University of Mazandaran (2539 people). In this study, 280 people were selected as the sample from three branches of Mazandaran Payame Noor University using randomized cluster method. Three standard questionnaires used as the measurement instruments in this research were Ghasemi’s information technology questionnaire, Spreitzer’s empowerment questionnaire, and Connor and Davidson’s resilience questionnaire. In the descriptive statistics part, plotting charts and calculating the statistical indices were used to describe the hypotheses. Structural equation modeling test was used to analyze the data. The data were analyzed using SPSS22 and Amos software. Results: The findings of this research indicated that the design of the model based on information technology influences the empowerment components of professors with mediating role of social resilience in the Payame Noor University of Mazandaran province and all the paths of the effect of the exogenous variables on endogenous variables and endogenous variables on exogenous variables are significant at the level of a = 0.05. Also, all direct and total effects of the endogenous and exogenous variables were significant (p0.05), and all indirect effects of the exogenous and endogenous variables on the endogenous variables were significant. In the final model of information technology and faculty empowerment variables, the highest path coefficient was for the path from information technology to faculty empowerment (0.72) and then from the components of faculty empowerment to resilience (0.71). Conclusion: Information technology and mediating empowerment components have a resilient effect on empowerment components and have shown their mediating role well.

The northern shores of Iran, especially the shores of Mazandaran province, have long been a popular destination for tourists. Sea and coastal tourism is one of the most popular forms of tourism in today's world.This research tries to study and analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the strategy on coastal tourism. This research method is descriptive-analytical and is formed like a field method. Given the importance of the maritime tourism industry, careful study and analysis of the factors affecting the development of this industry importance. Influential factors and components such as security, marketing and technology have been analyzed on the development and prosperity of tourism at sea, as well as short-term, medium-term and long-term operational plans for the development of maritime tourism. Security was considered to be the most important and fundamental principle in the development of tourism development strategy in the world Statistical Society due to the Morgan table so that assuming the maximum population of Statistical (384) people as a sample were chosen. The results show that the Coastal tourism of Mazandaran province In terms of strategic location and the internal and external matrix is located in the Conservative area؛ in other words it can take advantage of opportunities in the external environment in coastal tourism by emphasizing on sports activities that can show the weaknesses of internal problems better. That means that in the outside there are very good opportunities to promote coastal tourism with an emphasis on sports activities. However, because of weaknesses in the domestic environment (organization), these opportunities cannot be exploited.

Background and Theoretical Foundations: Tourism has an efficient and effective potential in the economic, social, and cultural growth of countries, especially developing countries such as Iran, which, if implemented, can lead to development. Iran has a significant and unique potential in terms of tourism attractions, so that the capacity of this country can be compared with countries such as Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and some other ancient countries. As an invisible export of goods and services, due to its effectiveness on the process of production and employment, the Tourism industry is one of the most important and most profitable industries of the world and can play a significant role in meeting foreign exchange earnings and economic growth, and development of countries. Methodology: The objective of conducting the present study is to present a model to realize the competitive model of the tourism industry. In this study, the indicators of the Crouch and Ritchie model were used to create a framework that includes the views of experts. The reliability and validity of the research were confirmed through statistical methods to establish the primary indicators along with the defined sub-indices. The statistical universe of the study includes the tourism experts, including university professors, experts employed in the organizations related to tourism, in two sections of governmental and private, who have sufficient acquaintance with the Mazandaran region. The sampling method will be available sampling with the Cochran formula. In available sampling, the researcher uses the available samples, and it is an inexpensive and available sampling method. Findings: The findings of the study show that the rating of factors effective on attraction of tourism destinations of Mazandaran Province are inheritable Cultural resources, built resources, supportive and situational factors, natural inheritable resources, policy making, planning and development, key resources and attractions, condition of demand, management of tourism destination, ability of controlling expense, public infrastructure, ability of concentration and differentiability, respectively. Therefore, it is inferred that, concerning importance towards, other factors effective on attraction of tourism destination of Mazandaran province, competitiveness of destination has less priority. Conclusion: The results show that three main factors are effective in the development of marine and non-marine tourism in Mazandaran province. These factors include primary factors such as heritable cultural resources, heritable natural resources, and built resources. Secondary factors include policy-making, destination planning and development, tourism destination management and supporting situational factors. And tertiary factors such as public infrastructure, demand conditions, key resources, and attractions. This study finally evaluates the destination's competitiveness based on cost control, differentiation, and focusability. The results of the Friedman test show that the highest priority is given to heritable cultural resources with an average score of 11.8, followed by built resources with 8.03 and supporting and situational factors with 31.7. The next priorities include inherited natural resources (7.16), policy and planning (7.14), key resources and attractions (6.81), demand conditions (6.26), tourism destination management (5.88), cost control (5.58), public infrastructure (5.48), focusability (5.27), and finally, differentiation with an average of 0.06.