The increasing pressure on resources and the persistent failure to address global malnutrition are evident challenges. A significant contributing factor is the decline in the quality of production resources, particularly water. As a result, many countries and their experts have prioritized the need to balance resource consumption. To address the research gap regarding balanced and optimal resource use, various methodologies have been developed over time, culminating in nexus studies. This study aimed to investigate the what, why, and how of conducting water-energy-food nexus (WEFN) studies. The research employed a sequential mixed-methods approach, integrating content analysis with the Analytical Network Process (ANP). The findings reveal that the objectives of WEFN studies encompass a wide range of interests, which can be systematically categorized into seven principal domains: system sustainability assessment, integration of planning and decision-making processes related to resource consumption, optimization of resource use, management of resource consumption systems, development of theoretical frameworks for the nexus, evaluation of the impacts of resource consumption, and assessment of associated risks. Notably, the results indicate that system sustainability assessment is the most critical reason for conducting WEFN studies. Furthermore, the analysis of WEFN methodologies identified simulation as the most effective technique within the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) framework. In the context of the ANP technique, statistical analysis and simulation emerged as the most important methods. This research advocates for using a diagram to facilitate the selection of the optimal method for conducting a WEFN study.

This research is an attempt to identify the most important dimensions of vocational education and training (VET) on empowering rural women, a topic that has received less attention. The present study is a quantitative, non-experimental, applied, survey research, whose statistical population includes rural women and girls who participated in VET classes. The research tool was a researcher-designed questionnaire. The reliability and validity of the research tool using a pilot test and calculating Cronbach’s alpha, AVE, and CR coefficients were shown to indicate the high capability of the research tool to collect data. The results showed that among the four dimensions of VET, the role of content and educator was more than other dimensions and these dimensions of training had improved the economic empowerment of rural women, which was often at the lowest level. The conceptual framework presented can be used as a guide to achieving sustainable development goals of the millennium; and should be considered at the national and international levels. The paper makes an impact on the growing body of knowledge by emphasizing on more important dimensions of education; which can be effective for the empowerment of women, especially in the economic dimension. In the existing studies on empowering rural women, none of them examined the effect of all different components of education on women’s overall empowerment, which are among the innovations of the present study and should be considered in future planning.

The present study was developed to comprehensively analyze experts' views and content of documents focusing on goals and criteria of sustainable waste management system in Tehran, Iran. To this end, the suitable goals for sustainable waste management system in Tehran city were adopted from domestic, national and international documents. For this purpose, 27 national and international documents and 2 domestic documents related to waste management were selected and analyzed by using content analysis according to Gall, 1994. Further, in order to formulate goals in case of bottlenecks and challenges of waste management in Tehran, the focus group technique was used based on Stewart and Shamdasani, 2014. At this stage, 24 key experts in the field of waste management were interviewed in the form of 4 focus groups. Data collection were performed via audio recording and word-for-word implementation of conversations, taking notes and writing field notes. The data collection continued until reaching theoretical saturation. Next, content analysis and coding methods were used to analyze the data. Finally, the goals of waste management were divided into five general categories including: institutional (with emphasis on the integration and inclusion of the key elements of the urban waste management system), technical and infrastructural (with emphasis on the optimization of existing processes in the use of urban waste management technologies), environmental (with emphasis on minimizing the adverse health and environmental effects of the urban waste management system, economic (with emphasis on the economic and financial sustainability of the urban waste management system), and cultural-social (with emphasis on attracting the maximum participation of citizens and service recipients). The results clearly showed that sustainable waste management measures in Tehran should follow these five components in order to reduce the problems caused by unrealistic waste management and make sustainable use of basic, natural, financial and human resources.