Abstract Background: Identifying different groups of customers and their preferences and needs enable countries to gain a competitive advantage in the medical tourism market. We aimed to segment medical tourists from West Asian countries seeking medical services in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 596 medical tourists who sought medical services in Iran in 2021. Data were collected using a valid questionnaire. SEGMENTATION was performed BASED on medical tourism attributes (medical, destination, and tourism attributes), using cluster analysis methods; wards, and K means. The segments ' evaluation and profiling were conducted using discriminant analysis, chi-square, and one-way ANOVA tests. Results: Our study divided the market into five segments: health seekers (3.8%), health and destination seekers (8.9%), tourism seekers (17.8%), infrastructure seekers (10.23%), and perfectionism (59.45%). In all segments, the health attributes were of high importance. The perfectionism segment registered the highest score in all three attributes (more than 5 of 6). Conclusion: Improving health attributes and offering luxurious medical services can be the main strategy for Iran to attract the most medical tourists and achieve a good position in this marketplace. The implication of this study is policymaking for targeting the most profitable segment of this marketplace.

Data mining techniques have been used widely in the area of customer relationship management (CRM). In this study, we have applied data mining techniques to address a problem in the business-to-business (B2B) setting. In order to continue its business in a manufacturer-retailer-consumer chain, a manufacturer should improve its relationship with retailers. In this regard, SEGMENTATION is a useful tool for identifying groups of similar retailers in order to improve retailer loyalty by developing and implementing segment-specific marketing strategies. Therefore, this study proposes a methodology for retailer SEGMENTATION BASED on the VALUE-BASED SEGMENTATION and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The proposed methodology is implemented by using the data of a firm in the hygienic industry in Iran. As a result, having found six groups of retailers and labelled them according to their performance, we provide some possible measures that can be taken in order to improve the relationship between the firm and its retailers.

A house, as a primary dwelling is designed according to life style and current VALUEs in the life and mind of Residents. House is a cultural element, containing cultural meanings situated in the spirit of a house, distinguish the form of other houses. Special life style and conduct of residents becomes VALUE through time. This VALUE organizes the meaning in the mind and determines meaning of life and appropriate physical space. In this paper, we have tried to study theories of a philosopher concerning meaning issue and meaning ontology, and meaning of life, and then, present components to evaluation the meaning in historical houses of Mazandaran. Indexes and questionnaire were used through the components. Six historical houses were selected to evaluate, filled by ten specialists for each house. This paper describes the theoretical framework by qualitative research approach and analysis method. It assesses qualitative components to quantitative components, BASED on the evidences and documents. Then, it provides reliable criteria. Research achievement presents the solution to design temporary houses BASED on linkage of meaning and form.

Image SEGMENTATION is a fundamental approach in the field of image processing and BASED on user’ sapplication. This paper propose an original and simple SEGMENTATION strategy BASED on the EM approach thatresolves many informatics problems about hyperspectral images which are observed by airborne sensors. In afirst step, to simplify the input color textured image into a color image without texture. The final SEGMENTATIONis simply achieved by a spatially color SEGMENTATION using feature vector with the set of color VALUEscontained around the pixel to be classified with some mathematical equations. The spatial constraint allowstaking into account the inherent spatial relationships of any image and its color. This approach provideseffective PSNR for the segmented image. These results have the better performance as the segmented imagesare compared with Watershed & Region Growing Algorithm and provide effective SEGMENTATION for theSpectral Images & Medical Images.