In this paper, a robust bi-level model is proposed to optimize decisions related to distribution and evacuation aid after earthquake. Usually in disastrous situation foreign countries help the affected country by sending relief commodities. In this problem, the foreign countries try to minimize their shipping costs and the affected country seeks to minimize its total costs which include inventory, operation, and transportation expenses. This situation is a game between different decision makers after a catastrophic disaster. To deal with this situation, a bi-level model is proposed in which the affected country is the leader and suppliers are the followers. To validate the proposed robust model, we consider Tehran probable earthquake in region 1 as a case study. Then the advantages of using bi-level modeling against considering just one player's point of view is provided. The sensitivity analysis of the experiments are presented to explore the effects of various parameters to show managerial insights that can guide DMs under a variety of conditions.

This study aims to design a new model for selecting most fitting new product development projects in a pool of projects. To catch the best model, we assume new products will be introduced to the competitive markets. Also, we suppose the revenue yielded by completed projects can be reinvested on implementation of other projects. Other sources of financing are borrowing loans from banks and initial capital of the firm. These limited resources determine most evaluated projects to be performed. Several types of interactions among different projects are considered to make the chosen projects more like a portfolio. In addition, some numerical examples from the real world are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. These examples show how the particular considerations in the suggested model affect the results.

Optimum design and control of a Combined Cooling, Heating and Power generation (CCHP) system, in addition to the economic benefits, could be profitable in environmental and energy consumption aspects. The aim of this study is to determine the optimal capacity of equipment and define the best control strategy of a CCHP system. Since determination of optimal system control strategy has a huge impact on improving the objective functions, the system’s performance under five different strategies (developed based on well-known Following Electrical Load (FEL) and Following Thermal Load (FTL) strategies) is evaluated. In a real case study, a CCHP system is designed for an educational complex located in Mahmoudabad, Mazandaran, Iran. The objective is to minimize capital and operational costs, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions of the system. Due to the complexities of the model, genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm are used to find the optimal values of the decision variables. The results show that using FEL strategy CO2 emissions reduces in compression to FTL strategy. Furthermore, using multiple power generation units under FTL strategy eventuates the least cost but increases CO2 emissions and energy consumption in compression to FEL strategy.

A vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) is an important problem with many real applications in a transportation problem. The optimum set of routes with the minimum distance and vehicles used is determined to deliver goods from a central depot, using a vehicle with capacity constraint. In the real cases, there are other objective functions that should be considered. This paper considers not only the minimum distance and the number of vehicles used as the objective function, the customer’s satisfaction with the priority of customers is also considered. Additionally, it presents a new model for a bi-objective VRPTW solved by a revised multi-choice goal programming approach, in which the decision maker determines optimistic aspiration levels for each objective function. Two meta-heuristic methods, namely simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA), are proposed to solve large-sized problems. Moreover, the experimental design is used to tune the parameters of the proposed algorithms. The presented model is verified by a real-world case study and a number of test problems. The computational results verify the efficiency of the proposed SA and GA.

This study presents a new mathematical model for the design of reliable cellular manufacturing systems, which leads to reduced manufacturing costs, improved product quality and improved total reliability of the manufacturing system. This model is expected to provide a more noticeable improvement in time and solution quality in comparison with other existing models. Each part to be manufactured may select each of the predefined manufacturing routes, such that the total reliability of the system is increased. On the other hand, the model adopts to categorize the machines to determine the manufacturing cells (cell formation) and reduce the transportation costs. Thereby, both criteria of system reliability and manufacturing costs will be simultaneously improved. Due to the complexity of cell formation problems, a two-layer genetic algorithm is applied on the problem in order to achieve near optimal solutions. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed algorithm is shown for solving some computational experiments. Finally, the results of a practical study for designing a cellular manufacturing system as a case study in Iranian Diesel Engine Manufacturing Co., Tabriz, Iran are present.

The hub location problem (HLP) is one of the strategic planning problems encountered in different contexts such as supply chain management, passenger and cargo transportation industries, and telecommunications. In this paper, we consider a reliable uncapacitated multiple allocation hub location problem under hub disruptions. It is assumed that every open hub facility can fail during its use and in such a case, the customers originally assigned to that hub, are either reassigned to other operational hubs or they do not receive service in which case a penalty must be paid. The problem is modeled as two-stage stochastic program and a metaheuristic algorithm based on the adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) is proposed. Extensive computational experiments based on the CAB and TR data sets are conducted. Results show the high efficiency of the proposed solution method.

Perishability of platelets, uncertainty of donors’ arrival and conflicting views in platelet supply chain have made platelet supply chain planning a problematic issue. In this paper, mobile blood collection system for platelet production is investigated. Two mathematical models are presented to cover the bloodmobile collection planning problem. The first model is a multi-objective fuzzy mathematical programming in which the bloodmobiles locations are considered with the aim of maximizing potential amount of blood collection and minimizing the operational cost. The second model is a vehicle routing problem with time windows which studies the shuttles routing problem. To tackle the first model, it is reformulated as a crisp multi objective linear programming model and then solved through a fuzzy multi objective programming approach. Several sensitivity analysis are conducted on important parameters to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. The proposed model is then solved by using a tailored Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm. The numerical results demonstrate promising efficiency of the proposed solution method.

The environmental changes caused by industrial activities have spurred a significant interest in designing supply chain networks by considering environmental issues such as CO2 emission. The pivotal role of taking uncertainty and risk into account in closed-loop supply chain networks has induced numerous researchers and practitioners to develop appropriate decision making tools to cope with these issues in such networks. To design a supply chain regarding environmental impacts under uncertainty of the input data and to cope with the operational risks, this paper proposes a multi objective possibilistic optimization model. The proposed model minimizes traditional costs such as cost of products shipment, purchasing machines and so on, as well as minimizing the environmental impact, and as a results strikes a balance between the two objective functions. Furthermore, in order to solve the proposed multi objective fuzzy mathematical programming model, an interactive fuzzy solution approach is applied. Numerical experiments are used to prove the applicability and feasibility of the developed possibilistic programming model and the usefulness of the applied hybrid solution approach.

During the previous decades, policy makers have formulated policies for developing entrepreneurship in different countries in order to decrease unemployment and poverty toward sustainable development. Some of these policies include encouraging people to be an entrepreneur, opportunity creation, educating new skills to entrepreneurs and so on. In recent years an appropriate context has been formed for entrepreneurship development in Iran and some programs have been executed. Therefore, formulating appropriate frameworks to guide Iranian government in this way is a necessity. This paper evaluates the impact of entrepreneurship policies on opportunity to startup in Iran. The results of path analysis indicate that supportive financial and non-financial actions influence positively on opportunity to startup. In addition, education and culture also influence positively on opportunity to startup. Finally, legislation also positively influences on opportunity to startup.

This study examines the impact of psychological characteristics, materialism, unity, uniqueness, hedonism, and perfectionism, and demographic characteristics including gender, age and income as well as the costing behavior (price) on the views towards the luxury restaurant. The results show that perfectionism and uniqueness had a direct impact on the consumer's views towards luxury restaurant. On the other hand, the demographic characteristics such as age, income and education had a positive relationship with the consumer's views towards the luxury restaurant. Finally, a new hypothesis as the relationship between price and service quality and customer atti-tudes was examined in this study and it was concluded that there was a significant positive rela-tionship between price and customer’s views. The results of the research data also confirmed the relationship between price and service quality.