This paper presents an empirical study to determine the effects of four different factors including human capital, innovation capital, communication capital and information technology (IT) capital on firms’ return. The study selects the information of 50 selected firms from Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2007-2013. Using regression analysis, the study has determined that there were some positive and meaning relationships between human capital, innovation capital, communication capital and information technology capital and firms’ return, however, each of these four factors had various effect. Other results indicate that IT capital had the greatest impact on future returns of companies and among intellectual capital components, communication capital had the highest impact on future earnings.

Oil price markets can benefit from a better considerate of how shocks can affect volatility through time. This study assesses the impact of structural changes and outliers on volatility persistence of two crude oil markets WTI and Brent oil price between January 1, 1996 and March 17, 2014. First, we identify the FIGARCH process proposed by Baillie et al. (1996) [Baillie, R.T., Bollerslev, T., & Mikkelsen, H.O., (1996), Fractionally integrated generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity. Journal of Econometrics, 74, 3-30.] and investigate some of its statistical proprieties and then incorporate this information into the volatility modelling. We also show that outliers can bias the estimation of the persistence of the volatility. Taking into account outliers on the volatility modelling process improve the understanding of volatility in crude oil markets.

One of the primary assumptions in many project portfolio selection is the availability of all parameters. However, in real-world cases, many parameters are under uncertainty and the exact values are unknown in advance. This paper presents a scenario based mathematical model for project portfolio selection when parameters are under uncertainty. The problem considers two objective functions where the first one maximizes the net present value while the second objective function is the minimization of the positive deviations from the allocation of resources. The second objective function is looking for project resource leveling. The resulted model is formulated as mixed integer programming and the problem is analyzed under different conditions.

This paper presents an empirical study to determine the effects of different factors including present profit, depreciation, working capital, operating cash flow and other accruals on future earnings stability. The study selects the information of 124 selected firms from Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2006-2012. Using two regression analysis, the study has determined that as the fluctuation of profit increases, the profitability increases too. In addition, the study has concluded that firms with minimum fluctuations preserve more stable profitability. Moreover, firms with higher fluctuation in profitability maintain more volatile profitability for the next consecutive period.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effect of bank ownership concentration on capital adequacy and liquidity on 14 selected private Iranian banks located in city of Tehran, Iran. The study uses a linear regression model where ownership concentration is independent variable, size, leverage, growth domestic product and revenue growth are control variables and liquidity and capital adequacy are dependent variables. Using historical information over the period 2010-2013, the study has determined a negative and meaningful relationship between liquidity and ownership concentration. However, the study has determined a positive and meaningful relationship between capital adequacy and ownership concentration.

The main objective of this study was to develop a set of measures, evaluate their importance and effect in cold supply chain performance. This investigation reviewed previous research works on all the stages of the farm product supply chain. Based on farm product supply chain, 4 measures with 31 metrics were identified and developed to measure the cold supply chain performance. A survey was organized to establish the importance and the effect of identified measures. The 5 point Likert scale questionnaire was distributed among SC academics and practitioners. The observed finding infers that the measurement instrument was substantiating for evaluating cold supply chain performance in farm industry. The new developed metrics will help firms improve the visibility of supply among partners and in better decision making. The investigation was enfolded up through the plan of direction intended for future study.

Spread plays essential role on market liquidity on any stock market. A high gap between bid and ask price may reduce the likelihood of trading activities while a small gap between bid and ask increases the chance of trade execution. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation on the effect of spread on abnormal return. The proposed study collects the necessary information from official statements as well as historical data over the period 2009-2013 reported on Tehran Stock Exchange to examine the relationship between spread and unusual firm performance. Using regression analysis, the study has determined a meaningful relationship between abnormal return and spread.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effects of teaching contrastive skills of Islam originated from versus of holly book of Quran and cognitive-behavioral for coping on anxiety among some high school students in city of Tehran, Iran. The study uses a standard method developed by Cattell and Scheier (1963) [Cattell, R. B., & Scheier, I. H. (1963). Handbook for the IPAT Anxiety Scale Questionnaire: Self Analysis Form. Institute for Personality & Ability Testing.] to measure the anxiety. The results have indicated that both methods, contrastive skills and cognitive-behavioral, not only could reduce anxiety in short term but also it could reduce the anxiety over the long term period.

Evaluation of faculty members is very significant for educational organization to prompt reputation of the organization and to provide quality education. Teaching staff, the pillars of the educational institution, can change the whole nation stimulating the magnet of interest, knowledge, and wisdom in the pupils. Selecting a better academic staff among the others is very crucial for Human Resources Management (HRM) as the success of any organization solely depends on how well it selects its manpower. Institute managing committee must have a reliable technique to judge a teachers’ ranking through multiple conflicting criteria because different teachers have various capabilities. In Bangladesh, it is a common practice in public engineering universities to select teachers only having good academic records. But teaching staff selection problem is a multi-staged decision-making problem having both quantitative and qualitative criteria. It is evident that it has become challenging as the number of alternatives and conflicting criteria increases. In this paper, a structured framework has been developed using MCDM methods both in fuzzy as well as non-fuzzy environments in the renowned engineering university of Bangladesh, where seven candidates under fifteen different sub-criteria are evaluated and ranked. The study helps the recruitment panel of educational organization in Bangladesh select the most eligible academic staff for required posts.

An individual with a career faced with various career challenges may experience work-related stress. Work related stress is a factor that threatens employees’ health. The most common negative consequences of stress are particularly the deterioration of performance and efficiency, decrease in productivity and quality of customer’s services, which results in health problems. Work-related stress is a global issue, and banks are no exception. This paper presents a survey to investigate the influencing factors on work stress in banking industry. The study designs a questionnaire and distributes it among 200 randomly selected bank department managers in city of Tehran, Iran. Using principle component analysis, the study has detected five factors including organizational characteristics, external environment, work content, personal characteristics and top management.