In this paper, we address the problem of scheduling jobs in a no-wait flowshop problem with sequence-dependent setup times with the objective of minimizing makespan. This problem is well-known for being nondeterministic polynomial-time hard, and small contribution to the problem has been made. We propose a new constructive heuristic named GAPH based on a structural property. The effectiveness of the structural property is crucial given that it is responsible for 100% of the success rate of the total problems tested. The computational results demonstrate that the proposed approach is superior than three of the best-know methods in the literature such as the twos by Bianco, Dell’Olmo and Giordani (INFOR Journal: 37 (1), 3-19, 1999) and TRIPS heuristic adapted for sequence-dependent setup times objective by Brown, Mcgarvey and Ventura (Journal of the Operational Research Society, 55 (6), 614-621, 2004) in terms of the solution quality and that it requires less computational effort.

Today, with ever-increasing competition in global economic conditions, the necessity of effective implementation of strategy map has become an inevitable and necessary. The strategy map represents a general and structured framework for strategic objectives and plays an important role in forming competitive advantages for organizations. It is important to find important factors influencing strategy map and prioritize them based on suitable factors. In this paper, we propose an integration of BSC and Fuzzy DEMATEL technique to rank different items influencing strategy of a production plan. The proposed technique is implemented for real-world case study of glass production.

The world trade has tremendous growth in marine transportation. This paper studies yard crane scheduling problem between different blocks in container terminal. Its purpose is to minimize total travel time of cranes between blocks and total delayed workload in blocks at different periods. In this way the problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming (MIP) model. The block pairs between which yard cranes will be transferred, during the various periods, is determined by this model. Afterwards the model is coded in LINGO software, which benefits from branch and bound algorithm to solve. Computational results determine the yard cranes movement sequence among blocks to achieve minimum total travel time for cranes and minimum total delayed workload in blocks at different planning periods. Also the results show capability and adequacy of the developed model.

In this article, we consider a single-unit unreliable production system which produces a single item. During a production run, the production process may shift from the in-control state to the out-of-control state at any random time when it produces some defective items. The defective item production rate is assumed to be imprecise and is characterized by a trapezoidal fuzzy number. The production rate is proportional to the demand rate where the proportionality constant is taken to be a fuzzy number. Two production planning models are developed on the basis of fuzzy and stochastic demand patterns. The expected cost per unit time in the fuzzy sense is derived in each model and defuzzified by using the graded mean integration representation method. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the optimal results of the proposed fuzzy models.

This paper presents two models, a periodic review model and a continuous review inventory model with fuzzy setup cost, holding cost and shortage cost. We use two methods in the name of signed distance and possibilistic mean value to defuzzify. Also we consider the lead time demand and the lead-time plus one period’s demand as random variables. To validate the models and the solution procedures we apply them to a transformer manufacturing, 'Iran transfo', company. Furthermore we design a decision support system which can be used for efficient evaluation of the proposed models in fuzzy environment.

Aggressive behavior has many bad effects on people & apos; s health care and lifestyle and any attempt to find the main issues influencing aggressive behavior among young students could help setup appropriate programs to control and possibly reduce aggressive attitudes. The proposed study of this paper performs an empirical study to find out the relationship between aggressive behavior and other important factors such as gender, age, etc. The survey uses a well-known questionnaire introduced by Buss and Perry (The aggression questionnaire, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 452-459, 1992). The survey distributes 500 questionnaire consists of different questions based on Likert scale among 250 female and 250 male students. The questionnaire consists of various questions including anger, physical aggression, verbal aggression and hostility. The results indicate that while there is no meaningful difference between aggression attitudes of female and male students (with p-value & LT; 0.001), the aggressive attitudes increases among older male students but this aggressive reduces among female students as they get older.

The present research purpose is applying a compose method from DEA and AHP for removing this technique deficiency on assessing. For this reason, a compose method on basis of unsubjective double comparisons matrix has been used. At research process, after specifying the input and output variables and also a proper model for DEA, computational research method are dismounted at two stages: At the first stage, DEA model, is dismounted for two-by –two of items (branches), regardless to other items. At the second stage, double items comparisons matrix is provided from first stage results, that is performed total rating by resolving a unit – level AHP model. For this purpose, for dismounting this technique, we have attempted to assess rivet producer units efficiency, at one of the greatest industrial units in Iran. Results indicate unit number 3 with efficiency amount 0.12622 has allocated the highest rate to own and unit number 1 and 2 with efficiency 0.12404 has allocated the least rates to own.

:In this paper, we present a multi-objective possibilistic programming model to locate distribution centers (DCs) and allocate customers' demands in a supply chain network design (SCND) problem. The SCND problem deals with determining locations of facilities (DCs and/or plants), and also shipment quantities between each two consecutive tier of the supply chain. The primary objective of this study is to consider different risk factors which are involved in both locating DCs and shipping products as an objective function. The risk consists of various components: the risks related to each potential DC location, the risk associated with each arc connecting a plant to a DC and the risk of shipment from a DC to a customer. The proposed method of this paper considers the risk phenomenon in fuzzy forms to handle the uncertainties inherent in these factors. A possibilistic programming approach is proposed to solve the resulted multi-objective problem and a numerical example for three levels of possibility is conducted to analyze the model.

Earth subsidence has been one of the important issues jeopardizing environment and there are many studies, which blame shortage of underground water resources for having uplift and subsidence. However, many argue such conclusion and believe that earth subsidence has been studied in the past without considering the changes in the hill over a long period. In this study, we use SAR interferometry study to investigate earth subsidence in dessert areas of Esfahan, Yazd and Ardakan, located in central part of Iran. The results indicate that there are more important issues affecting subsidence such as the uplift in the hills located the desert area. The results of the survey based on SAR interferometry reveals that subsidence occurs with the uplift in the adjacent hills, simultaneously called Soft isostasy in geomorphology. In other words, the subsidence is more associated with the movement of the surface of the desert to reach equilibrium than shortage of underground water resources. There is an equilibrium line between the uplift and subsidence where is changes of the surface tends to zero.

In econometrics, the derivation of a theoretical model leads sometimes to two econometric models, which can be considered justified based on their respective approximation approaches. Hence, the decision of choosing one between the two hinges on applied econometric tools. In this paper, the authors develop a theoretical econometrics consumer maximization model to measure the flow of durables’ expenditures where depreciation is added to former classical econometrics model. The proposed model was formulated in both linear and logarithmic forms. Box-Cox tests were used to choose the most appropriate one among them. The proposed model was then applied to the historical data from the U.S. and China for a comparative study and the results discussed.