A series of novel metal complexes containing metal atoms such as Zn, Co, Cu, Cd, Ni, Mg and Sn have been synthesized from 3-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-yl)naphthalen-2-ol. The synthesized ligand was well characterized by IR, 1H-NMR and mass spectrometry. The electrochemical properties were studied by cyclic voltammetric analysis. The synthesized complexes are fluorescent and absorb in the range of 317 to 323 nm while emit in the range of 371 to 416 nm with good quantum yield. All metal complexes show significant in vitro antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus strains and in vitro antifungal activity against C. albicans and A. niger strains by using serial dilution method. The antibacterial activities were expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in ?g/mL.

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been widely used as an effective tool for measuring the relative efficiency of similar units by considering various input/output parameters. This paper examines DEA models for the estimation and improvement of organizational inputs and outputs in order to enhance management and decision making processes. We propose an empirical DEA analysis on banking sector by considering several financial and non-financial inputs and outputs. The relative efficiencies of various branches of banks are analyzed in different scenarios. The preliminary results indicate that there are some non-financial items that could significantly change the overall performance of a unit along with other financial items.

During the past few years, there have tremendous efforts on improving the cost of logistics using varieties of Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) models. In fact, the recent rise on fuel prices has motivated many to reduce the cost of transportation associated with their business through an improved implementation of VRP systems. We study a specific form of VRP where demand is supposed to be uncertain with unknown distribution. A Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is proposed to solve the VRP and the results are compared with other existing methods. The proposed approach is also used for real world case study of drug distribution and the preliminary results indicate that the method could reduce the unmet demand significantly.

During the past few decades, there have been many evidences to believe that the stock markets around the world follow cyclical trends. In this paper, we study the cyclical trends using wavelet function based on various time windows on some major stock market indices. We use two methods of Daubechies and reverse bi-orthogonal wavelet methods and determine the optimal values of both methods. The results are used for Tehran stock exchange using the most recent ten years daily information as an empirical study. The details of our analysis on TEDPIX index for the last decade indicate that there are, at least, four trends of weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly and the cycles would be expected to be repeated in future.

With globalization, sweeping technological development, and increasing competition, customers are placing greater demands on manufacturers to increase quality, flexibility, on time delivery of product and less cost. Therefore, manufacturers must develop and maintain a high degree of coherence among competitive priorities, order winning criteria and improvement activities. Thus, the production managers are making an attempt to transform their organization by adopting familiar and beneficial management philosophies like cellular manufacturing (CM), lean manufacturing (LM), green manufacturing (GM), total quality management (TQM), agile manufacturing (AM), and just in time manufacturing (JIT). The main objective of this paper is to propose an optimal assembly method for an engine manufacturer’s assembly line in India. Currently, the Indian manufacturer is following traditional assembly method where the raw materials for assembly are kept along the sideways of conveyor line. It consumes more floor space, more work in process inventory, more operator's walking time and more operator's walking distance per day. In order to reduce the above mentioned wastes, lean kitting assembly is suggested by some managers. Another group of managers suggest JIT assembly as it consumes very less inventory cost compared to other types of assembly processes. Hence, a Multi-attribute decision making model namely analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to analyse the alternative assembly methods based on various important factors.

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been one of the most important tools on measuring the relative efficiency of different similar units such as transportation systems using terminals, airports, etc. In this study, we perform an empirical analysis on Iranian airports based on DEA methods to measure the efficiencies of various airports. One of the primary issues on many traditional DEA methods is that the data are almost always contaminated with noise. We use a DEA method which could handle the uncertainty associated with input and output data. The results of this comprehensive study show that most of the active airlines are practically inefficient and the government could significantly increase the efficiencies of the airports by setting new regulations and rules.

Designing distribution centers is normally formulated in a form of set covering where is primary objective is to minimize the number of connected facilities. However, there are other issues affecting our decision on selecting suitable distribution centers such as weather conditions, temperature, infrastructure facilities, etc. In this paper, we propose a multi-objective set covering techniques where different objectives are considered in an integrated model. The proposed model of this paper is implemented for a real-world case study of truck-industry and the results are analyzed.

When a production facility is designed, there are various parameters affecting the number machines such as production capacity and reliability. It is often a tedious task to optimize different objectives, simultaneously. The other issue is the uncertainty in many design parameters which makes it difficult to reach a desirable solution. In this paper, we present a new mathematical model with two objectives. The primary objective function is considered to be the production capacity and the secondary objective function is total reliability. The proposed model is formulated on different units of production which are connected together in serial form and for each unit, we may have various machines. The resulted model is formulated using recent advances of robust optimization and solution procedure is analyzed with some numerical examples.

This article aims to review, identify and prioritize challenge factors of the implementation of knowledge management portals for Iranian organizations. The study determines several important weakness factors affecting the implications of the knowledge management such as the weakness in organizational strategy, information overcrowd, content management, portals project management, and etc. The study also indicates that the factors have different priorities where managerial factors are in the highest priority and financial factors are in the lowest priority. We also perform factor analysis to summarize seventeen factors into six issues: Financial and information security, Technology and management, Senior management support and strategy, Acceptance, User's motivation and culture, Project management, Change management and training.

During the past three decades there have been tremendous efforts on building steel factories on economic scales. The primary question is to find an economic scale for such plants which could also meet domestic demand. In this paper, we perform an empirical survey to find out whether building small steel factories are more suitable or setting up giant steel industries to meet regional demands. The results indicate that in many countries, building small steel plants based on the recent advances of technologies not only reduces the total cost of steel production but also it could significantly reduce the unnecessary transportation cost, providing cheaper labor, etc. This would lead to better competition which would increase the productivity.