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Fuzzy audit risk modeling algorithm
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 235-246 Zohreh Hajiha ![]() |
Abstract:
Fuzzy logic has created suitable mathematics for making decisions in uncertain environments including professional judgments. One of the situations is to assess auditee risks. During recent years, risk based audit (RBA) has been regarded as one of the main tools to fight against fraud. The main issue in RBA is to determine the overall audit risk an auditor accepts, which impact the efficiency of an audit. The primary objective of this research is to redesign the audit risk model (ARM) proposed by auditing standards. The proposed model of this paper uses fuzzy inference systems (FIS) based on the judgments of audit experts. The implementation of proposed fuzzy technique uses triangular fuzzy numbers to express the inputs and Mamdani method along with center of gravity are incorporated for defuzzification. The proposed model uses three FISs for audit, inherent and control risks, and there are five levels of linguistic variables for outputs. FISs include 25, 25 and 81 rules of if-then respectively and officials of Iranian audit experts confirm all the rules.
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An empirical study on evaluating training program: A case study of university employee
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 247-252 Hamid Reza Rezazadeh Bahadoran, Aliakbar Khosravi Babadadi and Sara Tountab Haghighi ![]() |
Abstract:
In this paper, we present an empirical study on measuring the effects of training programs on efficiency of university employee. The proposed model of this paper uses Kirkpatrick four level models based on some questionnaire. The questions are divided into four different groups of reflection, leaning, behavior and efficiency and the feedback are collected using Likert scales. We perform some statistical tests to analyze the results and conclude that staff training has relatively positive impact on all four items. In addition, the effects of different personal characteristics such as age, gender and marriage conditions are investigated on all four levels of Kirkpatrick's model. The results indicate that the Kirkpatrick could be implemented for measuring the effects of training programs, efficiently.
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A data mining method for service marketing: A case study of banking industry
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 253-262 Mohammad Reza Taghva, Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini Bamakan and Samrand Toufani ![]() |
Abstract:
One of the most important objectives of any modern organization is to gain competitive advantage of customers' data. In order to find hidden patterns or models from data, application of modern and steady methodologies is a necessity. Banking industry is not exceptional from this trend and they may often wish to make more profit by providing appropriate services to potential customers. Analyzing databases to manage customer behaviors seems difficult since databases are multi-dimensional, comprised of monthly account records and daily transactional records. Therefore, to analyze databases, we propose a methodology by considering human factors and building an integrated data utilization system. Moreover, self-organizing neural network map is used to identify groups of customers based on repayment behavior, recency, frequency, and monetary behavioral scoring predicators. We also perform more analysis using Apriori association rule to make marketing strategies for services used by banks.
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A hybrid Kano-fuzzy AHP method for measuring customer satisfaction: A case study of transportation system
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 263-270 Mohammad Hemati and Fozieh Ghorbanian ![]() |
Abstract:
An increase competition on today's economy has created motivation for many organizations to look for different alternatives on better serving the customers. There are always some budget limitations on any customer relationship method, which leads us to prioritize different alternatives. In this paper, we present an empirical method based on an integrated Kano and fuzzy analytical hierarchy procedure to rank suitable alternatives. The proposed model of this paper uses a questionnaire survey to gather customer's opinions and implements the method for a real-world case study of transportation planning. The questionnaire includes 37 questions distributed among 976 passengers for two trips in Iran. The results indicate that driver's physical and mental health, buss equipments with GPS functionality and familiarity of drivers with road and road's conditions play important role on choosing a transportation company.
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A new type of problem to stabilize an assembly setup
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 271-278 Dilip Roy and Debdip Khan ![]() |
Abstract:
Traditional assembly lines are still attractive means of mass and large-scale series production. Previous research works mainly dealt with the minimization of balancing loss, subject to precedence constraints. Very recently the focus of attention shifted towards system loss. However, these losses are not the proper indicators of the stability of the system since the efficiency of the assembly line increases normally when the stability of the system increases. In this paper, we introduce a new type of assembly line, which is totally different form the existing types of assembly line studied in the literature. In this work, we define the stability of the system in terms of reliability of the assembly line. The objective is to design an assembly line with a desired level of working stability measured through this reliability measure. This special type of assembly line, where production rate can be increased by minimizing the cycle time subject to a given level of reliability and precedence constraints, extends the decision-making framework available in the literature on assembly line balancing problem and indirectly takes care of both balancing loss and system loss.
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Developing a DEMATEL method to prioritize distribution centers in supply chain
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 279-288 Maghsud Amiri , Jamshid Salehi Sadaghiyani, Nafiseh Payani, and Mahdi Shafieezadeh ![]() |
Abstract:
During the past two decades, there have been significant numbers of studies focusing on supply chain management for evaluating important factors on the success of a supply chain program. In this paper, we present a method to prioritize the locations of distribution centers in a supply chain. The proposed model of this paper uses balanced scorecard (BSC) to categorize the most important attributes affecting the location of distribution centers and the attributes are ranked based on decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The implementation of the proposed model of this paper is also applied for a real-world case study of oil company and the results are analyzed under different scenarios.
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Applying Pareto multi-criteria decision making in concurrent engineering: A case study of polyethylene industry
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 289-294 Akbar A. Tabriz, Ahmad Ahmadi, Mohammad Hassan Maleki, Mohammad Ali Afshari and Javad S. Moradi ![]() |
Abstract:
Concurrent engineering (CE) is one of the widest known techniques for simultaneous planning of product and process design. In concurrent engineering, design processes are often complicated with multiple conflicting criteria and discrete sets of feasible alternatives. Thus multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques are integrated into CE to perform concurrent design. This paper proposes a design framework governed by MCDM technique, which are in conflict in the sense of competing for common resources to achieve variously different performance objectives such as financial, functional, environmental, etc. The Pareto MCDM model is applied to polyethylene pipe concurrent design governed by four criteria to determine the best alternative design to Pareto-compromise design.
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An Appraisal of the practice of corporate diversification in selected Nigerian banks
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 295-306 Olu Ojo ![]() |
Abstract:
This research investigates the diversification-performance relationship in Nigerian banking industry. Empirical evidences emerging from previous studies from developed countries about the effect of diversification on performance in the banking industry have so far yielded mixed results. There is a major gap in the relevant literature on developing countries which this research filled by studying Nigerian banks and providing empirical evidence on diversification-performance relationship. Survey research design was adopted with the application of probability sampling technique in selecting our case study companies and respondents. Primary data were collected through questionnaire while secondary data were garnered from the annual report and accounts of the banks under study. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics while correlation and ANOVA were used to test our hypotheses. It was discovered that diversification impacts corporate performance of these banks positively and recommends that these banks should engage in geographical diversification in addition to other forms of diversification they are currently involved in for maximum performance.
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An empirical study to measure the relative efficiency and productivity of different units of an Iranian bank using DEA and Malmquist index
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 307-314 Mohammad Hemati and Amir Mehdiabadi ![]() |
Abstract:
In this paper, we propose a method to measure the relative efficiency of different units of a publicly traded bank using data envelopment analysis. The study also measures the productivity of different banks using Malmquist index and the results are compared with relative efficiency of banks. The proposed model uses nine financial factors reported by the bank officials for both studies where five items are used for efficiency measurement and the other four items are used for productivity measurement. The results indicate that different banks perform inefficient in terms of efficiency but they have attempted to increase their productivity. We also analyze the results and give guidelines on how inefficient units could increase their efficiency by reducing their inputs or increasing their outputs.
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Strategic orientations and technology policy: An empirical test of relationship in developing countries
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 315-322 Abiodun Abolaji Joachim, Osibanjo Adewale Omotayo, and Oyeniyi Joseph Omotayo ![]() |
Abstract:
There is a growing awareness of the pivotal role of technology in securing and maximizing competitive positions. This study based on primary data from two banks in Nigeria examines the relationship between technology policy and strategy dimensions. Differentiation and futurity strategy dimensions were found to be marginally dominant in the managerial practices of these firms. In addition, the study found new evidence of relationship between the strategy dimensions; and the pattern of relationship between technology policy and strategic orientations indicate the use technology to foster defensive behaviours rather than securing competitive edge. Futurity orientation was also found not to be significantly related with most of the technology policy dimensions investigated. These results are expected to provide management and management theorists with valuable practical insight into the relationship between pattern of strategic orientation and technology policy.
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A new fuzzy MCDA framework for make-or-buy decisions: A case study of aerospace industry
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 323-330 Mohsen Cheshmberah, Ahmad Makui, Seyed Mohammad Seyedhoseini, and Ali Najmi ![]() |
Abstract:
One of the primary managerial decisions for manufacturing units is to find out which activity must be outsourced. A good outsourcing decision is normally involved with different criteria such as opportunity costs, cost saving, etc. In this paper, we present a multi criteria decision-making method to find a suitable solution for outsourcing activities called preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE). The proposed model of this paper uses fuzzy numbers to determine the relative importance of different criteria and it is implemented for a real-world case study of aerospace industry.
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Ergo-effects of designed school furniture and sitting positions on students behaviour and Musculo-Skeletal Disorder in Nigerian tertiary institutions
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 331-334 A. I Musa, S. O. Ismaila, S. B. Adejuyigbe and O.D. Akinyemi ![]() |
Abstract:
Improper design of school furniture is one of the contributing factors to back pain among students as indicated in some studies. In the case of designing school furniture where sitting constitutes a considerable time in the school, seat becomes important for comfort. This study is carried out in three selected institutions in Nigeria to determine level of musculoskeletal disorder in students’ and the furniture that they use. 720 questionnaires with 240 students (120 boys and 120 girls) drawn from each participating institutions were administered and 675 responses were received. The results show that the number of students having MSD, accounted for 93.75%. However, the distributions of pain in the body parts in each school were different. The musculoskeletal pain, mostly concentrated on neck, right shoulders right elbow right wrist right hand, upper back and lower back. The result also reveals that most of the students are sitting on chairs with seat that are too high and too deep or too shallow and of tables that are too high. However, it is recommended that further study on effect of designed school furniture and sitting position in larger sample of students’ representative in Nigeria tertiary institutions should be carried out in order to reduce the effect of body pains.
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How physical and non-physical working environment affects creativity: An empirical study
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 335-340 Abbas Sheykhan and Abbas Saghaee ![]() |
Abstract:
Creativity is one of the most important factors to increase the productivity of any organization. There are literally different factors influencing creativity such as physical and non-physical components of a system. There are different studies to confirm that both physical and non-physical issues could impact the efficiency, significantly. The study of this paper considers eleven physical and ten non-physical activities in working environment of six organizations with various business activities of educational, manufacturing and service business. The study summarizes the most and the least important physical and non-physical factors based on some statistical tests.
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Location-Allocation model for food industrial using fuzzy criteria: A case study of dairy industry
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 341-346 Zahra Esfandiyari and Soheil Sadi-Nezhad ![]() |
Abstract:
A good facility layout plays an important role on increasing the profitability of a production unit. A good location needs to meet different criteria such as the distance between the plants and the places to reach raw materials, customers, etc. In this paper, we proposed a multi criteria decision making problem to locate a suitable dairy plant. We assume that all factors influencing the plant involves uncertainty and proposed fuzzy numbers to handle the uncertainty associated with all input parameters. We apply the method for a real-world case study of dairy production unit and analyze the results of our proposed model.
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A new method for critical path method with fuzzy processing time
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 347- 354 N. Shahsavari Pour, M. Kheranmand, M. Fallah and S. Zeynali ![]() |
Abstract:
Critical path method plays an important role on managing medium to large-scale problems. It is often difficult to determine the critical path for different reasons such as the existing uncertainties in processing tasks. One alternative to handle the uncertainty associated with the processing time is to use fuzzy techniques. We present a new method to calculate the critical path method when the processing times follow trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. The proposed model of this paper does not use any defuzzification technique to find the final processing time. The implementation of the proposed model is compared with other techniques using a well-known example from the literature.
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An Intelligent technical analysis using neural network
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 355-362 Reza Raei, Shapour Mohammadi and Mohammad Mehdi Tajik ![]() |
Abstract:
Technical analysis has been one of the most popular methods for stock market predictions for the past few decades. There have been enormous technical analysis methods to study the behavior of stock market for different kinds of trading markets such as currency, commodity or stock. In this paper, we propose two different methods based on volume adjusted moving average and ease of movement for stock trading. These methods are used with and without generalized regression neural network methods and the results are compared with each other. The preliminary results on historical stock price of 20 firms indicate that there is no meaningful difference between various proposed models of this paper.
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A multiple criteria facility layout problem using data envelopment analysis
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 363-370 Najmeh Bozorgi and Mostafa Abedzadeh ![]() |
Abstract:
In this paper, we propose a multi criteria decision making technique to determine an efficient solution for quadratic assignment problem. The proposed method of this paper considers transportation cost, adjacency and separation as the most important criteria to find the efficient layout. A tabu search is used to generate a set of feasible solutions and for each solution, we evaluate various criteria. The proposed model of the paper uses DEA technique to choose the most efficient units among the feasible solutions. The implementation of the proposed method is demonstrated using some benchmark problems and the results are discussed in details.
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A multi objective geometric programming approach for electronic product pricing problem
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 371- 378 Mohsen Fathollah Bayati and Ahmad Makui ![]() |
Abstract:
Nowadays electronic commerce plays an important role in many business activities, operations, and transaction processing. The recent advances on e-businesses have created tremendous opportunities to increase profitability. This paper presents a multi-objective marketing planning model which simultaneously determines efficient marketing expenditure, service cost and product's selling price in two competitive markets. To solve the proposed model, we discuss a multi-objective geometric programming (GP) approach based on compromise programming method. Since our proposed model is a signomial GP and global optimality is not guaranteed for the problem, we transform the model to posynomial form. Finally, the solution procedure is illustrated via a numerical example and a sensitivity analysis is presented.
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Selection of productivity improvement techniques via mathematical modeling
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 379-388 Mahassan M. Khater and Noha A. Mostafa ![]() |
Abstract:
This paper presents a new mathematical model to select an optimal combination of productivity improvement techniques. The proposed model of this paper considers four-stage cycle productivity and the productivity is assumed to be a linear function of fifty four improvement techniques. The proposed model of this paper is implemented for a real-world case study of manufacturing plant. The resulted problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming which can be solved for optimality using traditional methods. The preliminary results of the implementation of the proposed model of this paper indicate that the productivity can be improved through a change on equipments and it can be easily applied for both manufacturing and service industries.
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A robust DEA model for measuring the relative efficiency of Iranian high schools
, Volume 1, Issue, 3, pp. 389-404 Mohsen Gharakhani, , Irandokht Kazemi and Hosseinali Alizadeh Haji ![]() |
Abstract:
One of the most important issues on educational systems is to measure the relative efficiency of similar units based on non-financial factors. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has become popular among many who wish to rank educational systems using different factors such as the rate of educational success or the number of employees, etc. However, one of the main concerns on implementing DEA methods is the uncertainty involved in input/output parameters. In this paper, a robust data envelopment analysis (RDEA) is developed to measure the efficiency of high schools considering uncertainty on output parameters. We present an empirical study on a set of high schools located in Tehran, which is the capital city of Iran. The study uses uncertain data for input/output information and the results are compared with an existing parametric stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). The preliminary results indicate that the robust DEA approach is relatively a reliable method for efficiency estimating.
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