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Senior managers are the customers of organizational performance measurement methods to help them make better decisions at the firm level. One of the most applicable methods is Network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Network DEA models consider systems that have a network structure in which system inputs, after passing several intermediate interactions, are transformed into intermediate productions and finally leave the system as output products. However, many realworld cases do not necessarily conform to this network structure, which is related to the system outputs during multiple time periods or the same "dynamic" impacts. These structures cannot handle dynamic impacts. Therefore, this paper presents a novel structure that can consider the dynamic impacts and influences of sub-units on each other at various time periods. Besides, two models based on slack variables are proposed which can consider dynamic effects and calculate the efficiency of such networks. Using these models, the overall efficiency of networks is calculated for the whole time period. Finally, these models are applied to two examples, and the results obtained are compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most valid definitions for the concept of "survival" is the possibility of paying salaries and wages to the startup's employees and owners for at least 42 months. Given that the highest failure rate of businesses is in the early years paying attention to the factors affecting new firms' performance processes will reduce their failure rate, leading to success, growth and sustainability. This article, reviews and analyzes all the articles in the Scopus database that are related to the survival of firms in terms of their number over time, the most common keywords, authors, journals, and countries publishing these articles, bibliometric method, and VOSviewer software are used. In the following, the factors that have been emphasized and repeated in the literature have been identified with a systematic literature review and meta-synthesis method. In the bibliometric section, 1959 articles have been analyzed and in the meta-synthesis review section, 85 articles have deeply been studied. Based on the findings of the research, 32 main factors affect the survival of businesses, which are categorized into five general categories including individual, organizational, supporters, financial, and environmental factors, and presented in a conceptual framework model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer. The manufacturer produces a product with a national brand (NB) and the retailer selling both the NB product and his own premium store brand (PSB) product. The manufacturer competes with the retailer through improving the quality by using innovation over time. It is assumed that both advertising and enhanced quality play positive roles in customers' loyalty over time for the NB product. We propose four scenarios, including: (1) Decentralized (D), (2) Centralized (C), (3) Coordination with a revenue-sharing contract (RSH), and (4) Coordination with a two-part tariff contract (TPT). A Stackelberg differential game model is developed, and parametric analyses and managerial insights are provided based on a numerical example. Our results show that: (1) Introducing a PSB product alongside selling the NB product is profitable for the retailer, (2) In Scenario D and RSH, the manufacturer tries to increase the quality gap with the PSB product through innovation, (3) Customers' loyalty leads to higher prices, levels of innovation, quality, and advertising for the NB product, (4) The TPT contract can lead to perfect coordination and yield higher profits for the manufacturer and the retailer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research considers advertising and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a supply chain. The supply chain composed of a retailer and a manufacturer is considered. It is assumed that the manufacturer chooses one of two strategies: the manufacturer is only concerned with its profit, and the manufacturer is concerned with society's satisfaction level in addition to its profit. Accordingly, in the second strategy, the manufacturer has a utility consisting of profit and consumer satisfaction. Concerning the manufacturer over consumers, satisfaction is assumed as the CSR concern. Therefore, in this study, a measure for determining the satisfaction level in society is developed for the first time. Moreover, we assume that the manufacturer could have environmental transparency in advertising when facing its customers. Hence, it is considered that the demand function is sensitive to advertising transparency. The effect of advertising transparency on the demand function is also considered in this paper. In addition, we assume that the supply chain members are rivals and tend to determine their equilibrium decision variables to earn the maximum profit or utility. At last, based upon the equilibrium values of variables, some analysis and managerial insights are proposed. For instance, when the manufacturer is concerned with CSR, the equilibrium advertising, demand, and the profit of the retailer are higher and the wholesale and retail prices are lower than when he is not concerned about CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to detect the most profitable, i.e. optimal turning points (TPs), from the history of time series using a binary integer programming (BIP) model. TPs prediction problem is one of the most popular yet challenging topics in financial planning. Predicting profitable TPs results in earning profit by offering the opportunity to buy at low and selling at high. TPs detected from the history of time series will be used as the prediction model's input. According to the literature, the predicted TPs' profitability depends on the detected TPs' profitability. Therefore, research for improving the profitability of detection methods has been never given up. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, none of the existing methods can detect the optimal TPs. Design/methodology/approach: The objective function of our model maximizes the profit of adopting all the trading strategies. The decision variables represent whether or not to detect the breakpoints as TPs. The assumptions of the model are as follows. Short-selling is possible. The time value for the money is not considered. Detection of consecutive buying (selling) TPs is not possible. Findings: Empirical results with 20 data sets from Shanghai Stock Exchange indicate that the model detects the optimal TPs. Originality/value: The proposed model, in contrast to the other methods, can detect the optimal TPs. Additionally, the proposed model, in contrast to the other methods, requires transaction cost as its only input parameter. This advantage reduces the process' calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Alustath is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: COVID-19 has affected most business activities, including technology-based business. The higher the business vulnerability rating, the greater the impacts. After identifying three dimensions of vulnerability (exposure, business sensitivity and response capacity), this study aims to determine the potential components and indicators of the vulnerability of technology-based businesses. Design/methodology/approach: Using the indicator approach, a comprehensive vulnerability model was developed for assessing the vulnerability of the technology-based business against COVID-19. Findings: In this study, COVID-19, as a biological threat and an exogenous shock, was considered the exposure dimension. Business characteristics, job characteristics, business owner-manager demographics, product and supplier characteristics were identified as the sensitivity dimension, while resources, human capital, technological capitals, social capitals, institutional capitals, infrastructures, management capacity and supply chain capabilities were defined as the adaptive business capability or response capacity. To determine vulnerability and response capacity against exogenous shocks and a pandemic crisis, the framework can act as a useful checklist for managers and owners of technology-based businesses. Originality/value: Research on the COVID-19, especially in the technology-based business, is still at the emergent stage. This study is a pioneering effort to review the literature on business vulnerability and provide a framework to reduce business vulnerability using the indicator-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to investigate the optimal fractional order PID controller performance in the chaotic system of HIV disease fractional order using the Particle Swarm optimization and Genetic algorithm method. Differential equations were used to represent the chaotic behavior associated with HIV. The optimal fractional order of the PID controller was constructed, and its performance in the chaotic system with HIV fractional order was tested. Optimization methods were used to get PID control coefficients from particle swarm and genetic algorithms. Findings revealed that the equations for the HIV disease model are such that the system's behavior is greatly inuenced by the number of viruses produced by infected cells, such that if the number of viruses generated by infected cells exceeds 202, the disease's behavior is such that the virus and disease spread. For varying concentrations of viruses, the controller created for this disease does not transmit the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the importance of small and medium-sized industrial units for economic growth, social cohesion, regional and local development, this study presents a model for the merger so that they can make use of each other's capacities and facilities to achieve higher efficiency levels. The involved criteria have been chosen using the SCOR model with the consideration of sustainability, resilience and agility criteria in each part of the supply chain network. PCA has been used to reduce the dimensionality and the efficiency of units has been determined by network DEA. Next, a mathematical model has been used to determine the best combination for merger. The model chosen for the finalization of the merger process is inverse network DEA, which tries to determine the final inputs of the merged units for a specific target. In addition to theoretical benefits, the results have practical applications. The results can give supply chain partners a common language for better communication and help them settle on standardized definitions. The model has been implemented using real-world data gathered from other articles, which pertain to 26 stone industries of Iran. The DEA model and the mathematical model have been solved through GAMS and the PCA approach through MATLAB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural and man-made disasters have increased the attention of practitioners and researchers to vulnerability. Identifying business vulnerability is one of the basic elements of strategic analysis and public policy. The purpose of this paper is to explore evolutionary pathways to reduce the vulnerability of technology-based businesses. The intellectual structure of this subject was examined using both bibliometric co-occurrence and co-citation analyses. We focused on 629 articles published between 1981 and 2021. This article identifies four specific areas, namely business performance, small business vulnerability, sources of sustainability in business, and adaptation policy assessment. A novel framework was developed based on the most prominent papers identified in co-citation as well as the highly cited papers. The proposed model includes drivers, vulnerability appearance, and vulnerability reduction. This study examines the basis of research concepts, themes, and communities in reducing the vulnerability of technology-based businesses. This article identifies business vulnerability as one of the relevant areas to disaster economics and sustainability studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, option pricing is given via stochastic analysis and invariant subspace method. Finally numerical solutions is driven and shown via diagram. The considered model is one of the most well known non-linear time series model in which the switching mechanism is controlled by an unobservable state variable that follows a first-order Markov chain. Some analytical solutions for option pricing are given under our considered model. Then numerical solutions are presented via finite difference method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Decisions & Operations Research is the property of Ayandegan Institute of Higher Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper develops a new mathematical model to study a location-routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery under the risk of disruption. A remarkable number of previous studies have assumed that network components (e.g., routes, production factories, depots, etc.) are always available and can permanently serve the customers. This assumption is no longer valid when the network faces disruptions such as flood, earthquake, tsunami, terrorist attacks and workers strike. In case of any disruption in the network, tremendous cost is imposed on the stockholders. Incorporating disruption in the design phase of the network will alleviate the impact of these disasters and let the network resist disruption. In this study, a mixed integer programming (MIP) model is proposed that formulates a reliable capacitated location-routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery (RCLRP-SPD) services in supply chain distribution network. The objective function attempts to minimize the sum of location cost of depots, routing cost of vehicles and cost of unfulfilled demand of customers. Since the model is NP-Hard, three meta-heuristics are tailored for large-sized instances and the results show the outperformance of hybrid algorithms comparing to classic genetic algorithm. Finally, the obtained results are discussed and the paper is concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the relationship between open innovation (OI), organisational ambidexterity (OA), and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Since OA is central to the short and long-term survival of the firm, there is an enormous interest in investigating organisational mechanisms for achieving higher levels of OA. Prior studies have mostly concentrated on 'internal' mechanisms, and less attention has been given to how open innovation practices can promote OA. Our observation of 214 Iran knowledge-intensive firms indicates that OI, entailing inbound and outbound open innovation activities, significantly enhances OA. Yet, contrary to our expectation, EO negatively moderates the relationship between OI and OA in the developing context of Iran. This provides compelling insights into how an open innovation approach can compensate the necessity of risky and proactive entrepreneurial activities in the less developed institutional contexts where institutional voids enhance the costs and risks of entrepreneurial initiatives. The discussion finally suggests the theoretical and managerial implications of the study and future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a type of time-fractional Fokker-Planck equation (FPE) of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process is solved via Riemann-Liouville and Caputo derivatives. An analytical method based on symmetry operators is used for finding reduced form and exact solutions of the equation. A numerical simulation based on the Muntz-Legendre polynomials is applied in order to find some approximated solutions of the equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology-based firms need to survive via technological changes. Technological entrepreneurship is concentrated on identifying and exploiting the tech-opportunities for creating product innovation. This paper introduces a fuzzy-based tool to promote innovation throughout firms in order to enhance technological entrepreneurship capabilities (TEC). The effort involves identifying components of TEC to develop the inference system, specifying the fuzzy relationship among these components, assessing the TEC in firms, and designing a TEC roadmap after a fuzzy-based gap analysis. Designed roadmaps introduce technological change priorities as a growth path to firms to move up along the ladder of competitiveness. Based on the results, a method for categorizing firms into four distinct levels that involve passive, reactive, proactive and innovative is introduced. Hence, firms have an action plan to enhance TEC from passive to innovative level in a time-based transition pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented speed of science and technology and the relative economic need of different societies for technological entrepreneurship are undeniable and this need is specially felt in less developed countries. Nevertheless, technological entrepreneurship development in different areas has always been faced with different obstacles and problems and its most important application, that is modernization of emerging economies, is challenging. It is logical that removing these barriers requires precise and careful identification. Hence, in this study, a qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews were used to analyze technological entrepreneurship barriers in Sarbaz area of Sistan and Baluchestan province. The present study was a case study and its statistical community included experts working in organizations related to entrepreneurship and, of course, technological entrepreneurship and other economic activities in different areas of Sistan and Baluchestan province. They have been active or are still working in the area in question. After collecting the data using semi-structured interviews, the collected data were analyzed. Finally, by analyzing the interviews and the data, the barriers and problems of developing the technological entrepreneurship in Sarbaz County were identified. These barriers included economic barriers (13 components), educational barriers (12 components), psychological barriers (8 components), infrastructure barriers (7 components), cultural barriers (9 components), political barriers (6 components), managerial barriers (6 components), technological barriers (7 components), human resources, and capital constraints (7 components). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the importance of technology entrepreneurs' competencies in the creation and development of technological businesses, a distinct stream of research has been dedicated to this subject. However, given the nature of suchlike studies, it is difficult to reach a common understanding of the competencies. In fact, there is a need to provide some systematization to achieve advancements in the field. A review of 87 articles indexed on Scopus about technology entrepreneurs indicates that competencies of technology entrepreneurs can be classified under three groups of technological competencies, entrepreneurial competencies, and managerial competencies. This classification is used for two purposes, namely to categorize the technology entrepreneurs based on their competencies and to recommend new venues of research to study technology entrepreneurs. This paper can help technology entrepreneurs develop their competencies. It will also be useful in identifying entrepreneurs, and in training and developing the competency of academic entrepreneurs, technology incubators, and accelerators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature reduction based on rough set theory is an effective feature selection method in pattern recognition applications. Finding aminimal subset of the original features is inherent in rough set approach to feature selection. As feature reduction is a Nondeterministic Polynomial-time-hard problem, it is necessary to develop fast optimal or nearoptimal feature selection algorithms. This article aims to propose an exact feature selection algorithm in rough set that is efficient in terms of computation time. The proposed algorithm begins the examination of a solution tree by a breadth-first strategy. The pruned nodes are held in a version of the trie data structure. Based on the monotonic property of dependency degree, all subsets of the pruned nodes cannot be optimal solutions. Thus, by detecting these subsets in trie, it is not necessary to calculate their dependency degree. The search on the tree continues until the optimal solution is found. This algorithm is improved by selecting an initial search level determined by the hillclimbing method instead of searching the tree from the level below the root. The length of the minimal reduct and the size of data set can influence which starting search level ismore efficient. The experimental results using some of the standard UCI data sets, demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is effective and efficient for data sets with more than 30 features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Nanomedicine is growing very fast. Transfer and commercialization of research results in Nanomedicine is a missing link between technology and market. This is affected by some factors which are barriers to commercialization. The aim of this study was to identify barriers to transfer and commercialize nanomedicine research results in Iran. Materials and Methods: The research method was qualitative method based on eight semi-structured in-depth interviews with nanomedicine and commercialization experts in year 2011 in Iran. Results: The proposed model of commercialization consisted of five distinct parts: transferor, transferee, transfer object, transfer mechanisms and environmental factors. In this study twenty six environmental factors in seven categories as Environmental Barriers to Transfer and Commercialization of Nanomedicine Research Results was identified. Conclusion: The most important barrier to nanomedicine commercialization in Iran are licensing system, lack of capital, and consumption culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic production quantity (EPQ) model is a well-known and commonly used inventory control technique. However, the model is built on an unrealistic assumption that all the produced items need to be of perfect quality. Having relaxed this assumption, some researchers have studied the effects of the imperfect products on the inventory control techniques. This article, thus, attempts to develop an EPQ model with continuous quality characteristic and rework. To this end, this study assumes that a produced item follows a general distribution pattern, with its quality being perfect, imperfect or defective. The analysis of the model developed indicates that there is an optimal lot size, which generates minimum total cost. Moreover, the results show that the optimal lot size of the model equals that of the classical EPQ model in case imperfect quality percentage is zero or even close to zero. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The symmetry analysis for Laplace equation on cylinder is considered. Symmetry algebra, the structure of the Lie algebra of the symmetries and some related topics such as invariant solutions, one-parameter subgroups, one dimensional optimal system and differential invariants are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]