Sharif Digital Repository

Researchers are faced with huge challenges when undertaking BME research projects in developing countries. Various administrative, technical, economic and even cultural barriers have to be overcome whereas the quality and quantity of the output has to be comparable with the developed world in order to make results publishable. This paper uses a real project context to highlight the major problems and the necessity of a holistic approach which would take into consideration all stakeholders interests. It is only by tackling problems such as relationship between academia-industry and administration efficiency at their root that significant progress can be achieved  

Purpose: Healthcare failure mode and effect analysis (HFMEA) identifies potential risks and defines preventive actions to reduce the effects of risks. In addition, a discrete event simulation (DES) could evaluate the effects of every improvement scenario. Consequently, a proposed integrated HFMEA-DES model is presented for quality improvement in a general hospital. Design/methodology/approach: In the proposed model, HFMEA is implemented first. As any risk in the hospital is important and that there are many departments and different related risks, all defined risk factors are evaluated using the risk priority number (RPN) for which related corrective actions are defined based on experts'... 

In this research, theory of fuzzy sets is used to deal with the uncertain nature of soil parameters and the inaccuracy involved in the analysis simultaneously. Soil parameters are defined using suitable fuzzy sets and the uncertainty inherent in the value of factor of safety is assessed. It is believed that this approach accounts for the uncertainty in soil parameters more realistically compared to the conventional probabilistic approaches reported in the literature. The proposed method is applied to a case study and the results are discussed subsequently  

Purpose: Healthcare failure mode and effect analysis (HFMEA) identifies potential risks and defines preventive actions to reduce the effects of risks. In addition, a discrete event simulation (DES) could evaluate the effects of every improvement scenario. Consequently, a proposed integrated HFMEA-DES model is presented for quality improvement in a general hospital. Design/methodology/approach: In the proposed model, HFMEA is implemented first. As any risk in the hospital is important and that there are many departments and different related risks, all defined risk factors are evaluated using the risk priority number (RPN) for which related corrective actions are defined based on experts'... 

This research aims at determining the main criteria of the green supply chain management (GSCM) and providing a framework to assess and compare the greenness of dairy industries. There has been a research gap in evaluating the greenness of this industry in Iran to be bridged. In the first phase, through studying literature and acquiring academics and experts’ opinions, the framework is classified into 8 criteria and 32 sub-criteria as enablers and relevant to the GSCM, considered as base subjects in preparing questionnaires. The second phase uses experts' opinions and through the Fuzzy Delphi method, 26 sub-criteria are screened, confirmed, and employed. Also, the cause-and-effect criteria... 

Background: New technologies using hazardous materials usually have certain risks. It is more serious when the technology is supposed to be applied in a large scale and become widely used by many people. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the risk of vapor cloud explosion in a hydrogen production process. Methods: Potential hazards were identified using the conventional hazard identification method (HAZID). The frequency of the proposed scenarios was estimated from statistical data and existing records. The PHAST professional software was applied for consequence modeling. Both individual and societal risks were evaluated. This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2010 to... 

Management Technologies Strategy formulation (MTS formulation) in holding companies is carried out with the aim of achieving competitive advantages in the market and fulfilment of strategic goals of the corporation. This paper presents a modified technology strategy formulation model for MTS in holding companies. Prior to present an integrated model of MTS formulation, a number of technology strategy formulation models are analysed and their suitability for the headquarter of a holding company is discussed. Through a case study research method, the paper documents how MTS formulation was implemented in an Iranian conglomerate tasked with managing diversified subsidiaries. We concluded that... 

We propose the structured naive Bayes (SNB) classifier, which augments the ubiquitous naive Bayes classifier with structured features. SNB classifiers facilitate the use of complex features, such as combinatorial objects (e.g., graphs, paths and orders) in a general but systematic way. Underlying the SNB classifier is the recently proposed Probabilistic Sentential Decision Diagram (PSDD), which is a tractable representation of probability distributions over structured spaces. We illustrate the utility and generality of the SNB classifier via case studies. First, we show how we can distinguish players of simple games in terms of play style and skill level based purely on observing the games... 

One of the pillars of any machine learning model is its concepts. Using software engineering, we can engineer these concepts and then develop and expand them. In this article, we present a SELM framework for Software Engineering of machine Learning Models. We then evaluate this framework through a case study. Using the SELM framework, we can improve a machine learning process efficiency and provide more accuracy in learning with less processing hardware resources and a smaller training dataset. This issue highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to machine learning. Therefore, in this article, we have provided interdisciplinary teams' proposals for machine learning. © 2021... 

In this study, optical technology is considered as SA issues’ solution with the potential ability to increase the speed, overcome memory-limitation, reduce power consumption, and increase output accuracy. So we examine the effect of bio-data encoding and the creation of input images on the pattern-recognition error-rate at the output of optical Vander-lugt correlator. Moreover, we present a genetic algorithm-based coding approach, named as GAC, to minimize output noises of cross-correlating data. As a case study, we adopt the proposed coding approach within a correlation-based optical architecture for counting k-mers in a DNA string. As verified by the simulations on Salmonella whole-genome,... 

Scrum is currently the most widely used agile methodology. However, it is regarded as a framework rather than a concrete process. Unfortunately, the resources available on Scrum do not explicitly define its variable parts and do not offer proper guidance on how to resolve those variabilities. Process (re)configuration is thus left to Scrum Retrospective sessions; this can delay the vital decisions that can significantly improve the process before problems arise. This paper aims to address the problems associated with configuring/reconfiguring Scrum by identifying all the variabilities (variation points) in the Scrum framework, along with the situations where a variation point can be resolved... 

In this study, optical technology is considered as SA issues’ solution with the potential ability to increase the speed, overcome memory-limitation, reduce power consumption, and increase output accuracy. So we examine the effect of bio-data encoding and the creation of input images on the pattern-recognition error-rate at the output of optical Vander-lugt correlator. Moreover, we present a genetic algorithm-based coding approach, named as GAC, to minimize output noises of cross-correlating data. As a case study, we adopt the proposed coding approach within a correlation-based optical architecture for counting k-mers in a DNA string. As verified by the simulations on Salmonella whole-genome,...