Sharif Digital Repository

Background: Basic epidemiological data can provide estimates when discussing disease burden and in the planning and provision of healthcare strategies. There is little quantitative information in the literature regarding prevalence of traumatic injuries from developing countries. Objectives: The aim of the current preliminary study was to reveal the prevalence and age and gender distribution of various traumatic injuries in a tertiary referral orthopedic hospital in Iran. Patients and Methods: In a prospective descriptive study, all traumatic injured patients attending the Orthopedic Trauma Unit of our center in a five year period were included. Demographic details, the cause of injury,... 

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  

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  

Efficacious transportation, as prerequisites of sustainable development of rural areas, should receive pertinent attention. This needs more attention in developing countries as nearly half of population in these countries reside in rural areas. However, still little is known about the activity and travel characteristics of rural residents. This study focuses on activity-location (Ac-Lo) patterns of rural residents in Iran. An interview of place-based questionnaire was designed and data about activity-travel characteristics of rural residents was collected. In total, 663 respondents were used for analyzing out-of-home Ac-Lo patterns. Based on a descriptive analysis of Ac-Lo characteristics of... 

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the barriers that constrain the venture capital (VC) financing in Iran based on the institutional theory. Design/methodology/approach: To answer the question, “How institutional barriers constrain the VC financing in Iran?”, 31 detailed interviews were conducted, and the interviewed data were analysed by using the grounded theory method. Findings: There exist several institutional barriers (formal and informal) in different stages of the VC investment process in Iran. Major formal institutional deficiencies include lack of appropriate financial regulations, inefficacy in tax, labour, property rights, financial disclosure, bankruptcy, investor’s protection... 

Carbon accounting is necessary for designing effective climate change mitigation policies. A proper and fair accounting method should motivate both the producers toward cleaner production methods and the consumers toward reducing the embodied emissions of their consumption. This research work proposes a new approach to map the production chain of carbon emissions in which every subsystem is responsible for the level and efficiency of its production activities and embodied emissions for providing its economic activities or final demands. The exergy cost formation concept is used to track the emissions in the production chain. The results of this accounting present the total carbon loads on... 

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results... 

In many developing countries, restructuring is usually started by dividing vertically integrated power systems into regional companies. Analysis of the procedure of restructuring requires appropriate analytical tools for modeling interactive behavior of the regional companies in a competitive energy market. The problem of generation expansion planning in the competitive environment becomes more complex where the new generation units are constructed on the basis of decentralized decisions. Recent studies of long term expansion planning show that market equilibrium modeling is an effective technique to analyze the long-term optimum development of the generation systems. In the present paper, a... 

In the 21st century, the world population is growing at a spiraling pace. Much of this growth is occurring in developing countries, where access to food, sanitary water, education, and health is severely limited. The ever-increasing urbanization highlighted the need for sustainable development based on human-environment interaction. The excessive and unplanned expansion of cities has resulted in numerous environmental predicaments due to clearly emphasized economic issues at the expense of social and environmental concerns. The most significant features of megacities are indicated in this paper and the environmental, social, physical, and economic criteria are addressed in order to attain... 

Marine industries have always been provided power and development for countries both militarily and economically. Due to the lack of essential economic, industrial, and technological infrastructure in developing countries, the development of marine industries has been facing serious obstacles. As a developing country, Iran has been tackling similar barriers. This paper aims at developing a conceptual model, to examine this complex problem, using a systems approach by which subsystems and casual loop diagrams have been created. Afterward, DEMATEL technique has been used, revealing the most effective variables. The research can remarkably help practitioners in appropriate recognition and... 

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)—giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life—is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are required for planning policy and interventions. Here we present a geospatial analysis of EBF prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2018 across 94 LMICs mapped to policy-relevant administrative units (for example, districts), quantify subnational inequalities and their changes over time, and estimate probabilities of meeting the World Health... 

Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) have been installed all around the world to harvest shallow geothermal energy for heating and cooling building envelopes. However, the high initial cost of these systems (e.g., drilling and installation costs) limits the popularity and total usage of GSHPs around the world. To reduce the initial cost of these systems, geothermal heat exchangers are combined with structural components of the building, such as deep foundations, or energy walls. Energy piles or thermo-active foundations that serve dual purposes have been widely utilized in the last two decades in many developed countries. However, in most of the developing countries like Iran, there are several... 

Making efficient use of transportation infrastructure has always been a concern. Traveler information provisions (TIPs) assist commuters in making better travel decisions and therefore lead to increased mobility and more efficient travel. The ongoing economic crisis and shrinking public funding have made the public-private partnership (PPP) an attractive instrument for promoting TIP. Such initiatives have been much discussed in developed countries. The use of PPP to fund public projects in developing countries, however, is in its infancy, and the related issues do not receive adequate attention in the literature. In this study, PPP opportunities in TIP were assessed in the case of a city in... 

This paper examines the strategies of a local supplier of high technology capital goods (or complex product systems, CoPS) in a middle-income developing economy, Iran, in its efforts to acquire technology and catch up with market leaders. The study draws upon both the development and business strategy literatures to develop a novel conceptual framework of latecomer strategy which is then applied to the Iranian firm engaged in the design, production and implementation of electricity generation systems. Although exploratory, the study shows that the firm was able to exploit its linkages with local clients, favorable government policies and a growing domestic demand to overcome barriers to... 

The debate over innovativeness of large firms and SMEs, which was bolded by Schumpeter, still continues under mixed empirical evidences. There are several implications for this debate including policy orientation in support of large firms or SMEs. But there is a scarce of studies in developing countries and no such study in Iran yet. The present study has explored the proportionality of increase of innovation activity versus firm size within 522 Iranian knowledge-based firms categorized in 9 industries. Innovation activity was measured by R&D expenditure while firm size stood for number of employees. Using log-log regression in the first phase, it was found that R&D expenditure confirms a... 

We have constructed a collaboration network for physicists based in Iran working in different disciplines. By discussing properties like collaborators per author, shortest path, betweenness, and the concept of power in networks for this local model, and comparing with the global model, we understand how a developing country in the Middle East is contributing to the scientific growth in the world statistically. In this comparison, we found some properties of the local model which were not in accordance with the standard global society of science, which should be considered in developing the future policies. Our results show significant differences in factors like the degree and the diameter... 

This paper presents an ITS pilot project in a developing country, Iran, as a way to foster to the development of ITS national strategic plan. The pilot project concerns a high trafficked road corridor, linking the capital Tehran to the largest city in the suburb: Karaj, This corridor was selected among others, by the end of 2002 as a good candidate, due in particular to the variety of problems encountered [1] In order to launch the pilot project a co-operation was set up in 2004 between ISIS, Groupe EGIS, France and Metra Consulting Engineers Co, Iran and several ITS experts were sent to Iran for two missions in June and July 2004. The mission consisted of detailed on-site visits, interviews...