Sharif Digital Repository

Governments in developing countries have invested in institutions of higher learning in order to develop homegrown, high technology products. Among these, the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), recognized as a Research University, is actively involved in projects related to medical technology through its various faculties. The net result of these activities is impressing from the point of view of patents and publications, but unfortunately not yet in terms of commercialization. This paper starts by presenting the main obstacles towards the objective of bringing a laboratory prototype to the market in the context of Malaysia. Then, a framework is presented... 

Global economic expansion and increasing concentration of people in the large cities, especially in developing countries leads to some environmental issues such as air pollution. Relocation of the firms as a great air pollutant can be an appropriate alternative for diminishing these pollutions. Yet, there is a lack of research about factors precluding firm relocation with respect to decision making factors when determining whether or not to relocate. Thus, the purpose of this case study is to examine firm relocation decision-making factors and to apprehend the role of environment issues in making them using a combination of SWOT matrix and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The combination... 

Distribution companies are pressurized into investing in many projects for ensuring customer satisfaction and increasing their profitability. There are a lot of feasible projects that may help companies to improve their services, but resources for accomplishing them are limited. Therefore, financial subjects are crucially important for related decision making and budget allocation is a bone of contention between different departments of companies. Project net present value (NPV), which depends on investment, expected annual profit, interest rate and inflation rate, is realistic criterion of project economic value. Interest rate and inflation rate are not predefined coefficients.... 

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 study seeks a method for formulating directional strategy of wind turbine industry in Iran. To this end, by initially evaluating various economic viewpoints concerning the development of industries, the necessity of government intervention is recognized. By defining the concepts of national industry policy, firm technology strategy, and national technology strategy, the role of directional industry strategy is then made clear. Furthermore, the six assumptions of emphasis on formulating strategy (rather than on formulating policy), emphasis on formulating directional strategy, model's prescriptivism, emphasis on formulating the strategy at the level of industry, Iran's being a developing... 

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  

In this paper, first we shall define a list of technology transfer barriers in the biotechnology field through interviews and literature reviews. Next, we shall categorize them into four major categories of technology, and at last introduce all of the hypotheses on the existence of relationship between each part of technology and failure in the technology transfer process. Questionnaires consisting of two parts were created and handed out to all of the specialists and biotechnology idea-holders in the Iranian National Research center of Biotechnology, Lidco Co, Iran Pastor Institute, Biotechnology Department of University of Tehran, etc. Going on, we've evaluated the factors' validity... 

Iran, as a developing country, will be confronted with a significant increase in electricity demand in future years. Being a petroleum producing country has resulted in extreme subsidies for energy production from fossilized resources such as oil and gas. This issue is one of the most important factors regarding underdevelopment of renewable energies in Iran. Expansive use of fossil resources in providing the necessary energy has resulted in Iran being among the 20 countries that have a share in the 75% spread of greenhouse gases. This issue has resulted in greater attention on behalf of the energy sectors policy makers regarding renewable energies, especially wind. Awareness regarding the... 

Using survey data, public awareness of and attitudes toward nanotechnology are examined in Iran (N ≥ 759). Iran is a developing country with a national nanotechnology action plan for a ten year period starting from 2003 and has been active in the field of research and development of nanotechnology meanwhile. First, the results show that majority of people are still not familiar with nanotechnology and perceived risks posed by this technology are not considered to be a lot and most people feel its benefits outweigh the risks. The emotions toward this technology are of a hopeful and positive nature and this technology is looked upon favorably in Iran. In particular, our results reveals that... 

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... 

Study Design.: A descriptive overview of the literature. Objective.: To present a comprehensive descriptive overview of the published papers about epidemiologic features, burden, and current management of low back pain (LBP) in Iran. Summary OF Background Data.: Little is known about the epidemiology, burden, and management of LBP in developing and low- to middle-income countries, such as Iran. Methods.: A literature search was carried out using MEDLINE database to assess existing literature about prevalence, disease burden, impact, and current management of nonspecific LBP in Iran. Results.: Twenty-six articles matched inclusion criteria and included in the study. The findings related 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... 

Experiment is a procedure for verifying or establishing the validity of a hypothesis and then measuring or evaluating its outcomes. Due to the inherent uncertainties or ambiguities of its outcomes, a further treatment is needed for producing identical results. Fuzzy map is an approach for removing the uncertainties of the outcomes. In this manuscript, the procedure employed for conducting research and development in the field of nontechnology, in a developing country, is considered and the factors governing its success and its failures are analyzed. To accomplish this task, a thorough literature review was performed and the related critical factors were identified. Then an extensive survey... 

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... 

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,... 

Based on general "System Theory", a system when it comes to its intended operational life; must exhibits three distinguished phases of (1) Pre-mission, (2) Mission, and (3) Post-mission. During Pre-mission one evaluates the system elements readiness to conduct the mission; their proper configurations in addition to their support roles to conduct their organizational role. During Post-mission, we check whether our evaluations were in fact, correct to the levels expected. Both pre and post mission phases are necessary for a successful mission. An education system; especially designed for space applications which aims to deliver the necessary workforce for the relevant industries and other... 

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...