Sharif Digital Repository

In this research, Repetitive Group Sampling (RGS) plans are developed for the Weibull and generalized exponential distributions. To design the proposed plans, the median of a life-time is first used as the quality parameter. Then, a decision-making framework is developed, based on first and second type errors. Next, based on acceptable and limiting quality level criteria, tables are obtained to select the parameters of the proposed decision-making framework. The advantages of the proposed method over single sampling plans are discussed at the end  

This paper presents an application of the analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process methods for selecting the best wastewater treatment process. The analytical hierarchy process is one of the best ways for deciding among the complex criteria structure in different levels, and the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is a synthetic extension of the classical method when the fuzziness of the decision makers are considered. After reviewing aerobic treatment processes operated in Iran's industrial estates and determining the main criteria used for treatment process evaluation, they are arranged in a hierarchy structure. Selection of the best wastewater treatment process... 

Bi-objective optimization of a multi-product multi-period three-echelon supply chain network consisting of manufacturing plants, distribution centers (DCs) each with uncertain services, and customer nodes is aimed in this paper. The two objectives are minimization of the total cost while maximizing the average number of products dispatched to customers. The decision variables are: (1) the number and the locations of reliable DCs in the network, (2) the optimum number of items produced by plants, (3) the optimum quantity of transported products, (4) the optimum inventory of products at DCs and plants, and (5) the optimum shortage quantity of the customer nodes. The problem is first formulated... 

Cosine similarity and Probabilistic Linear Discriminant Analysis (PLDA) in i-vector space are two state-of-the-art scoring methods in speaker verification field. While PLDA usually gives better accuracy, Cosine Similarity Scoring (CSS) remains a widely used method due to simplicity and acceptable performance. In this domain, several channel compensation and score normalization methods have been proposed to improve the performance. We investigate non-speaker information in cosine similarity metric and propose a new approach to remove it from the decision making process. I-vectors hold a large amount of non-speaker information such as channel effects, language, and phonetic content. This type... 

Time varying prices by motivating customers to reduce their consumption in peak periods propel the electricity industry towards a higher efficiency compared to that of common flat prices. Focusing on time-of-use (TOU) sale prices, this paper establishes a stochastic model for the medium-term decision making problem faced by a distribution company (DisCo). The developed model deals with the DisCo's decisions on the level of involvement in forward contracts and in the pool as well as the sale prices offered to customers. The demand response to TOU prices is captured using a price elasticity matrix (PEM). The objective is to maximize the DisCo's profit while the exposure risk imposed by... 

In market-based planning studies, the financial aspects of transmission grids have been posed as a major challenge since these are important keys to provide a non-discriminative and competitive environment for energy market participants. In this respect, this paper proposes a probabilistic multi-objective transmission expansion planning algorithm considering private investors' preferences, technical concerns, and random nature of power system uncertainties. The combination of Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II, as a widely-used robust multi-objective optimization technique, and point estimation method is employed to handle non-commensurable probabilistic objective functions. The IEEE... 

Business intelligence (BI) is a managerial concept helping managers and organizations to manage information and make factual decisions. Some have introduced Business Intelligence as a process of turning data into information and then into knowledge. This concept has become a popular trend for businesses interested in adding value to their decision making processes. Measurement of maturity in implementing Business Intelligence process in organizations is considered a critical issue. Business intelligence like software development is a process, which expressed in terms of components such as artifacts and workflows. Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) is developed to define different... 

Localization of sensor nodes has become a fundamental requirement for many applications over Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In this paper, we propose a range-free approach based on the Received Signal Strength (RSS) changes. A discrete and probabilistic localization method is offered to localize a moving beacon relative to sensor nodes. In this method we came to a more reliable and accurate result without increasing the number of sectors. We achieved a considerable improvement in localization reliability by defining the primary and secondary sectors and utilizing a Kalman approach for making decisions. The decision making process is based on the allocated probabilities given to each of... 

In today's competitive world, having an effective business intelligent (BI) system for monitoring and evaluation of industrial and product oriented organizations is vital. A perfect BI must help managers not only to speed up his decision making process; but also to increase quality of their decision. But how? One of the main specifications of an effective BI system is providing managers by correct format of information and at the correct time. Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are a kind of significant factors that must be considered in attaining an organization's goal; and key performance indicators (KPIs) are a type of quantitative and measurable CSF; and one character of an effective BI is... 

Supplier selection is a decision-making process to identify and evaluate suppliers for making contracts. Here, we use interval type-2 fuzzy values to show the decision makers' preferences and also introduce a new formula to compute the distance between two interval type-2 fuzzy sets. The performance of the proposed distance formula in comparison with the normalized Hamming, normalized Hamming based on the Hausdorff metric, normalized Euclidean and the signed distances is evaluated. The results show that the signed distance has the same trend as our method, but the other three methods are not appropriate for interval type-2 fuzzy sets. Using this approach, we propose a hierarchical... 

This paper studies a simultaneous weekly assignment and scheduling decisionmaking problem in operating theaters with elective patients. Because of limited recourses in hospitals, considering assignment and scheduling decisions simultaneously can help mangers exploit the available resources more efficiently and make the work-load uniformly distributed during the planning horizon. This procedure can significantly reduce hospital costs and increase satisfaction of patients and personnel. This paper formulates the mentioned problem as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) considering applicable assumptions like finite recovery beds and limitation of equipment. Since the problem is NP-hard, in... 

Next generation wireless networks will consist of different types of radio access technologies. Emerging diverse applications have attracted a lot of users. Therefore, having the best connectivity anytime anywhere has become an important issue. Users would like to have continuous high quality network connection even when they handover from one network type to the other. Each access technology has its own features and service quality. In this regard, when there is a handover, it is important to choose the most suitable network based on user needs. Different algorithms have been proposed for network selection. Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) methods are widely used due to their... 

Subcontractor (SC) selection is a critical part of SC management, and a major challenge is the existence of multiple criteria that the project management team needs to evaluate in the selection process. To overcome this challenge, the Kano model is applied to classify the selection criteria into five categories including must-be, reverse, one-dimensional, attractive, and indifferent. Data were obtained via a questionnaire based on Kano model concepts to categorize the identified selection criteria. The obtained results show that the selection criteria can be categorized into three categories; must-be, one-dimensional, and attractive. According to this categorization, the weight of criteria... 

In process robustness studies, it is desirable to minimize the influence of noise factors on the system and simultaneously determine the levels of controllable factors optimizing the overall response or outcome. In the cases when a random effects model is applicable and a fixed effects model is assumed instead, an increase in the variance of the coefficient vector should be expected. In this paper, the impacts of this assumption on the results of the experiment in the context of robust parameter design are investigated. Furthermore, two criteria are considered to determine the optimum settings for the control factors. In order to better understand the proposed method and to evaluate its... 

The environmental targets set by power sectors throughout the world are the main drivers toward increasing the share of variable renewable energy sources (VRESs). Growth of VRESs will lead to a higher demand for operational flexibility due to their stochastic nature. Traditionally, conventional generation units provide the major share of additional required flexibility that may result in a higher depreciation. Motivated by this challenge, this paper investigates the potential of Demand Response (DR) as an emerging alternative in systems with significant amounts of wind power. To this end, a comprehensive set of DR programs including tariff-based, incentive-based and combinational DR programs... 

The desired milling process with high material removal rate (MRR) and low surface roughness of the product can be achieved only if machining chatter is absent. Incorporating chatter into the optimal selection of the machining parameters leads to a complex problem. Therefore, the approach of selecting conservative intervals for the machining parameters is usually employed instead. In this paper, a practical approach is proposed to specify the optimal machining parameters (depth of cut and spindle speed) in order to maximize MRR and minimize forced vibrations by considering machining chatter. Firstly, the worst-case scenario-based optimization problem in terms of the surface quality is solved... 

Blood availability in hospitals is of high humanitarian importance, thus blood shortage is not desired at all. High wastage rate of blood in hospitals is an important issue, which becomes more important as the standards of health care services becomes higher. In order to address blood shortage and wastage issues in a hospital, this paper develops a new inventory management model as a decision making tool to help making tactical and operational level decisions for a Hospital Blood Bank (HBB) inventory management. These decisions include issuance and ordering policy and the aim of the model is to reduce blood wastage and shortage. For this purpose, a multi period, multi-product inventory... 

With the rapid proliferation of residential rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems, current and voltage unbalance issues have become a matter of great concern in low voltage (LV) distribution feeders. To overcome the issues, this study proposes a model to optimally rephase customers and PVs among the three phases via static transfer switches (STSs). The optimal STS placement is also considered in the model to achieve a cost effective solution with optimum number and location of STSs. The objective is to minimise total energy losses caused by current unbalance, minimise the number of STSs, and keep voltage unbalance along the feeder within the acceptable range. The model is solved via a... 

Geothermal energy is a type of renewable energy with high availability and independence from climatic and atmospheric conditions. It has been shown that geothermal energy is technically, economically and environmentally more suitable for hydrogen production than other renewable sources. Hydrogen has wide applications in many fields including cooling, oil, gas, petrochemical, nuclear, and energy industries. Afghanistan has significant potential in geothermal power generation and also several hydrogen-consuming industries that provide opportunities for geothermal-based hydrogen production. This study attempted to find suitable locations for the construction of geothermal power plant for... 

The objective of this paper is to apply computational fluid dynamic (CFD) as a complementary tool for clinical tests to not only predict the present and future status of left coronary artery stenosis but also to evaluate some clinical hypotheses. In order to assess the present status of the coronary artery stenosis severity, and thereby selecting the most appropriate type of treatment for each patient, fractional flow reserve (FFR), instantaneous wave free-ratio (iFR), and coronary flow reserve (CFR) are calculated. To examine FFR, iFR, and CFR results, the effect of geometric features of stenoses, including diameter reduction (%), lesion length (LL), and minimum lumen diameter (MLD), is...