Investigating the Customer Satisfaction Measurement (CSM) plays an important role in determining the range of customer needs and expectations resulting from delivered products or received services. In this research, a novel approach is proposed for measuring the customer’s satisfaction measurement. Due to ambiguity and lack of information related to evaluation criteria, in the proposed model, the customer feedbacks are considered as linguistic terms and due to the dominance of non –linear relations on behaviors and judgments of human, the result is obtained using a Fuzzy Neural Network. In continuation, roles of the fuzzy inference system for customer’s satisfaction are defined and determined for different conditions of customer’s judgments. Applicability of the proposed model has been successfully implemented through a case study for investigating the customer’s satisfaction on the basis of both qualitative and quantitative inputs.

The quantum-chemical modeling mechanism of the [4+2]-cycloaddition reaction of 2,3 dimethylbuta-1,3-diene and methyl acrylate was conducted. Its qualitative aspects were analyzed at the molecular level by the program MOPAC2012 and semiempirical method RM1. The potential energy surfaces of 2,3 dimethylbuta-1,3-diene and methyl acrylate [4+2] cycloaddition possible reaction pathways were constructed by restricted and unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation. It has been established that the molecule of the final product methyl-3,4-dimethylcyclohex-3-encarboxylate has the half-chair shape, wherein the carboalkoxyl group is in the exo-orientation. Interaction between molecules of 2,3 dimethylbuta-1,3-diene and methyl acrylate occurs by a two-step mechanism more likely than one-step, since the activation parameters of this interaction maximum coincide with the experimental data.

Modeling the simple assembly line balancing (SALB) problem has covered a wide range of real-world applications. The recent advances in optimization problems have created the opportunities to tackle more challenging problems. This paper presents a multi-objective decision making problem to consider two objectives, cost and cycle time, for simple assembly line balancing. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear optimization and the proposed study of this paper uses two metaheuristics to solve the resulted problem on some benchmark problems. The preliminary results have indicated that multi objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) has provided better quality solutions while the hybrid method based on MOPSO and simulated annealing has yielded more non-dominated Pareto solutions.

In this paper, modified hydrothermal method for Ti-MWW catalyst preparation has been shown. Instrumental analysis of the zeolite material Ti-MWW has been performed by means of UV-vis spectrometry, infrared spectrometry (IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray microanalysis. Moreover, the results of the epoxidation of diallyl ether (DAE) over the titanium silicate catalyst Ti-MWW and in the presence of methanol have been presented. t-Butyl hydroperoxide have been applied for the first time as an oxidant for this process. The influence of temperature (20-130°C), DAE/TBHP molar ratio (1:1-3:1), methanol concentration (10-80 wt%), amount of catalyst (1-7 wt%) and reaction time (60-1440 min.) was studied. The main functions describing the process were determined on the basis of the results obtained from the gas chromatography method.

In today’s era of higher competition in the business, there are many conditions such as offered concession in bulk purchasing, seasonality, higher ordering cost, etc., which force a retailer to purchase more quantities than needed or exceed the storage capacity. So in this situation the retailer has to purchase an extra warehouse named as rented warehouse to stock the extra quantity. In this paper an inventory model for deteriorating products with selling price dependent rate is developed. The occurring shortages are assumed to be partially backlogged and cycle time is also variable. The purpose of the development of this model is to compute the amount and time of order which can optimize the total average cost of the system. A solution procedure and numerical example are presented to illustrate the implementation of the proposed study. Sensitivity analysis concerning with distinct system parameters is also presented to demonstrate the model.

DFT calculations indicate that the decomposition reaction of nitroethyl benzoates in the presence of 1,3-dimethylimidazolium cation takes place much faster than in the case of the non-catalyzed process. Additionally, our calculations suggest one-step polar mechanism of title reactions.

In this investigation, neodymium orthoferrite (NdFeO3) nanoparticles has been synthesized through ultrasonic method in the presence of octanoic acid as surfactant. This method comparing to the other methods is very fast and it does not need high temperatures during the reaction. The spherical NdFeO3 nanoparticles with an average particles size of about 40 nm can be obtained at a relatively high calcination temperature of 800 °C for 4 h. Also, product obtained by this method are uniform in both morphology and particles size. The phase composition, morphology, lattice parameters and size of particles in these product are characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). The XRD analysis reveals only the pattern corresponding to perovskite type NdFeO3 which crystallizes in the orthorhombic structure. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis confirms the elemental compositions of the synthesized material.

Knowledge management strategies are considered as the foundation of learning organizations. One of the problems of Iranian organizations is the assessment of knowledge management processes. The purpose of the present study is to present an applied organized model for the assessment of knowledge management performance in six dimensions, i.e., the financial dimension, stakeholders, local processes, growth and learning, employee satisfaction, and environment and community; identifying and investigating the correlation among the criteria; mapping network relations; weighing the indices using DEMATEL Technique; ranking assessment dimensions of knowledge management using ORESTE Technique; drawing strategic map; and designing Balanced Scorecard for improved performance of knowledge management. The population and sample of the study included 25 petrochemical Tehran managers and senior experts in information technology section. The results of this study provides a comprehensive view for the decision makers of Iran Petrochemical Industries for an improved performance in knowledge management.

Benzyl -L-rhamnopyranoside, prepared by both conventional and microwave assisted glycosidation techniques, was converted into benzyl 2,3-O-isopropylidene-α-L-rhamnopyranoside which after lauroylation followed by removal of isopropylidene group gave the benzyl 4-O-lauroyl-α-L-rhamnopyranoside in good yield. Several derivatives of benzyl 4-O-lauroyl-α-L-rhamnopyranoside were prepared and assessed in vitro for their antimicrobial activity against ten human pathogenic bacteria and seven fungi. The structure activity relationship (SAR) study revealed that incorporation of 4-O-lauroyl group in rhamnopyranoside frame work along with 2,3-di-O-acyl group increased the antifungal potentiality of the rhamnopyranosides.

Maintenance Qualitn Function Deployment (MQFD) is a methodology for improving the quality and effectiveness of maintenance services in a manufacturing organization. One major part of it is House of Quality (HoQ). HoQ translates the experts’ voice into technical requirements for the improvement of maintenance quality. These data are generally vague in nature. Fuzzy numbers are generally used to represent vague data in HoQ. Since some parameters are predefined in fuzzy approach, the experts’ opinion may not be truly reflected in the HoQ analysis. In this work, a rough set - fuzzy approach, is proposed for MQFD to overcome this drawback.The objective of this model is to prioritize the technical requirements effectively with the proper reflection of customers/experts’ perceptions in the output. An illustrative example is presented to explain this approach.