Determination of the most suitable Technology Transfer Strategy for Wind Turbines using an Integrated AHP-TOPSIS Decision Model

The high-speed development of industrial products and goods in the world has caused “technology” to be considered as a crucial competitive advantage for most large organizations. In recent years, developing countries have considerably tended to promote their technological and innovative capabilities through importing high-tech equipment owned and operated by developed countries. There are currently a variety of solutions to transfer a particular technology from a developed country. The selection of the most profitable technology transfer strategy is a very complex decision-making problem for technology importers as it involves different technical, environmental, social, and economic aspects. In this study, a hybrid multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) model based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) is proposed to evaluate and prioritise various technology transfer strategies for wind turbine systems. For this purpose, a number of criteria and sub-criteria are defined from the viewpoint of wind energy investors, wind turbine manufacturers, and wind farm operators. The relative importance of criteria and sub-criteria with respect to the ultimate goal are computed using the eigenvalue method and then, the technology transfer alternatives are ranked based on their relative closeness to the ideal solution. The model is finally applied to determine the most suitable wind turbine technology transfer strategy among four options of reverse engineering, technology skills training, turn-key contracts, and technology licensing for the renewable energy sector of Iran, and the results are compared with those obtained by classical decision-making models

A Fuzzy-FMEA Risk Assessment Approach for Offshore Wind Turbines

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) has been extensively used by wind turbine assembly manufacturers for risk and reliability analysis. However, several limitations are associated with its implementation in offshore wind farms: (i) the failure data gathered from SCADA system is often missing or unreliable, and hence, the assessment information of the three risk factors (i.e., severity, occurrence, and fault detection) are mainly based on experts’ knowledge; (ii) it is rather difficult for experts to precisely evaluate the risk factors; (iii) the relative importance among the risk factors is not taken into consideration, and hence, the results may not necessarily represent the true risk priorities; and etc. To overcome these drawbacks and improve the effectiveness of the traditional FMEA, we develop a fuzzy-FMEA approach for risk and failure mode analysis in offshore wind turbine systems. The information obtained from the experts is expressed using fuzzy linguistics terms, and a grey theory analysis is proposed to incorporate the relative importance of the risk factors into the determination of risk priority of failure modes. The proposed approach is applied to an offshore wind turbine system with sixteen mechanical, electrical and auxiliary assemblies, and the results are compared with the traditional FMEA

Study of the effects of corporate governance systems on the internationalisation of Iranian companies

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Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in an Adult Urban Population of the West of Iran

Objectives. We determine the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in an urban population of Zanjan, a province located to the west of Tehran. Methods. Randomly selected adults >20 years were studied using stratified sampling. Target study sample was 2941 (1396 males and 1545 females). Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed using Adult Treatment Panel-III (ATP-III) guidelines when any three of the following were present: central obesity, raised triglycerides ≥150 mg/dl, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, blood pressure ≥ 130/ ≥ 85 mm Hg, and diabetes or fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≥ 100 mg/dl. Results. Metabolic syndrome was present in 697 (23.7%) subjects (CI 95%:22%–25%, P = .001), prevalence was 23.1% in men and 24.4% in women (P : .4). The prevalence increased from 7.5% in the population younger than 30 y to 45.6% in ages more than 50 years. Low HDL was the most common metabolic abnormality in both sexes. Most of those with metabolic syndrome had three components of the syndrome (75.6%), 170 subjects (24.4%) had four and none had five components simultaneously. The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2), hypercholesterolemia (≥200 mg/dl) and high LDL cholesterol (≥130 mg/dl) was greater in the metabolic syndrome group than normal subjects (P = .00). Conclusions. There is a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in this urban population of the northern west of Iran. Focus of cardiovascular prevention should be undertaken in this area

The anticancer agent prodigiosin is not a multidrug resistance protein substrate

The brilliant red pigments prodiginines are natural secondary metabolites that are produced by select species of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. These molecules have received significant attention due to their reported antibacterial, antifungal, immunosuppressive, and anticancer activities. In this study, a Serratia marcescens SER1 strain was isolated and verified using 16s rDNA. The prodigiosin was purified using silica chromatography and was analyzed by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The cell cytotoxic effects of

Dialysis adequacy of chronic hemodialysis patients in Zanjan-Iran, 2016

Background: Dialysis adequacy is one of the most important factors in determining the survival rate and mortality of dialysis patients. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the dialysis adequacy of patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis at dialysis centers located in the province of Zanjan, located in northwest Iran. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 257 patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis with an available sampling method in 6 dialysis centers in the province of Zanjan. The hemodialysis sessions were performed for 3 to 4 hours using via synthetic filters and bicarbonate dialysate. To determine the adequacy of dialysis, serum BUN levels were assessed before and after dialysis. The standard software provided by the Ministry of Health was used to calculate the adequacy of dialysis and Kt/V was considered to be at least 1.2. Results: The most common underlying causes of chronic dialysis were hypertension (41.2%) and diabetes mellitus (35.8%), respectively. Mean Kt/V and URR were 1.26±0.34 and 63.55±9.5%, respectively. The difference among these indexes was significant between men and women (p<0.05). Also, dialysis adequacy was significantly associated with increased dialysis frequency, blood flow rate, interdialytic weight gain, vascular access and dialysis shift (p<0.05). Conclusion: Despite the relatively favorable dialysis adequacy among patients, this index is highly variable based on patient gender, the dialysis center, location, frequency of dialysis, blood flow rate, interdialytic weight gain, type of vascular access and dialysis shift. Therefore, serious attention and greater caution are recommended among the dialysis centers of the province

The effect of solution-focused counseling on violence rate and quality of life of pregnant women at risk of domestic violence: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Domestic violence during pregnancy as one of the most common social problems and major challenges of health systems can affect the health of the mother and fetus. The study aimed to compare the two groups of intervention based on solution-focused counseling and control in terms of violence and quality of life amounts in women who had experienced domestic violence. Methods: A randomized controlled trial on 90 pregnant women was blocked into two intervention groups (n = 45) and a control (n = 45). The intervention group received six counseling sessions with a solution-focused approach. Study tool included conflict tactics scale (CTS- 2) and short form health survey (SF-36). The tools were completed once before the intervention and again 6 weeks after the end of the counseling sessions by the participants of both groups. The P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 82/90 pregnant women were analyzed. The results showed that median and interquartile range (IQR) of physical, psychological and sexual violence significantly decreased in the intervention group than the control group (Ps = 0.001). Moreover, quality of life scores significantly improved in the intervention group compared to the control group (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Solution-focused counseling could be an effective approach to reduce the amount of violence and increase the quality of life in women exposed to domestic violence. Trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT2017040628352N4. Date of registration: August 20th 2017. © 2021, The Author(s)