A new methodology for deriving the efficient frontier of stocks portfolios: An advanced risk-return model

In this paper after a general literature review on the concept of Efficient Frontier (EF), an important inadequacy of the Variance based models for deriving EFs and the high necessity for applying another risk measure is exemplified. In this regard for this study the risk measure of Lower Partial Moment of the first order is decided to replace Variance. Because of the particular shape of the proposed risk measure, one part of the paper is devoted to development of a mechanism for deriving EF on the basis of new model. After that superiority of the new model to old one is shown and then the shape of new EFs under different situations is investigated. At last it is concluded that application of LPM of the first order in financial models in the phase of deriving EF is completely wise and justifiable

Limbic system associated membrane protein mutation in an iranian family diagnosed with ménière's disease

Background: Ménière's disease (MD) is a common inner ear disorder which is characterized by recurrent attacks of vertigo, fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), tinnitus, and a sense of fullness in the affected ear. MD is a complex disorder; although six genes have been linked to familial autosomal dominant form of the disease, in many cases, the exact genetic etiology remains elusive. Methods: To elucidate the genetic causes of MD in an Iranian family, we performed exome sequencing on all members of the family: consanguineous parents and four children (two affected and two unaffected). Variant filtering was completed using a customized workflow keeping variants based on segregation with MD in autosomal recessive (AR) inheritance pattern, minor allele frequency (MAF), and in-silico prediction of pathogenicity. Results: Analysis revealed that in this family, 970 variants co-segregated with MD in AR pattern, out of which eight variants (one intergenic, four intronic, and three exonic) were extremely rare. The exonic variants included a synonymous substitution in USP3 gene, an in-frame deletion in ZBED2 gene, and a rare, highly conserved deleterious missense alteration in LSAMP gene. Conclusion: The phenotype observed in the proband described here, i.e. vertigo, poor sense of smell, tinnitus, and borderline hearing ability, may originate from aberrant changes in the cerebellum and limbic system due to a deleterious mutation in the LSAMP gene; hence, LSAMP mutation is a possible candidate for the etiology of MD in this family. © 2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved

Exome sequencing utility in defining the genetic landscape of hearing loss and novel-gene discovery in Iran

Hearing loss (HL) is one of the most common sensory defects affecting more than 466 million individuals worldwide. It is clinically and genetically heterogeneous with over 120 genes causing non-syndromic HL identified to date. Here, we performed exome sequencing (ES) on a cohort of Iranian families with no disease-causing variants in known deafness-associated genes after screening with a targeted gene panel. We identified likely causal variants in 20 out of 71 families screened. Fifteen families segregated variants in known deafness-associated genes. Eight families segregated variants in novel candidate genes for HL: DBH, TOP3A, COX18, USP31, TCF19, SCP2, TENM1, and CARMIL1. In the three of these families, intrafamilial locus heterogeneity was observed with variants in both known and novel candidate genes. In aggregate, we were able to identify the underlying genetic cause of HL in nearly 30 of our study cohort using ES. This study corroborates the observation that high-throughput DNA sequencing in populations with high rates of consanguineous marriages represents a more appropriate strategy to elucidate the genetic etiology of heterogeneous conditions such as HL. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Lt

Development of a cell formation heuristic by considering realistic data using principal component analysis and Taguchi’s method

Over the last four decades of research, numerous cell formation algorithms have been developed and tested, still this research remains of interest to this day. Appropriate manufacturing cells formation is the first step in designing a cellular manufacturing system. In cellular manufacturing, consideration to manufacturing flexibility and productionrelated data is vital for cell formation. The consideration to this realistic data makes cell formation problemvery complex and tedious. It leads to the invention and implementation of highly advanced and complex cell formation methods. In this paper an effort has been made to develop a simple and easy to understand/implement manufacturing cell formation heuristic procedure with considerations to the number of production and manufacturing flexibility-related parameters. The heuristic minimizes inter-cellular movement cost/time. Further, the proposed heuristic is modified for the application of principal component analysis and Taguchi's method. Numerical example is explained to illustrate the approach. A refinement in the results is observed with adoption of principal component analysis and Taguchi's method

Study of Technical Performance of Diary Cattles Cooperative Companies in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province

Milk, among foods, has the best suitable ingredients and with this reason it is called whole food. Daily consumption of milk in a country is a symptom of hygiene and nutrition situation in that country. Needing for abundant production of products especially milk and limiting of production clarifies necessity of suitable usage of sources and increase efficiency. This study has done with the purpose of technical estimation of dairy farm cooperatives of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. Necessary statistics and information collected with help of questionnaire and interview with province cow owners and transcendental production diagrams has been chosen as selective diagram in analyzing the results. Because of the minimum numbers of the cooperative companies, all cooperatives have been interviewed. With regard to coefficient meaning in selective diagram we get this result that the units of bran and salt place in third manufacturing zone (area), that is these units are use abundantly in province. Complementary Concentra units and workforce place in first zone (area); that is the production will increase in case of increasing these units. The average of technical usage of dairy farms has been 94 percent (at last 84%, at most 99%) that by improving management, averagely, we can increase technical usage about of 6 percent. Also the gap between the best and the weakest production is about 15% that can be improved by applying management approaches. The effective factors on technical efficiency have been analyzed and the results show that the experience, education level, and allocated area for each cattle affect the technical efficiency while factors such as family size and age affect statistics

A D2D-Based Solution for MTC Connectivity Problem in NOMA-Based Cellular IoT Networks: Dynamic User Grouping and Resource Allocation

In a cellular network (CN), cellular users (CUs) located nearby machine type communications (MTC) devices (MTC-Ds) may act as uplink gateways to relay data to the base station (BS). We consider non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and successive interference cancellation (SIC) at the receiver to increase the number of connected devices and the spectrum efficiency. Both underlay and overlay spectrum access modes (SAMs) are considered. We introduce a dynamic user grouping (UG) concept as a practical constraint for SIC, in order to decrease the receiver complexity. Moreover, SIC constraints are introduced based on a minimum signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR) at the receiver. We formulate a joint dynamic UG, power allocation, and resource block (RB) assignment problem, aiming at maximizing the total sum-rate of both CUs and MTC-Ds. We transform the obtained non-convex mixed-integer programming problem into a convex problem by using a quadratic fractional programming (FP). A heuristic method is also proposed to reduce complexity. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed solution outperforms the conventional CN (C-CN) method and the results of the proposed optimization methods are close to optimal solution obtained by the exhaustive search (ES) algorithm in terms of total average sum-rate and network connectivity, while requiring less transmit power. The heuristic method decrease the computational complexity of the FP method at the expense of a small reduction in spectrum efficiency

Thermo–Kinetic diagrams : the Cu–H₂O–Acetate and the Cu-H₂O systems

The thermo-kinetic (TK) diagram for the Cu–H₂O system with and without acetate ions is developed and presented. The TK diagram, which is an Eₕ-pH-i contour map, can be used to evaluate the kinetics of the electrochemical processes occurring at the electrode/solution interface in the Eₕ–pH domain. Such a diagram can be used for corrosion engineering or for improved leaching performance in metal extraction and recycling processes. The TK-diagrams are developed based on experimental data collected under controlled conditions (298 ± 01 K, rotation at 500 rpm) and they do not require thermodynamic data or thermodynamic calculations. The electrochemical response of a pure Cu–Rotating Disk Electrode (Cu–RDE) was determined by linear sweep voltammetry scans and plotted as Eₕ vs. log i. The TK–diagram quantifies the rate of the faradaic process taking place on the Cu-RDE as a function of applied potential and solution pH. Based on the magnitude of current density, different regions in TK-diagrams can be differentiated similarly to those in the classic Eₕ-pH diagrams. TK-diagrams can be developed for other metals and minerals in aqueous media containing various ligands. The merits and disadvantages of using these diagrams are also discussed.Applied Science, Faculty ofMaterials Engineering, Department ofReviewedFacultyResearcherPostdoctora