Application and roles of management science tools and techniques to effective decision making in the academic settings

AbstractThe major purpose of the study was to discover to what extent selected educational systems were using specified management science tools and techniques in their decision making processes. The familiarity of the administrators and the employees with such techniques, and which of the models were used the most were also studied. Finally, the purpose of study was to discover economic and managerial benefits provided by using MS. methods. The results indicated that although academic administrators of Southern California universities used management science models and techniques, but the models were used less than industrial and business organizations

Multifocal Primary Non- Hodgkin’s Lymphoma of the Oral Cavity: Report of Three Cases and Review of the Literature

Objective: Oral non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is a relatively rare neoplasm that may develop in the soft tissues or jaw bones, with or without node or marrow involvement. Oral lymphomas  are often difficult to diagnose as there are no characteristic clinical features and usually appear as non- tender swellings.Case: We describe clinical, radiographic, histopathological and immunohistochemical findings of three cases of multifocal NHLs presenting in the oral cavity.Conclusion: If the oral lesion is multifocal, extra nodal lymphoma must be considered in the differential diagnosis

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Associated with a Dental Implant: a case report and literature review

Objectives: Prosthodontic rehabilitation using dental implants has become a common practice in dentistry at the present time. Although severe complications related to dental osseointegrated implants are uncommon, in recent years several cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma adjacent to dental implants have been published. Study Design: A 67-year-old edentulous woman developed an oral squamous cell carcinoma around right mandibular implant about 12 months after receiving dental implants. The treatments involve chemotherapy, explantation of the implants and radiotherapy. Result and Conclusions: The use of endosseous implants has been associated with a low risk for the development of cancer. However, this case report serves as evidence to the importance of careful screening at routine dental examinations especially if the patient suffers from peri-implantitis, any mucosal erosion or discoloration, leukoplakia around implant, pain, implant loosening, bone loss around implant, mucosal erythema, and soft tissue inflammation

A Simulated Annealing method to solve a generalized maximal covering location problem

The maximal covering location problem (MCLP) seeks to locate a predefined number of facilities in order to maximize the number of covered demand points. In a classical sense, MCLP has three main implicit assumptions: all or nothing coverage, individual coverage, and fixed coverage radius. By relaxing these assumptions, three classes of modelling formulations are extended: the gradual cover models, the cooperative cover models, and the variable radius models. In this paper, we develop a special form of MCLP which combines the characteristics of gradual cover models, cooperative cover models, and variable radius models. The proposed problem has many applications such as locating cell phone towers. The model is formulated as a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP). In addition, a simulated annealing algorithm is used to solve the resulted problem and the performance of the proposed method is evaluated with a set of randomly generated problems

LayeredCast -A Hybrid Peer-to-Peer Live Layered Video Streaming Protocol

Abstract-Peer-to-Peer overlay networks are an attractive foundation for video streaming. However, live Peer-to-Peer media streaming systems face many challenges such as bandwidth heterogeneity, node churn, and selfish nodes. Although many tree based and mesh based streaming protocols have been proposed, each has its own drawbacks such as unreliability and unfairness in tree based and long startup delay and complex scheduling in mesh based protocols. In this paper, we propose a new video streaming protocol called LayeredCast main features of which are: 1) Hybrid: Drawbacks of the simple approaches are compensated using a hybrid of mesh and tree overlays. 2) Layered Video: Provides an adaptive scheme to enhance the video quality using a layered video codec for heterogeneous clients. 3) QoS: LayeredCast scheduling aims at moving complexity of Multi-Service network core to the network clients application layer, thus providing better QoS over simple regular networks. LayeredCast's tree network pushes the base layer to all peers while the enhancement layers and missing base layer segments are pulled over a mesh network by peers with extra bandwidth using a new data-driven scheduling scheme. We have evaluated the performance of LayeredCast on an innovative simulation framework. Simulation results verify better performance of LayeredCast in term of decodable video frames over CoolStreaming, especially when network resources are limited

The effect of oil prices, oil demand, oil licensing round, oil product capacity, oil sector development, and inflation on the economic development of Iraq's economy

The oil-producing nations contribute significantly to the economic expansion of the oil exporting business. Political instability and infrastructure degradation have negatively impacted Iraq's economic growth. Less economic stability is a significant factor in Iraq's inflation rate. This study aims to determine the impact of oil prices, oil demand, licensing rounds, oil product capacity, oil sector development, and inflation on Iraq's economic development. This research uses secondary data from papers and surveys to determine its findings. The study indicated that oil prices, oil demand, the oil licensing round, oil product capacity, oil sector development, and inflation have an essential impact on Iraq's economic growth. This work is novel from a theoretical standpoint because previous research has ignored this gap in the literature. This study has produced empirical proof of economic growth in Iraq due to the oil industry and the issuance of oil licenses to various enterprises, which has significant consequences for practice.Mohammad Drai Ahmed (The University of Mashreq/ Baghdad/ Iraq), Maki Mahdi Abdulhasan (Al-Nisour University College/Baghdad/Iraq), Hassan Taher Braiber (Accounting Department, Al-Mustaqbal University College, Babylon, Iraq), Zainab Abed Almoussawi (College of Islamic Science /Ahl Al Bayt University /Kerbala / Iraq), Nidhal Raheem Mardood (Accounting and Economics/ Al-Esraa University College, Baghdad, Iraq), Hareth Shallan Moshref Alaamery (Al-Amarah University College/ Al-Amarah, Iraq)Includes bibliographical references

Optimization Modeling and Analysis of Customer-Centric Delivery Logistics

Distribution of products and services is an essential part of production and service systems. Customer-centric delivery systems that are considered in this research are a class of logistics systems that focuses on minimizing the delivery time by making decisions on questions such as vehicle routing, locations of distribution centers, and capacity planning. The minimum delivery time plays a crucial role in both disaster relief operations and commercial delivery systems. While disaster relief logistics seek to minimize loss and damage, commercial delivery systems aim at enhancing customer satisfaction and profit maximization. In this research, first a taxonomy of customer-centric routing problems is developed. Then, the first part of the research considers the customer-centric routing problems with large customer demands which result in split delivery among more than a vehicle. Assuming multiple commodities are distributed to customers, the goal is to find the optimal routes of the vehicles allowing the split delivery. This problem is mathematically formulated in two models and valid inequalities are provided to enhance the understandings of the problem and strengthen the computational performance of the mathematical models. The properties of the problem are used to develop an efficient algorithm which combines the concepts and operators of Simulated Annealing and Variable Neighborhood Search. The second part of the research studies the customer-centric routing problems in combination with location problem due to their interrelated nature. In this research, the goal is to decide distribution center locations and vehicle routes simultaneously to minimize delivery time. The problem is formulated and two efficient metaheuristic algorithms are designed to deal with large-scale problems: Memetic Algorithm (MA) and Recursive Granular Algorithm (RGA). In the third study, the goal is to study how we can benefit from the emerging “drone technology” in reducing delivery time. This research assumes a combined system of vehicles and drones in which a vehicle carries both supplies and drones and launches drones at some points in its route to deliver packages to recipients. The objective is to decide vehicle route, drone launching locations, and customers to serve by the vehicle and drones. The problem is then extended to the multi-trip case in which each drone can be relaunched to serve several customers at each stop. These problems are mathematically formulated and a bound analysis is conducted to investigate the maximum possible savings achievable by employing drones. The models are tested and analyzed in various hypothetical problems and in a case study developed upon Richmond, Virginia

NEED ASSESSMENT OF CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN THE CULTURE HOUSES (CULTURAL CENTERS) OF CITY

Abstract The present study aims to investigate needs of education of a culture of citizenship in Isfahan i

NEED ASSESSMENT OF CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN THE CULTURE HOUSES (CULTURAL CENTERS) OF CITY

Abstract The present study aims to investigate needs of education of a culture of citizenship in Isfahan i

Effects of botulinum toxin type A on healing of injured skeletal muscles

<b>Objectives:</b> (1) Evaluation of microscopic healing of skeletal muscle fibers after injuries, especially the arrangement of new muscle fibers and scar tissue diameter in the injury region. (2) Evaluation of alterations in microscopy of the healing procedure within skeletal muscles after injury following botulinum toxin type A (BTX -A) induced muscle immobilization. <b> Materials and Methods:</b> The study was done on 12 white lab rabbits of either sex in a 6-month period. <b> Results:</b> The immobilization of skeletal muscle fibers as a result of the use of BTX-A after injury caused a qualitative increase in fibrous tissue formation in the area of injury, and the BTX-A-induced immobilization for a period of 6 months led to muscle atrophy