درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Cell Formation Problem (CFP) is a famous issues in group technology, where an analyst aims at forming groups of machines/parts (so-called cells), in such a way that machines in every cell process as much as possible parts from this cell and as less as possible parts from other cells. In this article, a Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA) is designed to solve the CFP. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, 35 sample classical problems are examined. The experimental results indicate desirable performance of the proposed algorithm. In addition, applicability of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by a real-world case in project human resource management. Since the megaprojects in oil industry require a wide range of jobs, thus grouping of individuals with considering their skills is an important challenge. The paper defines the job grouping problem as a CFP, and solve a real-world problem using the proposed HSA.

Investment fund managers have been trying to provide more attractiveness for investors by earning higher yields and generating liquidity. The investment rate of return of a mutual fund is obtained from the difference between the issuance and redemption of Net Asset Values (NAVs) per investment unit. However, the Exchange Traded Funds'(ETFs') yield should be calculated differently, and investors must consider the changes in market prices (Not only the NAVs), which are not usually announced through the Ads, so they disregard the investors. Investment fund managers believe that the attractiveness of the rate of return, even to a small extent, leads to over-welcoming of the investors and a faster growth of the funds' size. According to the information available in recent years, investors have shown more interest in fixed-income investment funds, and the growth of ETFs has been significant compared to the growth of total funds, so it can be assumed that investors are more interested in ETFs. Thus, in this research, we will identify factors affecting the development of ETFs, especially fixed-income ones. To fulfill our purpose, we examined all active fixed-income investment funds that are traded in the Tehran Stock Exchange and the Iran Farabourse from March 2021 to September 2023, including 25 ETFs. We analyzed our panel data through ordinary least squares. Analyzing the effective rate of returns of 25 Fixed Income ETFs, which have been active from March 2021 to September 2023, our results showed that ETFs development is significantly related to the fund size, daily price volatility, and liquidity. Despite our expectations, rate of return, fund age, and price adjustment do not have a significant effect on the development of investment funds. The result showed that a higher rate of return did not have a significant effect on the attractiveness and acceptance of investors, but the liquidity of investment units positively affects the development of fixed-income ETFs. We also found that the daily volatility of the final price inversely impacted the fund's size. This is consistent with investors' low risk-taking spirit in fixed-income funds and emphasizes their preference to avoid liquidity risk and price volatility risk.