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Facing budgetary challenges, successive Australian Governments have chosen to proportionally reduce public expenditure on universities relative to levels of activity in both teaching and research. The question asked in this paper is whether Australia’s universities increased their efficiency in a manner consistent with the demands of government to provide productivity “dividends” or efficiencies?

Using archival data for 37 Australian universities from 2007 to 2013, this paper examines changes in productivity of university groups and individual institutions using the data envelopment analysis technique.

Results show a statistically significant system-wide (or technological) productivity improvement of 15.2 per cent from 2007 to 2013, but there was little average individual institutional change in efficiency. Productivity improvements were clearly observable for the Group of 8 institutions with an improvement of 25.1 per cent.

Universities, like other public sector bodies, can both improve individually and as an overall system. The system has improved greatly in terms of productivity at higher levels than may be anticipated.

Using data contemporaneous with a period of great change in university funding and sector competition, this study reveals how some universities benefited, whereas others struggled to maintain their relative position.

This study aims to focus on the interpretation component of Peirce’s triadic model of sign to identify: the components affecting the interpretation of an object and the components affecting the meaning creation by people for use in ontologies. Ashura was selected because it is a historical event and a meaningful sign in Iranian religious culture.

This qualitative study was conducted in two steps. In the first step, the Instagram pages of five groups of people were chosen as the sample and examined using qualitative content analysis. In the second step, 18 creators of Ashura works were selected, their lived experience in creating these works was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and analysed through phenomenology method.

Based on the results, the concept is context-oriented; one cannot interpret the signs according to one’s personal preferences because the context, social rules and habits limit this interpretation. Accordingly, the use of reference systems and rules of logic, as well as artificial intelligence and computer science tools alone cannot help represent meaning in ontologies. Rather, individual characteristics, contexts, presuppositions and components existing in personal, social and technological worlds are effective on concept formation and meaning creation. Thus, these factors must be considered in ontology, especially for multi-faceted and context-oriented concepts, such as Ashura.

This research adopted a new approach and method to study ontology. This study focused on interpretation and adopted Peirce’s sign model for ontology design.

Hepatitis C is one of the major health issues in both developed and developing countries. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is more common in prisoners than in the general population. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of HCV and its associated risk factors in Iranian male prisoners in Tehran.

In this cross-sectional study, the authors investigated the frequency and risk factors of hepatitis C infection among male prisoners in the Great Tehran Prison. Information on risk factors including the length of imprisonment, previous history of imprisonment, history of drug injection, history of tattooing, history of piercing, history of high-risk sex and family history of hepatitis C were extracted from patients’ records. To evaluate HCV status, blood samples were collected and tested.

In this study, 179 participants were included. Nine participants (5.0%, 95% CI, 2.3-9.3) were positive for hepatitis C. HCV infection was not significantly associated with age, marital status, education, previous history of imprisonment, length of imprisonment, piercing and high-risk sex; however, there was a significant association between a history of tattooing and a history of injecting drug use and Hepatitis C.

The prevalence of hepatitis C among male prisoners in Great Tehran Prison was 5% in this study, similar to recent studies on prisoners in Tehran. A history of drug injections as well as tattooing were the most important risk factors for hepatitis C in male prisoners.

It has been suggested that there is a link between the dietary intake of certain nutrients and the risk of prostate cancer. The aim of this study is to examine the associations between dietary intakes of all nutrients and the risk of prostate cancer in Kermanshah.

This case-control study was conducted in Kermanshah, a province in the west of Iran in November of 2016. The sample consisted of 50 patients with confirmed prostate cancer, and 150 healthy men who matched in age with these cases and did not have any symptoms of prostate disorder were chosen as controls. Dietary intakes were collected by a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire that contained 147 food items and were then analyzed by Nutritionist 4 software.

After adjustment for potential confounding factor, highest tertile compared to lowest tertile of dietary vitamin E intake [odds ratio (OR) = 0.21; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.05-0.89], lycopene intake (OR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.01-0.86) and magnesium intake (OR = 0.02; 95% CI = 0.01-0.55) had a protective effect on the incidence of prostate cancer. However, there were no associations between dietary intakes of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B₁₂, folate and calcium with prostate cancer.

The finding suggests that the dietary intakes of vitamin E, lycopene and magnesium could decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Nevertheless, dietary intake of other nutrients such as fiber, calcium, vitamins D, A, B₁₂ and folate was not associated with prostate cancer.

This paper aims to investigate atoms type and channel roughness effects on fluid behavior in nanochannel.

The results of mechanical properties of these structures are reported in this work by using molecular dynamics method.

The results show that nanochannel roughness is a limiting factor in flowing fluid in nanochannel. Moreover, fluids with less atomic weight have more free movement in ideal and non-ideal nanochannels.

For the study of mechanical properties of fluid/nanochannel system, the authors calculated parameters such as potential energy, density, temperature and velocity profiles of simulated fluids.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can be transferred from one person to another through sexual contact. STIs lead to substantial morbidity and mortality and affect many different aspects of human life, including quality of life, sexual health, reproductive health and even the health of newborns and children. Despite of high rates of STIs in prisons, there are not sufficient screening, prevention and treatment programs to control STIs transmission among prisoners in Iran. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of STIs among incarcerated women in Iran for the first time, using the active case finding strategy.

This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 438 incarcerated women in a prison in Tehran, Iran, from 2017 to 2018. A total of 438 prisoners were screened by active case findings for STI symptoms, then evaluated by complete genital and anal examination, followed by molecular testing.

A total of 189 (43.2%) prisoners announced vaginal discharge, while 194 (44.3%) individuals had vaginal discharge in the genital examination. In the cervical examination, 137 individuals (31.3%) had abnormal findings, of which 83 (18.9%) individuals had cervicitis, 40 (9.1%) individuals had cervical erosion, 38 (8.7%) individuals had cervical prolapse and 17 (3.9%) individuals had bleeding originated from the cervix.

This study showed that it is possible to set up a system in which the diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of prisoners with STIs can be actively performed. Educating prisoners about signs and symptoms, risk behaviors and prevention routes of STIs, as much as regular screening of prisoners, and adequate treatment can help control the STIs prevalence among prisoners and in the general population.

Iran has been ranked by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as one of the foremost countries in the world for money laundering. However, Iranian banks claim that they comply with international standards for reporting suspicious activity, risk management and training. This paper aims to investigate this dichotomy between perception and reality.

A Wolfsberg-style questionnaire was sent to partners in Iranian accounting firms, which have audited domestic banks over the past five years to investigate the adequacy of risk management systems.

Most Iranian banks have anti-money laundering (AML) systems, which compare favourably with those of international counterparties. Banks take a risk-based approach to potential criminal behaviour. The negative perception of Iranian banks is principally attributable to the government’s unwillingness to accede to “touchstone” international conventions. In spite of having in place AML laws, which are comparable in intent with those of the UK and the United States of America (USA), weak enforcement remains a significant impediment of which the political establishment is aware.

Measures required to bring Iranian banks into compliance with international standards may be less extensive than perceptions suggest. However, failure of the government to accede to conventions stipulated by the FATF means that banks may remain ostracised by foreign counterparties for the foreseeable future.

This study provides a unique insight into the extent of AML compliance in Iranian banks as verified by external auditors.

The purpose of this research is to study the Multi-Skill Resource-Constrained Multi-Project Scheduling Problem (MSRCMPSP), where (1) durations of activities depend on the familiarity levels of assigned workers, (2) more efficient workers demand higher per-day salaries, (3) projects have different due dates and (4) the budget of each period varies over time. The proposed model is bi-objective, and its objectives are minimization of completion times and costs of all projects, simultaneously.

This paper proposes a two-phase approach based on the Statistical Process Control (SPC) to solve this problem. This approach aims to develop a control chart so as to monitor the performance of an optimizer during the optimization process. In the first phase, a multi-objective statistical model has been used to obtain control limits of this chart. To solve this model, a Multi-Objective Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (MOGRASP) has been hired. In the second phase, the MSRCMPSP is solved via a New Version of the Multi-Objective Variable Neighborhood Search Algorithm (NV-MOVNS). In each iteration, the developed control chart monitors the performance of the NV-MOVNS to obtain proper solutions. When the control chart warns about an out-of control state, a new procedure based on the Conway’s Game of Life, which is a cellular automaton, is used to bring the algorithm back to the in-control state.

The proposed two-phase approach has been used in solving several standard test problems available in the literature. The results are compared with the outputs of some other methods to assess the efficiency of this approach. Comparisons imply the high efficiency of the proposed approach in solving test problems with different sizes.

The proposed model and approach have been used to schedule multiple projects of a construction company in Iran. The outputs show that both the model and the NV-MOVNS can be used in real-world multi-project scheduling problems.

Due to the numerous numbers of studies reviewed in this research, the authors discovered that there are few researches on the multi-skill resource-constrained multi-project scheduling problem (MSRCMPSP) with the aforementioned characteristics. Moreover, none of the previous researches proposed an SPC-based solution approach for meta-heuristics in order to solve the MSRCMPSP.

The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), brand image (BI) and brand equity (BE) in the banking industry of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Using the deductive approach as the methodology and 213 valid questionnaires returned by customers of Iranian banks in four big cities of Iran, this study tests the relationship between CSR, BI and BE in eight hypotheses. The data were analyzed by the partial least squares method.

The results of this research show that CSR has a significant direct effect on BI. Also, BI has a significant direct effect on BE.

This research provides valuable insight for studying the relationship between CSR, BI and BE. The results of this study provide a better understanding of the role of CSR in customers’ attitudes and behaviors in the banking industry.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the case of Kish, which is a small island off the coast of Iran, using the creative indicators of a creative economy.

Based on the extant literature, a set of performance measures and factors are identified for the creative economy. This set is mainly based on Florida’s theory on the creative class. The case of Kish Island is evaluated based on these indicators, and after analysis, conclusions are drawn.

Kish Island, with its numerous tourist attractions, shows remarkable creative industries that highlight the presence of the creative class and the development of a creative economy in this area.

The paper illustrates the model of a creative economy assessment for the small Kish Island and finally provides a good understanding of the concept of the creative economy as a key element of the creative city.