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The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for solving parametric programming problems; a new scheme of constraints fuzzification. In the proposed approach, constraints are learned based on deductive learning.

Adaptive neural‐fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is used for constraint learning by generating input and output membership functions and suitable fuzzy rules.

The experimental results show the ability of the proposed approach to model the set of constraints and solve parametric programming. Some notes in the proposed method are clustering of similar constraints, constraints generalization and converting crisp set of constraints to a trained system with fuzzy output. Finally, this idea for modeling of constraint in the support vector machine (SVM) classifier is used and shows that this approach can obtain a soft margin in the SVM.

Properties of the new scheme such as global view of constraints, constraints generalization, clustering of similar constraints, creation of real fuzzy constraints, study of constraint strength and increasing the degree of importance to constraints are different aspects of the proposed method.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comparison study of cooperative object manipulation control algorithms. To this end, a full comprehensive survey of the existing control algorithms in this field is presented.

Cooperative manipulation occurs when manipulators are mechanically coupled to the object being manipulated, and the manipulators may not be treated as an isolated system. The most important and basic impedance control (IC) strategies for an assumed cooperative object manipulation task are the Augmented Object Model (AOM) control and the multiple impedance control (MIC) which are found based on the IC, where the former is designed based on the object movement, and the latter is designed based on the whole robot movement. Thus, the basis of these two algorithms are fully studied.

The results are fully analyzed, and it is practically verified that the MIC algorithm has the better performance. In fact, the results reveal that the MIC system could successfully perform the object manipulation task, as opposed to the AOM controller: for the same controller gains, the MIC strategy showed better performance than the AOM strategy. This means that because there is no control on the robot base with the AOM algorithm, the object manipulation task cannot be satisfactorily performed whenever the desired path is not within the robot work space. On the other hand, with the MIC algorithm, satisfactory object manipulation is achieved for a mobile robotic system in which the robot base, the manipulator endpoints and the manipulated object shall be moved.

A simple conceptual model for cooperative object manipulation is considered, and a suitable setup is designed for practical implementation of the two ICs.

The basis of these two aspects or these two algorithms is fully studied and compared which is the foundation of this paper. For this purpose, a case study is considered, in which a space free-flying robotic system, which contains two 2-degrees of freedom planar cooperative manipulators, is simulated to manipulate an object using the above control strategies. The system also includes a rotating antenna and camera as its third and fourth arm. Finally, a simple conceptual model for cooperative object manipulation is considered, and a suitable setup is designed for practical implementation of the two ICs.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic approach to predict service quality dimension’s influence on service quality using a novel analysis based on data envelopment and SERVQUAL.

To assess hospital service quality in Tehran, expectation and perception of those who received the services were evaluated using SERVQUAL. The hospital service quality dimensions were found by exploratory factor analysis (EFA). To compare customer expectation and perception, perceived service quality index (PSQI) was measured using a new method based on common weights. A novel sensitivity approach was used to test the service quality factor’s impact on the PSQI.

A new service quality dimension named “trust in services” was found using EFA, which is not an original SERVQUAL factor. The approach was applied to assess the hospital’s service quality. Since the PSQI value was 0.76 it showed that improvements are needed to meet customer expectations. The results showed the factor order that affect PSQI. “Trust in services” has the strongest influence on PSQI followed by “tangibles,” “assurance,” “empathy,” and “responsiveness,” respectively.

This work gives managers insight into service quality by following a systematic method; i.e., measuring perceived service quality from the customer viewpoint and service factors’ impact on customer perception.

The procedure helps managers to select the required service quality dimensions which need improvement and predict their effects on customer perception.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the patient satisfaction questionnaire (PVPSQ). The study addressed the communication skills section of the PSQ specifically.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 to determine the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ). In total, 538 patients (ten in pilot, 488 in tests, 40 in retest), 14 experts and 198 residents participated. The items’ impact score, content validity index, and content validity ratio were calculated. Construct validity and reliability of the scale were examined with exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach’s α, and the Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), respectively.

The questionnaire demonstrated a content validity index=0.94, content validity ratio=0.84, impact score=4.61, Cronbach’s α=0.93 and ICC=0.513 (p<0.00). A single factor was found in the eigenvalue distribution of the PSQ that predicted approximately 93 percent of the variance.

The results of this study will permit researchers in all Persian-speaking countries to use a valid and reliable Persian version of the PSQ to evaluate patients’ satisfaction with residents’ communication skills.

There were a few Persian questionnaires to assess patient satisfaction with physicians’ communication skills, but their psychometric properties had not been reported until the time of this study. By using the PVPSQ, both researchers at Iranian universities of medical sciences and researchers in other Persian-speaking countries can assess residents’ communication skills from the patient’s perspective more reliably.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the fragility of the complex global food supply chains (GFSCs) which has drastically affected the essential flow of food from the farms and producers to the final consumers. The COVID-19 outbreak has served as a great lesson for the food businesses and companies to re-strategize toward the post-COVID-19 era. This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on food security and global food supply chains using the two countries (Canada and the United States) in North America as the case studies and provides appropriate strategy or framework to build smarter and resilience food supply chains for post-COVID-19 era.

This paper is a general review of the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on food security and disruptions of the GFSCs. This paper conducted a comprehensive literature review to have a complete understanding of the study, identify the research problem and missing gaps in literature and to formulate appropriate research questions. This study uses two countries from North America (Canada and the US) as case studies by analyzing the available open data from Statistics Canada and some recent studies conducted on food insecurity in the US. Finally, based on the findings, a proposed approach or framework was presented.

The findings from this study establishes that COVID-19 pandemic has greater impacts on the food security and GFSC due to disruption of the food supply chain leading to increase food insecurity in Canada and the US. The findings clearly show how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the GFSC in the following ways – poor economy, shortage of farm worker, limitation to food accessibility, restriction in the transportation of farm commodities, changes in demand of consumers, shutdown of food production facilities, uncertainty of food quality and safety, food trade policies restriction, delays in transportation of food products, etc. The main findings of this study show that food and beverages sector needs to re-strategize, re-shape and re-design their food supply chains with post-COVID-19 resilience approach in mind. As a result, this study presents a proposed approach or framework to build a smarter and resilience GFSCs in the post-COVID-19 era. The findings in this study highlights the way the proposed framework provide solutions to the identified problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic in affecting the GFSC.

The contribution of this study towards the existing body of knowledge in food security and GFSC is in the form of a proposed approach or framework for building smarter and resilience GFSC that would assist the key players in the food industry to respond better and faster to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including post-COVID-19 era.