The issue of integrated scheduling and sequencing operation of unloading and loading equipment in container ports has been one of the most important issues concerning time efficiency. In addition, with the emergence of green harbor concepts, the inclusion of criteria for minimizing energy consumption, fuel and emission reduction are among the other issues that have been noticed by planners in the field of energy efficiency. Furthermore, due to the complexity and scope of activities of a container terminal, uncertainty in operational parameters such as transportation time, time of readiness and entry of work into the system and the velocity of the transportation fleet are inevitable in this operational environment. Therefore, this research with the aim of sharing trucks among loading and unloading equipment, proposes a robust multi-objective integer programming model for the synchronized scheduling of truck operations with other handling equipment to decrease the fuel consumption of trucks and the flow time of containers, considering the uncertainty in operational parameters as fuzzy numbers. To find the Pareto solutions for this model, the ε-Constraint technique is employed. Finally, the performance of the model in deterministic and uncertain modes is evaluated, compared and analyzed employing the inputs gathered from Shahid Rajaei port. The findings demonstrate that using this model will result in a substantial decrease in both fuel consumption and flow time of containers in comparison to the current procedure. Additionally, results will demonstrate the extent to which the terminal's fuel and time consumption will increase under conditions of uncertainty in operational parameters when the optimal plans derived from the robust model are implemented.

This research aims to enhance portfolio selection by integrating machine learning regression algorithms for predicting stock returns with various risk measures. These measures include mean-value-at-risk (VaR) variance (Var), semi-variance mean-absolute-deviation (MAD) and conditional value-at-risk (C-VaR). Addressing gaps in existing literature. Traditional methods lack adaptability to dynamic market conditions. We propose a hybrid approach optimized by genetic algorithms. The study employs multiple machine learning models. These include Random Forest, AdaBoost XGBoost, Support Vector Machine Regression (SVR) K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). These models are used to forecast stock returns. Utilizing monthly data from the Tehran Stock Exchange, the results indicate that the genetic algorithm prediction model combined with mean-VaR, Var semi-variance and MAD, produces the most efficient portfolios. These portfolios offer superior returns with minimized risk compared to other models. This hybrid strategy provides a robust and efficient method for investors aiming to optimize returns while managing risk effectively. To implement this approach successfully it is crucial to balance investments. This involves both traditional and alternative asset classes, ensuring diversification. It also capitalizes on market opportunities. Regular review and adjustment of fund allocation are essential. Maintain an optimized strategy for maximum returns and minimal risk.

Portfolio optimization is a widely recognized strategy for investing that involves selecting a combination of assets that offers the optimal balance between potential gains and volatility. Traditional portfolio optimization typically focuses on a single period, considering only the current market conditions. However, multi-period portfolio optimization takes a more comprehensive approach by incorporating the dynamic nature of financial markets over multiple periods. Hence in this study, we focus on multi-period portfolio optimization. We conduct a bibliometric analysis of articles on multi-period portfolio optimization in the Web of Science (WoS) database. Through quantitative methods and the utilization of the Bibliometrix R package, we analyze publication trends, key research sites, and historical output in this field. Our findings provide valuable insights into the current state of research on multi-period portfolio optimization. This bibliometric analysis contributes to the existing literature on multi-period portfolio optimization and serves as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in the field of finance.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are combinations of metal ions or clusters accommodated to organic ligands to shape different dimensional structures. MOFs are considered as a subclass of coordination polymers, with the possible characteristics that they are normally porous. The metals are considered to offer flexible, co-ordination environment under virtually various topologies. Besides, because of the usual liability of metal complexes, the shape of the coordination bonds between the metal ions and the organic linkers can be reversible and this helps the rearrangement of metal ions and organic linkers through the process of polymerization to give highly ordered framework structures. The study has indicated that MOFs has maintained extensive applications in Biological imaging and sensing, Drug delivery systems, Methane storage, Semiconductors, Bio-mimetic mineralization, Carbon capture, Desalination/ion separation, Water vapor capture and Ferroelectrics and Multiferroics. This paper presents a scientometrics study on 1273 papers published articles, books, patents, etc. indexed in Web of Science database over the period 2001-2019. The study presents the most popular keywords used in the literature, determines the network of scientific scholars and discusses the clusters of keywords used for different surveys. The results indicate that metalorganic frameworks and zeoitic imidazolate frameworks are two keywords considered as motor keywords in MOFs studies.

During the past century, humans have increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration by at least a third, which is considered as the most important long-lived “forcing” of climate change. Scientists all over the world are responsible to do their best on offering practical solutions to reduce the effects of CO₂ on environment. This paper uses data envelopment analysis to measure the effects of researches accomplished by scientists from 30 countries which are representative of producing over 80% of CO₂ in the world. The study uses 10034 articles published in Scopus database from 1959 to March, 2019. The study uses the amount of CO₂ produced by each country as the input and total publications, h-index and I-10 as the output of the DEA model. The results indicate that despite the fact that China was responsible for producing nearly 30% of the CO₂, the scientists of this country contributed the least on carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, United Kingdom was responsible for about one percent of CO₂ emissions but the researchers of UK performed the best in terms of offering good quality studies.

Very recently, Qiupeng and Zuxing (2017) [Qiupeng, G., & Zuxing, X. (2017). A new approach for ranking fuzzy numbers based on possibility theory. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 309, 674-682.] suggested a new fuzzy ranking technique on the basis of possibility theory. In this note, we show that this method leads to the incorrect result in various cases.

One of the primary concerns in most decision making problems is the uncertainty associated with the input parameters. The existence of uncertainty may lead to some unrealistic results, which may make the final decision even more difficult. This paper presents an application of robust optimization technique to a recently developed model named Best-Worst method. The resulted robust approach is formulated as a linear programming where it can be solved using any commercial software package. The proposed model has been implemented on several instances which exist in the literature and the preliminary results have indicated that a small perturbation may influence the final ranking, significantly.

Search for lost or hidden things is a very interesting and complicated issue. This problem concentrates on the study of how to exploit resources to discover a target with unknown location. On the other hand, search problem may be formulated as a difficult decision problem because it is affected by various crucial decision factors such as search cost, search time, the probability of discovering, etc. In this paper, a new multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach on the basis of best-worst method (BWM) and simple additive weighting (SAW) is suggested to rank potential locations of lost or hidden targets. BWM is a novel subjective weighting technique and compared to the most common subjective method, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), requires fewer comparisons and gives more trustworthy outcomes. In this paper, BWM is used to gain the criteria weights and SAW is employed to rank the locations regarding the decision factors. This study demonstrates that BWM is easier and works better than AHP, also perfect agreement in the results of COPRAS, TOPSIS and SAW is observed. The suggested approach is very easy as well as flexible and provides an efficient method which can be developed to tackle other decision problems.

Locating, routing and inventory control in production and distribution centers are the most important decisions in supply chain management. Because of the dependence of these decisions to each other, considering these three aspects simultaneously can have a huge impact on cost reduction. In this study, first, a location-inventory model is developed by utilizing METRIC approach and then, METRIC approach is applied to the location-inventory-routing model. The intended supply chain includes a supplier, distributors and retailers, and the inventory control policy is implemented for both the distributors and retailers. Retailers' demand follows Poisson distribution and the lead-time is also considered probabilistic and is affected by the shortage in distribution centers. Given that the presented model belongs to the class of NP-hard problems, a hybrid metaheuristic solution method is also presented to solve the resulted problem. The proposed hybrid metaheuristic algorithm contains a Simulated Annealing algorithm, to optimize the location-routing problem, and a Genetic Algorithm, to optimize the inventory problem. Also, to evaluate the performance of hybrid algorithm, a comparison between the results of the proposed hybrid algorithm and the exact solutions obtained from Lingo software is provided and, finally, the results are analyzed.

Sustainable development in supply chain management is of great importance, as it emphasizes that the procurement process in sustainable supply chains addresses not only current needs but also future requirements. This subject, by improving processes, reducing waste and energy consumption, increasing efficiency, and establishing sustainable relationships with suppliers and customers, contributes to the sustainability and success of companies in international competition. Moreover, hub location is crucial for optimizing distribution processes and reducing costs in the supply chain, especially for perishable products with a defined and limited shelf life, which imposes various constraints on the supply chain. Additionally, to bring mathematical models closer to reality, uncertainty approaches can be employed, and strategies to deal with uncertainty can be considered. This research delves into these issues in the realm of supply chain management, focusing on sustainability and uncertainty, and provides a review of research conducted in the literature of this field.