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Introduction. Return to work after a kidney transplantation in a previously functioning person is determined by a number of medical and non-medical factors. In this regard, this study was to investigate the factors that influence return to work in kidney transplant recipients. Methods. This retrospective cohort study was conducted in patients with kidney transplant in the main nephrology center in Tehran (December to April 2022). The primary outcome was the cumulative rate of return to work at 3, 6, and 12 months after transplantation. The secondary outcome was to compare the occupational, individual, and disease-related factors between patients who had returned to work and those who had not. Results. Among 214 kidney transplant recipients, the overall cumulative rate of return to work after kidney transplantation at 3, 6 months, and 12 months were 44.4%, 63.1% and 69.6%; respectively. According to the univariate analysis, male sex, age less than 40 years, nonphysical jobs, job satisfaction, employer support, partner support, and absence of diabetes mellitus significantly affected the time of return to work (P < .05). According to the multivariate analysis, absence of diabetes mellitus, nonphysical jobs and job satisfaction had greater impact on the time of return to work (P < .05). Conclusion. The results showed that older age, female gender, having a physical job, the presence of diabetes mellitus, lack of job satisfaction, and employer and partner support are associated with not returning to work in these patients and adjusting factors linked to the work environment and support of colleagues and supervisors might play an important role in improving the general condition of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Regular blood donors are the cornerstone of blood safety. Understanding the donors' behavior to donate blood improves blood donor retention programs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the return rate of first-time blood donors following different interventions to identify effective ways to retain first-time donors.Study Design and Methods: The study was conducted on 1356 first-time blood donors at four main blood centers in Iran. The donors were randomly assigned based on different interventions (phone calls, educational letter, emotional letter, incentive, motivational meeting, and no intervention) to six groups. The return rate of donors was defined as a second attempt to donate within 6 months after the first donation. Return rate and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and compared among different groups.Results: A total of 394 (29%) donors returned within 6 months for a second donation (95% CI, 0.26-0.31). The return rate in the emotional letter group, educational letter, phone reminder, incentives, motivational meeting, and control groups was 36% (95% CI, 0.31-0.42), 33.2% (95% CI, 0.27-0.38), 31.5% (95% CI, 0.25-0.37), 30% (95% CI, 0.22-0.38), 22% (95% CI, 0.17-0.27) and 22.1% (95% CI, 0.17-0.27), respectively.Conclusions: This study provides evidence supporting the fact that more first-time blood donors can be motivated to donate again by implementing targeted interventions. It demonstrates that emotional letters, educational letters, and phone reminders were effective in improving the return rate of first-time donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to propose a comprehensive performance evaluation model with emphasis on service performance metrics in the service-product supply chain rather than the production supply chain in the home appliance industry and using neural-fuzzy networks for performance evaluation. The present study is typically a descriptive-exploratory research with survey approach in which, data analysis has been conducted using quantitative method and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. For the purpose of this study, a sample of 58 home appliance companies has been selected and Smart-PLS, SPSS and Matlab software have been used for data analysis. Findings indicated 10 main constructs and 29 performance criteria obtained for evaluating the performance of service supply chain and fuzzy neural networks of several home appliance companies. Introduction: Based on predictions, services are a key component of the growth of the global economy in future (Arnold et al. 2011). Acording to Jane and Kumar (2012), services play a critical role in a supply chain. Also, according to Wang et al. (2015), a "product" or "service" must exist in each supply chain which is produced by the upstream sectors and delivered to downstream. Recently due to increasing customer expectations, companies’ competition has been replaced by the supply chains competition and as a result, competition has been increased in the simultaneous supply of products and services. This has led to challenges in integrating companies and in coordinating the materials, information and financial flow that were previously overlooked. Accordingly, a new managerial philosophy has been developed known as Product-Service Supply Chain (PSSC) (Stanley & Wisner, 2002). This study seeks to develop a performance evaluation model for the product-service supply chain in the home appliance industry, which is finally solved using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). Design/Approach: In this paper, performance evaluation constructs and criteria of service supply chain are identified by reviewing the literature and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and then, the performance evaluation of service supply chains in Iran's home appliance industry has been performed using these constructs, criteria and ANFIS. Findings and Discussion: Based on the findings, ten main extracted constructs can be suggested for the performance evaluation of the supply chain. They include "Operational Performance (OP)", "Strategic Performance (SP)", "Financial Performance (FP)", "Performance of Information and Communication Technology (PICT)", “Return Performance” (REP), “Risk Performance (RIP)”, “Logistic Performance (LP)”, “Market Performance (MP)”, “Internal Structure Performance (PIS)” and “Growth and Innovation Performance (PGI)”, among which, the Strategic Performance (SP) and Return Performance (REP) are the most important and the least important constructs, respectively. Conclusions Based on the findings, the following practical recommendations are suggested to the companies:  Enhancing the demand forecasts performance and utilizing more appropriate methods and software to improve forecasts in demand and order management areas.  Improving the return management status by increased attention and more investment in return management processes.  Effective investment in service development management to enhance the R&D services performance.  Utilizing risk management approaches and methods to identify and take preventive actions on the risks in the companies’ service supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Iran is rich in oil and gas resources, renewable energy was known as a luxurious source of electric power generation for a long time. New policies and targeted subsidy reform plan for fossil fuel products have changed the view of decision-makers and energy sector investors toward renewable energy resources. According to the climatological studies, two-thirds of Iran's land has three hundred sunny days which indicates great potentials for providing solar energy. This paper deals with small-scale solar energy potentials in different cities of Iran. The considered solar systems are based on the combination of photovoltaic panels in order to obtain the nominal values of 1, 5 and 10 kW for 15 selected cities of Iran. Design of the photovoltaic (PV) systems is carried out based on optimum fixed tilt angles of the panels and efficiency variation due to the temperature changes of different locations. The final decision on financial assessment of the mentioned solar PV projects is based on different concepts of engineering economy such as rate of return (ROR), present worth of benefit and cost (PWB, PWC), extra investment analysis, levelized cost of energy (LCOE). The amount of calculated income and the expected benefit are also investigated under certainty and uncertainty of guaranteed solar electricity purchase tariff in a 30-year project lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy Return on Investment (EROI) is an indicator of how efficient is an energy supply system. In the present study, the conventional approach of EROI assessment is extended to include the equivalent energy investment needed for offsetting the life cycle environmental impacts. Moreover, the issue of allocation of the invested energy among different by-products is addressed. The EROI of multiple products has been specified using different benchmarks of price, energy content, exergy content, and exergy costs. The application of the concept is demonstrated through a case study of an Iranian oil production unit. The overall conventional and environmentally-extended EROI values of the produced oil in Iran is estimated to be 26.8:1, 23.3:1, respectively. Also, when taking the downstream environmental emissions into account, the EROI will be as low as 6.8:1. This shows that the EROI may be overestimated by 75% if the embodied costs are not taken into account. The comparison of the aggregated EROI estimates based on state-properties (price, energy, and exergy) and disaggregated process-property (exergy cost), gives a measure of the error of aggregation. It is shown that this error may be as high as 11.5% in the case of the multi-product energy system of the studied case. Image 1 • The EROI of a multi-product oil and gas production unit in Iran is assessed. • LCA is used to obtain environmental externalities as an embodied energy investment. • Consideration of LCA emissions and indirect energy investments reduces EROI by 75%. • The exergy cost-based allocation of the invested energy is investigated. • Improper allocation of invested energy results in an error of aggregation of 11.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]