A vast number of organizational Projects as well as complexity of decision making process can cause particular challenges for Project management and its leadership. In order to use organization assets and opportunities efficiently, it is necessary that manager implement a comprehensive multidimensional Project portfolio management system that considers economic, social and technical details of the Projects. Resource constraint compels managers to select operational proposal Projects. Thus managers can maximize organizational utility due to Project portfolio’s resource constraint. This study considers the interactive effects of Project portfolio evaluation and sharing organizational Project resources with respect to its evaluation and choice of the Projects. In this two-step model, first a branch and bound algorithm with resource interaction was utilized to screen maximal portfolio and, in the next step, each portfolio was evaluated based on artificial neural networks to rank the end Project portfolios. Also, the ANN scores are strongly correlated with the DEA and COLS efficiency scores.

Project portfolio management consists of repetitive cycles of Project evaluation، selection and execution. Project portfolio selection is the main part of Project portfolio management. Organization identifies and prioritizes Projects that are mostly aligned with stated strategic goals while considering real-world restrictions and considerations that are related to scheduling and resource allocation. In this paper، a new comprehensive model for the Project portfolio selection problem over a planning horizon with multiple periods by maximizing profit is developed in which simultaneous selection، scheduling and resource allocation of Projects are considered. The model incorporates Project interdependency and strategies of Project divisibility، reinvestment، external investment and resourcing in different ways at the same time in choosing the best execution schedule for the Projects in real-life applications. In addition، resource and budget constraints، cardinality restriction، precedence relationship and scheduling، setup and resource costs are included in the model. Numerical examples under eight scenarios are presented to highlight the characteristics of the proposed model.

Significant economic prosperity in some Asian nations over a sustained period has left impacts on different areas of international relations. This paper explores the process of geopolitical developments in Asia, and examines the possible ways and means to ensure that these developments are in accordance with the common interests of Asian nations. Revealing an Iranian perspective of the geopolitical changes in Asia, the author traces the quest for independence to the rise of a development discourse in the Asian continent in the post-World War II period. He also studies the challenges ahead of the rising Asian powers such as energy security and lack of regional arrangements for conflict management and resolution. Pointing to Iran's salient status in world energy market, the author suggests the ways that Iran can contribute to the Asian energy security. The paper finally suggests measures for the promotion of Asian interdependency and cooperation including development of a normative system, development of a collective security structure and promotion of Asian cooperation.

The normativity of mental content thesis appears to have been influential in contemporary philosophy of mind. Paul Boghossian (2003, 2005) has developed an argument for the normativity of mental content on the basis of two premises, i.e. firstly, the normativity of the notion of belief and secondly, the priority of the notion of belief to the notion of desire. In his recent article Alexander Miller (2008) has criticised Boghossian’s argument for the normativity of mental content. To make the objection against the normativity of content, Miller has argued that the second premise of Boghossian’s argument is mistaken since belief and desire are conceptually interdependent. My purpose in this paper is to show that content normativity thesis prevails Miller's attack. In order to establish the claim I will argue that content is normative even if belief and desire are conceptually interdependent.

Shakespeare’ s The Tempest is an outstanding theatrical microcosm representing the unavoidably overwhelming Foucauldian power relations in all human civilizations and their intricate interdependency of such power relations with the possession of knowledge and construction of reality. The fictional world of The Tempest is thoroughly endowed with the mechanisms of an intense web of power struggles and domination fixations which typically have been, are, and will be characteristic of any human society throughout history. For the sustenance of such a complex texture of power structures and for the manipulation of the overall balance to the advantage of a specific minority, the pivotal function of a constructed reality is as substantial in the story as the real life. Prospero, the central character, successfully manages to subdue all other dangerous, power-thirsty rivals by making use of his superior knowledge enabling him to shape the subjectivities/beliefs of other characters by different means including language and masquerades in an induced world of realities on the island. Shakespeare’ s text can well be drawn on to reveal the stealthy workings of different social, cultural and especially moral institutions in recruiting subjects to their malignant power/knowledge network and duping the individuals with the desired notions produced constantly by the institutional apparatuses leading to the construction of an exploitive ‘ truth. ’

The cooperative approach towards trade, which is reflected in Asian International Input-Output tables, is the main factor influencing East Asian economic development. In this research, we have calculated interdependency and self-sufficiency indicators by using recently published IIO 2005. We also have used Shrestha and Hasebe (2006) results for 1990, 1995, 2000 to analyze the trends of the indicators. The results show that the interdependency has increased in the region during 1990-2005, but it has decreased in other countries in the world. The interesting result is that despite the gradual decline in self-dependency indicators of the East Asian countries during 1990-2005, they are still high in 2005. It means that the trade policy in the last three decades has been focused on importing only intermediate goods instead of final goods in order to increase the internal capacity of production. These changes have been analyzed by three phases of East Asian regionalism (Baldwin, 2008); (a) rampant unilateralism, (b) regionalism delayed, unilateralism accelerated, and (c) rampant regionalism. Due to the importance of Japan and China in the region, the trade interdependencies between countries with respect to Japan and China are also calculated separately. The results show decreasing interdependency of those countries to Japan, but increasing to China since 2000.