Ali Lotfi

Supervisors

• Joe Naoum Sawaya
• Mehmet Begen

Ali is pursuing a PhD in Management Science at Western University’s Ivey Business School. Ali is fascinated by short life-cycle technology products whose sales ebb and flow in a matter of few years. Driven by this interest, Ali studies adoptions and repeat purchases of such products within and across product generations, and factors influencing individuals to commit adoptions and repeat purchases. In his research, Ali applies various methodologies including analytical modeling, optimal control, and fractional calculus.

Education

• PhD, Mathematics, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, May 2013
• MSc, Mathematics, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, August 2008
• BA, Mathematics, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, September 2005

Research Interests

• New Product Lifecycle Planning
  • Sales/Demand Forecasting
  • Diffusion of technological innovations
  • Optimal Pricing Strategy
  • Optimal Advertising Strategy
  • Optimal Market Entry Timing Strategy
  • Optimal Free Product Offer Strategy
• Analytical Modeling
• Optimization and Optimal Control
• Fractional Calculus

Publications

• Lotfi, A., Jiang, Z., Naoum-Sawaya, J., & Begen, M. A. (Forthcoming). Modeling sales of multigeneration technology products in the presence of frequent repeat purchases: A fractional calculus-based approach. Production and Operations Management.
• Lotfi, A., Jiang, Z., Lotfi, A., & Jain, D. C. (2023). Estimating life cycle sales of technology products with frequent repeat purchases: A fractional calculus-based approach. Information Systems Research, 34(2), 409-422.
• Lotfi, A. (2020). A development in the extended ritz method for solving a general class of fractional variational problems. Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, 15(2), 021001.
• Lotfi, A. (2019). Epsilon penalty method combined with an extension of the Ritz method for solving a class of fractional optimal control problems with mixed inequality constraints. Applied Numerical Mathematics, 135, 497-509.
• Lotfi, A. (2018). Combination of epsilon and Ritz methods with multiscaling basis for solving a class of fractional optimal control problems. Journal of Computational Physics, 366, 107-119.
• Lotfi, A. (2017). A combination of variational and penalty methods for solving a class of fractional optimal control problems. Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, 174(1), 65-82.
• Lotfi, A., & Yousefi, S. A. (2017). A generalization of ritz-variational method for solving a class of fractional optimization problems. Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, 174(1), 238-255.
• Lotfi, A., & Yousefi, S. A. (2014). Epsilon-Ritz method for solving a class of fractional constrained optimization problems. Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, 163(3), 884-899.
• Lotfi, A., Lotfi, A., & Halal, W. E. (2014). Forecasting technology diffusion: a new generalisation of the logistic model. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 26(8), 943-957.
• Lotfi, A., Yousefi, S. A., & Dehghan, M. (2013). Numerical solution of a class of fractional optimal control problems via the Legendre orthonormal basis combined with the operational matrix and the Gauss quadrature rule. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 250, 143-160.
• Lotfi, A., & Yousefi, S. A. (2013). A numerical technique for solving a class of fractional variational problems. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 237(1), 633-643.
• Yousefi, S. A., & Lotfi, A. (2013). Legendre multiwavelet collocation method for solving the linear fractional time delay systems. Central European Journal of Physics, 11(10), 1463-1469.
• Yousefi, S. A., Dehghan, M., & Lotfi, A. (2011). Generalized Euler–Lagrange equations for fractional variational problems with free boundary conditions. Computers & Mathematics with Applications, 62(3), 987-995.
• Lotfi, A., Dehghan, M., & Yousefi, S. A. (2011). A numerical technique for solving fractional optimal control problems. Computers & Mathematics with Applications, 62(3), 1055-1067.
• Dehghan, M., Yousefi, S. A., & Lotfi, A. (2011). The use of He's variational iteration method for solving the telegraph and fractional telegraph equations. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 27(2), 219-231.
• Yousefi, S. A., Lotfi, A., & Dehghan, M. (2011). The use of a Legendre multiwavelet collocation method for solving the fractional optimal control problems. Journal of Vibration and Control, 17(13), 2059-2065.
• Yousefi, S. A., Dehghan, M., & Lotfi, A. (2010). Finding the optimal control of linear systems via He's variational iteration method. International Journal of Computer Mathematics, 87(5), 1042-1050.
• Yousefi, S. A., Lotfi, A., & Dehghan, M. (2009). He’s variational iteration method for solving nonlinear mixed Volterra–Fredholm integral equations. Computers & Mathematics with Applications, 58(11-12), 2172-2176.

Awards and Honours

• Alvin J. Silk Graduate Scholarship, 2022.
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2020.
• Brock Scholarship, 2019- .
• Shahid Beheshti University Top Researcher, 2017.

Academic Experience

• Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics, Department of Applied and Industrial Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Iran, August 2015 – August 2019
• Research Fellow, Department of Bioinformatics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Iran, June 2012 – June 2013