A Novel Linguistic Z-Number QUALIFLEX Method and Its Application to Large Group Emergency Decision Making

Xue-Feng Ding,Qi Wang,Li-Xia Zhu,Mei-Shun Lu,Yi-Qi Feng

doi:10.1155/2020/1631869

Abstract

After an unconventional emergency event occurs, a reasonable and effective emergency decision should be made within a short time period. In the emergency decision making process, decision makers’ opinions are often uncertain and imprecise, and determining the optimal solution to respond to an emergency event is a complex group decision making problem. In this study, a novel large group emergency decision making method, called the linguistic Z-QUALIFLEX method, is developed by extending the QUALIFLEX method using linguistic Z-numbers. The evaluations of decision makers on the alternative solutions are first expressed as linguistic Z-numbers, and the group decision matrix is then constructed by aggregating the evaluations of all subgroups. The QUALIFLEX method is used to rank the alternative solutions for the unconventional emergency event. Besides, a real-life example of emergency decision making is presented, and a comparison with existing methods is performed to validate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed linguistic Z-QUALIFLEX can accurately express the evaluations of the decision makers and obtain a more reasonable ranking result of solutions for emergency decision making.

Highlights

Emergency decision making is a human activity based on cognitive information, especially in the large group context
We will pay attention to the large group emergency decision making problem based on human cognitive information
In order to describe the decision maker’s assessment more accurately under the emergency circumstance and make an effective emergency decision as quickly as possible, this study develops an extended QUALIFLEX method using linguistic Z-numbers, called the linguistic Z-QUALIFLEX method, for solving large group emergency decision making (LGEDM) problems

Summary

Introduction

Emergency decision making is a human activity based on cognitive information, especially in the large group context. We will pay attention to the large group emergency decision making problem based on human cognitive information. Previous works in solving emergency decision making problems involve only a small number of decision makers. Owing to the uncertainty and complexity of the emergency situations, it is hard for decision makers to express their judgments with accuracy, especially under time pressure [23] Various theories, such as fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy sets, and hesitant fuzzy sets, have been proposed to deal with imprecise decision information. E proposed linguistic Z-QUALIFLEX method can accurately express the evaluations of the decision makers, characterize the similarities of their evaluations, and can help decision makers get the best solution quickly and effectively.

Literature Review

Preliminaries

The Proposed LGEDM Approach

A Numerical Example