Analytic Hierarchy Process Procedure Research Articles

Integrating energy simulations and Analytical Hierarchy Process procedure in multi-criteria evaluation of heating systems for industrial buildings

Industrial buildings in Italy are generally aged and widely outdated from an architectural, technological, and environmental perspective. Despite the current limitations affecting both envelope and system installations, enhancement strategies are not frequently debated in the literature or addressed recurring to not adequately comprehensive approaches. This research examines space heating options for integrated retrofit interventions of manufacturing facilities using a novel methodology that combines multi-criteria decision analysis based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with building energy simulations. Interviews with representatives from medium-sized companies in Tuscany provide insights into the exigencies of industrial buildings, while on-site surveys identify common features of industrial buildings in the region leading to the identification of a representative case study building. This facility is examined producing several energy models to account for the different heating system alternatives to be evaluated according to criteria including economic, environmental, comfort, space, and reliability. Both qualitative judgments and quantitative outputs from energy simulations are considered to rank the technological alternatives encompassed in the analysis. In addition, sensitivity analyses are carried out to highlight the impact of boundary conditions on optimal configuration selection. Economic considerations weigh heavily for industrial owners, often outweighing environmental concerns due to higher initial investment requirements for low-impact solutions. Consequently, gas boiler generators and hot-water fan heaters emerge as preferred options for their flexibility, low initial cost, and ease of installation.

Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones (GWPZs) in a Semi-Arid Basin through Remote Sensing, GIS, and AHP Approaches

Groundwater occurrence in semi-arid regions is variable in space and time due to climate patterns, terrain features, and aquifer properties. Thus, accurate delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones (GWPZs) is essential for sustainable water resources management in these environments. The present research aims to delineate and assess GWPZs in a semi-arid basin of San Luis Potosi (SLP), Mexico, through the integration of Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Seven thematic layers (geology, lineament density, land use and land cover, topographic wetness index (TWI), rainfall, drainage density, and slope) were generated in raster format. After the AHP procedure and rank assignment, the thematic layers were integrated using the raster calculator to obtain the GWPZs map. The results indicated that 68.21% of the area is classified as low groundwater potential, whereas 26.30% is classified as moderate. Validation was done by assessing the water residence time data from 15 wells distributed in the study area. Furthermore, the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve was obtained, indicating a satisfactory accuracy prediction (AUC = 0.677). This study provides valuable information for decision-makers regarding the conservation and sustainable management of groundwater resources.

Analytical hierarchy process tool in Google Earth Engine platform: a case study of a tropical landfill site suitability.

Kolkata being a metropolitan city in India has its main municipal solid waste dumpsite situated at Dhapa just adjacent to the East Kolkata Wetlands (Ramsar site). The current prevalent situation at Dhapa is open dumping leading to various contaminations and hazards putting forth the need to look for alternative sites where the landfiilling operation can be shifted to using scientific methods. A user interface (UI)-based analytical hierarchy process (AHP) tool has been developed within the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform to find out the alternative dumping sites using geospatial layers. AHP function is not available as a native algorithm or developed by any researcher in GEE. The tool has three major functionalities, of which the first one handles the UI elements. The AHP procedure is within another function, and the last function integrates the AHP coefficients to the layers generating the final suitability layer. Users can also upload comparison matrix as GEE asset in the form ofCSV file which gets automatically integrated into the AHP to calculate the coefficients and consistency ratio to generate the spatial suitability layers. This approach showcases a generalized AHP function within the GEE environment, which has been done for the first time. The tool is designed in the cloud platform which is dynamic, robust and suitable for use in various AHP-based suitability analysis in environmental monitoring and assessment.

Marble waste site suitability assessment using the GIS-based AHP model

Site suitability with regards to environmental protection, public concerns, and the legitimate prerequisite is a basic issue that has been tended to in this study. By and large, marble waste is being unloaded on accessible open spaces or released in water to the close by waterways in the territory, Mohmand marble zone (Shabqadar), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Suitability assessment for marble waste collection and disposal was carried out through the integrated approach of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system (GIS) to limit the ecological dangers, public, and government concerns related to marble waste. The available land use was ordered into three main land use classes followed by six sub-classes including water bodies and agriculture (environmental), settlement and social site (social), and marble units and roads (economic). These sub-classes in the investigation region were organized through pairwise correlation and weighted sum analysis, AHP procedure. The AHP results were interpreted through GIS tools of digitization, buffering, and overlay in ArcMap, ArcGIS. The integrated AHP and GIS outcomes were consolidated to get the optimum results of the study, marble waste collection, and disposal options. It was concluded that priority should be given to water bodies followed by agricultural land while protecting the available land use classes from marble waste hazards. The percent priority values calculated are 32.33%, 30.50%, 12.16%, 10.66%, 8.50%, and 6% for water bodies, agricultural land, settlements, marble processing units, roads, and cultural sites respectively. The sequence of priority of the land use values are waterbodies > agriculture > settlement > marble industries > road > cultural site. The proposed integrated model is helpful in site suitability for waste management by the authorities and decision-makers associated with waste management.

EVALUATING KEY RISK FACTORS AFFECTING CARGO DAMAGES ON EXPORT OPERATIONS FOR CONTAINER CARRIERS IN TAIWAN

The main purpose of this article is to apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to analyse key risk factors affecting cargo damages on export operations for container shipping carriers in Taiwan. Based on the literature and experts’ opinions, a hierarchical structure with three risk aspects and eleven risk factors was constructed. We then applied the AHP procedure and AHP experts’ questionnaires to evaluate the key risk factors. The empirical results showed that: (1) ‘Shipping proxy phase’ is the most important aspect affecting cargo damages on export operations for container shipping carriers in Taiwan. (2) In order of relative importance, the top four key risk factors are “shipper’s concealed items have not been reported,” “inappropriate cargo packaging,” “insecure fixation between the container and ship deck,” and “error in printed documents.” Furthermore, some recommendations concerning effective risk management strategies and advices are provided for container shipping carriers.

Card game analysis for fast multi-criteria decision making

Multi-criteria decision methods are very popular in decision-making for many application fields thanks to their versatility and ability to involve qualitative and quantitative data in the analysis. On the other hand, the many of these techniques requires time consuming analysis and the involvement of expert users in the decision-making process. In this paper, a novel method named Card Game Analysis (CGA) is proposed to perform Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analysis. Such methodology uses a set of cards and a suitable game procedure to perform the analysis, allowing to determine indirectly tabulated weights of involved parameters (criteria, sub-criteria, alternatives, etc.) and obtain the ranking of priorities. The CGA is defined following the footsteps of the ``structuring of the problem’’, typical of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and takes inspiration from an evaluation procedure presented in the related literature. In particular, the CGA is composed by the following steps: (1) structuring of the problem, (2) card setting, (3) card game weights evaluation, (4) synthesis of priorities. Finally, a validation through a comparison with the AHP procedure is performed by exploiting 25 case studies regarding the desirability of the enabling technologies of the Industry 4.0 for a set of companies in the Adriatic Ionian area.

Augmented reality based - decision making (AR-DM) to support multi-criteria analysis in constructions

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and in particular the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is widely used in construction thanks to its versatility and ability to involve qualitative and quantitative data in the analysis. On the other hand, many complex problems are difficult to be solved because of the large amount of information to be considered.In this paper, an Augmented Reality based Decision Making (AR-DM) is proposed to get a novel MCDA following the hierarchical structure of the AHP. For the first time, the AR immersive environment is combined with the Simos-Roy-Figueira method to provide a large amount of visual information during the decision phase. The proposed approach is tested to support the selection of an experimental Precast Concrete Panel for RC buildings retrofitting. Finally, a comparison with the classical approach and two other improved version of the AHP procedure is performed to validate and show the potential of the method.

A new index to evaluate the safety performance level of railway transportation systems

In last years, the number of journeys on the European rail network is constantly increasing with consequent jeopardising of safety for operators and passengers. In this context, Decision Support Systems (DSSs) can be very helpful in managing safety performance level of the railway transportation system based on precursor analysis. In related literature, there are many studies on the precursor analysis and approaches to evaluate suitable safety indexes. On the other hand, a comprehensive multi-methodological approach including precursors analysis, a calibration of a safety index implemented in a DSS has not yet been attempted in related literature.In this paper an optimization-supported Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to define a safety index implementable in a DSS for the railway transport system, considering the damage precursors in both the railway infrastructure and the train equipment. The definition of the index includes three synergistically related techniques: i) an AHP procedure to analyse the complexity of the problem and the precursors involved in potential damage; ii) a targeted data extraction from of the European Railways Agency (ERA) regarding the railways precursors and accidents; iii) a mathematical optimization approach to consider quantitative data in the weights calibration.The resulting index and DSS can be extensively and fruitfully applied by researchers and practitioners in order to assess the safety performance level of a railway network through detection of accidents precursors.

HIGH SCHOOL CHOICE: HOW DO PARENTS MAKE THEIR CHOICE?

Location, well-qualified teachers, leaving score and academic performance are the main factors associated with parents' high school choices. This paper aims to provide students and their parents with a helpful tool for synthesizing these elements. By focusing on a small Italian town, we analyze Eduscopio and ScuolainChiaro’s data concerning high schools’ characteristics and students’ performances, and apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in order to derive the ranking of high schools taking into account three criteria: the students' performance at school, their academic performance and the school’s characteristics (such as the number of students per class and per teacher). The results from the AHP procedure using only school performances and characteristics highlight that the classic lyceum has the best performance and the scientific lyceums rank second, albeit rather close to the other lyceums. Entering the academic performance factor into the model changes the ranking of preferences in favor of the scientific lyceum, whose value is slightly higher than the classic one, and decreases the values of the other lyceums and technical high schools. This is due to the excellent academic performance of those who leave scientific schools, mostly in terms of credits at the end of the first year and average exam scores.

Predicting spatial patterns of wildfire susceptibility in the Huichang County, China: An integrated model to analysis of landscape indicators

This study presents an analysis of the influence of general landscape-level indicators on wildfire and its spatial susceptibility across a fire-prone landscape in the southeast of China using an integrated WOE-AHP model that consists of a statistical/probabilistic Weights-of-Evidence (WOE) model and a knowledge-based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Multi-class landscape indicators (i.e., slope, aspect, altitude, NDVI, annual rainfall, wind speed, land use, and proximity to rivers, roads, and human settlements) are weighted by the WOE model and act as the input data for pairwise analyses, which improved the commonly used AHP procedure that relies on a traditional nine-point pairwise rating scale and expert opinion. The model performance was evaluated using the ROC-AUC method that revealed that the integrated WOE-AHP model performed well both in terms of goodness-of-fit with the training dataset (AUCsuccess rate = 0.94) and the capability to predict future ignitions (AUCprediction rate = 0.91). The efficiency of the proposed model was compared to a logistic regression and single WOE models and comparative analyses using the Wilcoxon signed-rank tests demonstrated a significant improvement of wildfire prediction using the integrated WOE-AHP model over these other models. Overall, given the proven capability of integrated modeling in identifying very influential landscape indicators, excluding the indicators with null predictive utility, and improving the prediction of wildfires, modelers can now use this alternative to the current modeling approach and tailor its use to any research related to disturbances to which landscapes are differentially susceptible.

Evaluation Key Risk Factors Affecting Cargo Damages on Export Operations for Container Carriers in Taiwan

The main purpose of this article is to apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to analyse key risk factors affecting cargo damages on export operations for container shipping carriers in Taiwan. Based on the literature and experts’ opinions, a hierarchical structure with three risk aspects and eleven risk factors was constructed. We then applied the AHP procedure and AHP experts’ questionnaires to evaluate the key risk factors. The empirical results showed that: (1) ‘Shipping proxy phase’ is the most important aspect affecting cargo damages on export operations for container shipping carriers in Taiwan. (2) In order of relative importance, the top four key risk factors are “shipper’s concealed items have not been reported,” “inappropriate cargo packaging,” “insecure fixation between the container and ship deck,” and “error in printed documents.” Furthermore, some recommendations concerning effective risk management strategies and advices are provided for container shipping carriers.

Development of the methodological approach to the selection of technologies for environmentally­safe water drainage in populated areas

The methodological approach to the selection of a technological measure of environmentally safe water drainage in populated area located on the eutrophied water sites was developed. The use of this approach makes it possible to involve professionals of various fields from local authorities in the management of ecological safety of populated areas from the positions of their sustainable development. The essence of the methodological approach implies using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The criteria stated as constituents of sustainable development – environmental, social, and economic­technological – were proposed and used for it. Appropriate specialists as experts relied on the information of various types (statistics, prediction, and direct measurement data) on a particular populated area, give their own judgments regarding priority advantages of criterial features. The results of processing the judgment of experts in accordance with a formal AHP procedure form the basis for decision making when selecting technological measures of environmentally safe water drainage in a particular populated area. The multicriterial hierarchical structure of the selection of technological measures is represented by a sequence of actions comprising three stages: construction of a hierarchical model for comparison of criterial features; formation of matrices of pairwise comparisons of the elements of each hierarchy level and determining their weight coefficients; determining global weight coefficients, consistency index and selection of the best option. The advantage of the proposed multicriterial methodological approach is the possibility to unite into a single decision­making algorithm the source data that differ in both their content (environmental, social, and economic­technological) and in their form of representation (statistical, predicting, direct measurement data, expert estimations). Testing the developed methodological approach was carried out using the example of a typical populated area, located at the eutrophied water site – the source of drinking water supply and of recreational use. The obtained results, despite a fairly large dimensionality of the hierarchy members array, revealed the achievement of a suitable consistency level, which demonstrates their reliability. The developed methodological approach can be used to substantiate the improvement or construction of a new drainage system of a populated area, located on the eutrophied water site

A DECISION SUPPORT TOOL FOR BUSINESS MODEL ANALYSIS

The business model (BM) concept which has emerged in the scientific literature and business world over the past fifteen years is a new management concept that, although characterised by fuzzy boundaries, can be synthesized as “the rationale of how an organisation creates, delivers and captures value”. Many authors see the BM as an excellent tool for the strategic evaluation of business ideas, but the literature review shows a lack of efficient quali-quantitative tools for evaluating potential BM alternatives and selecting the best BM solution from among them. In this paper, we propose a Business Model Decision Support Tool (BM-DST) based on a quali-quantitative methodology of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) called Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and specifically based on a modified AHP procedure called Value-Analytic Hierarchy Process (V-AHP). A case study with a numerical example was carried out in the field of industrial plants, specifically in the context of the Industrial Product-Service Systems, in order to select the best BM solution from among three potential BM alternatives usually taken into account by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Engineering-Procurement- Construction (EPC) company: Transactional Project Deliveries, Project Led Solutions and Life-Cycle Solutions.

Choice architecture for architecture choices: Evaluating social housing initiatives putting together a parsimonious AHP methodology and the Choquet integral

Choice architecture concerns different forms and procedures to present and handle a decision problem. It is a paradigm around which many theoretical results have been collected within behavioural psychology and experimental economics and many successful applications have been implemented in the domains of health, finance and social choices. In this work, we propose an application of the basic idea of architecture choice that is designing decision support procedures for complex problems, with a focus on housing realm. We consider a real-world problem in which 21 Social Housing initiatives sited in the Piedmont region (Italy) had to be evaluated taking into account several criteria and, to this aim, we propose a decision analysis methodology for supporting assessment in such complex problems. Our main preoccupations in designing the decision aiding procedure were related to build a model that, on one hand, permits to take into consideration the many delicate points of the problem, while, on the other hand, requires to the Decision Maker (DM) an affordable cognitive burden in terms of preference elicitation and interpretation of the obtained results. Since synergy and redundancy of criteria constitute important aspects of the decision problem, we aggregated evaluations on considered criteria by means of the Choquet integral. To maintain the preference information asked to the DM simple and not too requiring, we put together a recently proposed parsimonious approach of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Non-Additive Robust Ordinal Regression (NAROR). The Parsimonious AHP permitted to assign a value on a common scale to the performances of all criteria, while the NAROR permitted to elicit the importance and the interaction of criteria taking into account all the possible values for the preference parameters compatible with the preference information supplied by the DM. Our methodology allowed a fruitful interaction with the DM that had the possibility to update the preference information during the decision process until he/she felt convinced and satisfied of the obtained result. The suitability and the interest of the proposed methodology were confirmed by the subjective final appreciation of the DM as well as by the objective absence of specific inconsistencies in the AHP procedure and in the non-additive robust ordinal regression, which witnessed the beneficial contribution of our approach.

Analysing weekend city travellers' customer value to business

The purpose of this research is to analyse the customer values of weekend city travellers for creating customer knowledge of the city's government facilities for marketing. The most important issue for the weekend travellers is the ‘transport arrangements in Taipei city’. The research proposed a transport economical model (convenience, time and fare (CTF) model) for recognising travellers' preferences on vehicle selections, and travel agencies can apply the proposed model in their marketing systems. The research methods include the proposed CTF model, recency, frequency and monetary (RFM) model, the proposed equation (CV-RFM equation) and analytic hierarchy process procedure. This research discovers and ranks the travellers' values. The research also segments the traveller database into three value markets. Hence, the value of the findings can enhance the satisfaction of city travellers (domestic or international travellers) and enhance the travel growth rates. However, marketing systems or customer relationship management systems of travel agencies can also apply this framework on systems for daily transport routines. The data can be analysed for helping urban government to arrange public transportation for city weekend travellers.

Physical Flood Vulnerability Mapping Applying Geospatial Techniques in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

Flooding has been increasing since 2004 in Japan due to localized heavy rainfall and geographical conditions. Determining areas vulnerable to flooding as one element of flood hazard maps related to disaster management for urban development is necessary. This research integrated Remote Sensing data, the Geography Information System (GIS) method and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) calculation to determine the physical flood-vulnerable area in Okazaki City. We developed this research by applying data from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) to generate the slope map and drainage density; AMEDAS (Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System) from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) to generate the rainfall data; Soil map from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) data; and Sentinel-2 imagery to generate the land cover map. We applied the AHP calculation for weighting pairwise the parameters by comparing five iterations of the normalized matrix. We utilized the spatial analysis tool in ArcGIS to run the pairwise comparison to adjudicate the distribution of flooding according to the AHP procedure. The percentage of relative weight was slope (43%), drainage density (20%), rainfall intensity (17%), then both infiltration rate and land cover (10%). The consistency value was reasonable: consistency index (CI—0.007) and consistency ratio (CR—0.6%). We generated high accuracy for flood vulnerability prediction; 0.88 for Probability of Detection (POD), 0.28 for Probability of False Detection (POFD), 0.44 for Critical Success Index (CSI), 1.9 for Bias, and 95 of Area under Curve (AUC). The flood vulnerability was matched to the flood inundation survey of Okazaki City in August 2008 and indicated an excellent Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC).

Multi criteria optimisation using analytic hierarchy process in turning operation

The performance of any metal cutting operation mainly depends on the selection of optimum machining parameters. This study proposes the application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the optimal machining parameters in turning operation of EN25 steel with coated carbide tool. The selected machining parameters in this study are cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut. This method is employed for simultaneously minimising surface roughness, micro hardness and maximising material removal rate (MRR). This method uses a decision matrix, normalised matrix, calculation of weight criteria and AHP procedure is adopted to obtain optimum machining parameters. The results indicated that the optimum combination of machining parameters is necessary to improve the machining performance. The approach can be used for simultaneous optimisation of other machining process with different processing parameters.

Multi criteria optimisation using analytic hierarchy process in turning operation

The performance of any metal cutting operation mainly depends on the selection of optimum machining parameters. This study proposes the application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the optimal machining parameters in turning operation of EN25 steel with coated carbide tool. The selected machining parameters in this study are cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut. This method is employed for simultaneously minimising surface roughness, micro hardness and maximising material removal rate (MRR). This method uses a decision matrix, normalised matrix, calculation of weight criteria and AHP procedure is adopted to obtain optimum machining parameters. The results indicated that the optimum combination of machining parameters is necessary to improve the machining performance. The approach can be used for simultaneous optimisation of other machining process with different processing parameters.

Comparative evaluation with the analytical hierarchy procedure of the Kalinske, Brooks, and Toffaleti equations used to estimate suspended-sediment discharges in rivers

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the application of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the reliability of three equations used estimate suspended–sediment discharges at the Armand River in Iran. The AHP procedure was utilised to compare the discharges of suspended sediments measured at a station on the Armand River with results calculated with the equations derived by Kalinske (1942), Brooks (1963) and Toffaleti (1969). The equations were then used with the applicable coefficients from the literature to estimate sediment loads for the same periods as those calculated from the field data. A weighted coefficient was calculated from the estimated results from each equation and compared to each other and the field data. The results of the analysis with the AHP model provided an objective screening and ranking procedure with respect to accuracy, economic, and numbers of input parameters criteria.

MINING HIGH VALUE TRAVELERS USING A NEW MODEL DESIGNED FOR ONLINE CRM SYSTEMS: A CASE STUDY IN TAIWAN

The purpose of this research is to investigate the mining of high value travelers for online travel agencies. For the research the AHP (analytic hierarchy process) procedure was applied with a new model of customer value on a database (RFM model based). In this article, the customer values of online travelers can be analyzed via a proposed equation (FMLC-CV), and the travelers can be ranked via a proposed FMLC model and the AHP procedure. According to the research logic, high value travelers can be discovered in the travelers’ database. Through the value ranking the value markets can be clustered according to value scores as well. The results can be applied to online CRM systems to help the travel industry realize the high value markets of travelers, and implement various marketing plans for different markets.