Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach Research Articles

Modelling the Accommodation Preferences of Tourists by Combining Fuzzy-AHP and GIS Methods

Finding the place of accommodation is one of the most crucial issues during a journey. This study aims to support the decision-making of tourists for choosing the optimal accommodation by combining fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The adopted criteria are the cost per room, the distance from the center, the level of security, the place rating, and the availability of free cancellation and breakfast. Due to some uncertainty and diversity of criteria, the FAHP approach is applied to consolidate tourists’ decisions by applying criteria weighting, while the GIS is used to overlay the weighted criteria and to visualize the ranked places of accommodation on a map. The combined technique is applied on a case study in Budapest City, where the analysis is conducted on 364 places of accommodation. The results show that half of the places are recommended for tourists, and more than fifth of the accommodations are highly recommended. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the cost per room was the highest influential criterion with 0.233 importance weight, followed by the security level with 0.205. The lowest factor affecting the choice of accommodation was the free cancellation service. It was demonstrated that the rating weight importance was 0.182, while the breakfast and the distance from the center had approximately the same importance. As a recommendation, some improvements on the accommodation, such as decreasing the cost per room, enhancing the services, or developing the quality of the places, would increase their attractiveness for tourists.

Identifying and ranking the factors affecting the transportation of products from a marketing perspective using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach

Identifying and ranking the factors affecting the transportation of products from a marketing perspective using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach

An integrated fuzzy inference system and AHP approach for criticality analysis of assets: A case study of a gas refinery

The purpose of maintenance is to ensure the maximum efficiency and availability of production assets at optimal cost considering quality, safety, and environmental aspects. Assets criticality analysis is one of the main steps in many maintenance methodologies, including Reliability Centered Maintenance. The present study seeks to provide a solution for determining critical assets for more efficient maintenance management. In this regard, an integrated approach of the analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy inference system was proposed based on the concept of the risk matrix. According to the concept of the risk matrix, two main criteria of failure consequences and probability were employed to determine assets criticality. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to consider all sub-criteria of failure consequences and probability. Finally, using two main criteria as inputs, a fuzzy inference system was developed to determine the criticality of the assets. The proposed approach was implemented in a gas refinery; the results showed its effectiveness and applicability in the process of prioritizing assets based on criticality criteria. The proposed approach has the advantages of multi-criteria decision-making techniques, modeling ambiguity and uncertainty in real issues, modeling the process of inference in the human mind, and storing the knowledge of the organization’s expert.

Android mobile malware detection using fuzzy AHP

Android mobile is very challenging because it is an open-source operating system that is also vulnerable to attacks. Previous studies have shown various mobile malware detection methods to overcome this problem, but still, there is room for improvement. Mobile users mostly ignore long lists of permissions because these are difficult to understand. Therefore, to distinguish benign or malware applications and the probability of each permission request is understood, it is necessary to evaluate Android mobile applications. This research proposed a multi-criteria decision-making based (MCDM) mobile malware detection system using a risk-based fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach to evaluate the Android mobile application. This study focuses on static analysis, that uses permission-based features to assess the mobile malware detection system approach. Risk analysis is applied to increase the awareness of the mobile user in granting any permission request to contain a high-risk level. The evaluation used 10,000 samples taken from Drebin and AndroZoo. The results show a high accuracy rate of 90.54% values that can effectively classify the Android application into four different risk levels.

Difference Analysis of Ecological Vulnerability and Zoning Changes of National Energy and Chemical Bases Using FAHP Method.

Ecological vulnerability zoning research is an important basis for taking targeted regional ecological environment restoration and governance measures. This study analyzes the ecological vulnerability pattern and trend in the National Energy and Chemical Base (NECB) in the typical region of the Loess Plateau using GIS (Geographic Information System) data and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach. Based on the human activity–natural environment factor index system, 13 factors representing human activities, socioeconomics, meteorology, soil and topography are selected to build an ecological vulnerability index (EVI) system in the NECB region, which aims at identifying the regional features of eco-environment and major environmental problems in the Loess Plateau. By calculating ecological vulnerability zoning, a model of ecological vulnerability trend change is constructed to quantitatively study the overall temporal and spatial variation of ecological vulnerability. The results indicate that the medium and heavy levels of ecological vulnerability index were mostly distributed in the areas with developed energy and chemical industries, and the slight and light levels were distributed in the southern area and developed agricultural regions. A comprehensive ecological vulnerability index had a score of 2.3207 in 2015 and 2.441 in 2000, indicating that the ecological security gradually improved. Nevertheless, highly intense human activities accelerated the degradation of regional eco-environment in recent years.

Application of an Analytic Hierarchy Process to Select the Level of a Cyber Resilient Capability Maturity Model in Digital Supply Chain Systems

Cyber resilient is the ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from cyber attacks. Cyber resilient has emerged over the past few years because traditional cybersecurity measures are no longer enough to protect organizations from the spate of persistent attacks. It helps an organization protect against cyber risks, defend against and limit the severity of attacks, and ensure its continued survival despite an attack.The cyber resilient capability maturity model is a very important element within an effective in digital supply chain. The maturity model has 6 components: identify, protect, detect, respond, recover and continuity which affect the cybersecurity of the organization. To measure the maturity level needs a holistic approach. Therefore, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach which allows both multi-criteria and simultaneous evaluation. Generally, the factors affecting cyber resilient in digital supply chain have non-physical structures. Therefore, the real problem can be represented in a better way by using fuzzy numbers instead of numbers to evaluate these factors. In this study, a fuzzy AHP approach is proposed to determine the cyber resilient capability maturity level in digital supply chain. The proposed method is applied in a real SMEs company. In the application, factors causing are weighted with triangular fuzzy numbers in pairwise comparisons. The result indicate that the weight factors from comparing the relationship of all factors put the importance of identify factors first, followed by protect, detect, respond, recover and continuity respectively.

Analysing the factors affecting the selection of ERP package: a fuzzy AHP approach

Contribution of small and medium scale enterprises is significant in development of any country, specifically developing countries like India. Therefore, synchronization and integration of their business processes and functions through effective and efficient information sharing is vital. Hence, enhancing their competence through the adoption of an appropriate Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is crucial to improve their competitiveness in the competitive scenario. Under this backdrop, this paper analyses pertinent factors for selecting an appropriate ERP system for SMEs. This mix-method research involved triangulation design by merging both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Factor Analysis was applied for selection of relevant factors affecting ERP procurement decision. Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process approach, based on triangular fuzzy numbers, was used to rank these factors. Further, sensitivity analysis was performed to ensure the robustness of the FAHP results. Cost of deployment was identified as the most significant criteria. On the other hand, ‘Vendor credibility’ was found to be the least significant factor. Criterion ‘User friendliness and Security’ and ‘Need fulfilment’ were ranked as second and third. ERP vendors can use these findings in developing appropriate marketing mix strategies. SME owners can also make use of these findings by collaborating with other SMEs for buying an ERP. This study can be seen as first attempt in investigating and ranking various factors affecting ERP adoption decision for SMEs, specifically in Indian context, using FAHP approach.

Evaluating Usability of Academic Websites through a Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process

In the higher education sector, there is a growing trend to offer academic information to users through websites. Contemporarily, the users (i.e., students/teachers, parents, and administrative staff) greatly rely on these websites to perform various academic tasks, including admission, access to learning management systems (LMS), and links to other relevant resources. These users vary from each other in terms of their technological competence, objectives, and frequency of use. Therefore, academic websites should be designed considering different dimensions, so that everybody can be accommodated. Knowing the different dimensions with respect to the usability of academic websites is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach has been considered to be a significant method to deal with the uncertainty that is involved in subjective judgment. Although a wide range of usability factors for academic websites have already been identified, most of them are based on the judgment of experts who have never used these websites. This study identified important factors through a detailed literature review, classified them, and prioritized the most critical among them through the FAHP methodology, involving relevant users to propose a usability evaluation framework for academic websites. To validate the proposed framework, five websites of renowned higher educational institutes (HEIs) were evaluated and ranked according to the usability criteria. As the proposed framework was created methodically, the authors believe that it would be helpful for detecting real usability issues that currently exist in academic websites.

In the search of oil and gas incident causal factors: The Gaussian Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process approach

Learning from events is a crucial measure to reduce the number of catastrophic incidents on board the oil and gas industry. It is critical to have a better understanding of the root causes behind the incidents. A better understanding of the incident causal factors can be accomplished by investigating thoroughly previous incident reports and determine the most notable factors in contributing to the incidents. This paper mainly elaborates and analyzes incident reports produced by the International Oil and Gas Producer Association’s (IOGP’s) reports from 2010 until 2018 located in the worldwide operation. The most contributing factors lead to the oil and gas incidents are examined in this paper utilizing Gaussian fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, an improved methodology of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) by embedding Gaussian fuzzy number within the evaluation process. Gaussian fuzzy number is obtained by random simulation corresponding to the Gaussian probability density function. The result of this paper reveals the more accurate and realistic representation of incident causal factors determination. This point of view helps in better explaining oil and gas incidents causal factors, where precaution measures should be directed and efficiently managed.

PRIORITY DETERMINATION OF SUBMARINE TYPE AS DEFENSE OF ARCHIPELAGIC WAR WITH FUZZY AHP METHOD AND BCR ANALYSIS

This thesis describes the application of the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) approach and Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) analysis in submarine selection. Submarines as Main Defenses System which are highly strategic in their procurement are directed at realizing a deterrence strategy and a strategy of balancing with state actors that have the potential to threaten the sovereignty of the Indonesian state. Apart from threats, the procurement of submarines also considers Indonesia's geographic constellation and the government's wishes, such as the interest of the minister of defense during working visits to countries that offer their submarines. The first step in procurement is to make an analysis in terms of selecting submarine alternatives, both analysis of information and identification of various important and interrelated requirements regarding data from submarine alternatives that will be selected later. Uncertainty from the government is a fuzzy'nes decision, so this condition can be resolved with the Fuzzy AHP approach and strengthened by BCR analysis, so that the results can provide a higher contribution. The results obtained from the Fuzzy AHP method are the priority order of selecting alternative submarines, namely Y-Class (0.398), W-Class (0.220), X-Class (0.191) and Z-Class (0.191). Where the results of the importance of the main criteria are sequential starting from the Strategic Requirement (Strareq) criteria of 0.409, Operation Requirement (Opsreq) of 0.318 and Technical Requirement (Techreq) of 0.273. Meanwhile, based on the BCR analysis, the Y-Class submarine was also selected with a BCR value of 1.512232936.
 
 Keywords: Fuzzy AHP method, BCR Analysis, Submarine Selection.

Assessing Mobile and Smart Technology Applications for Active and Healthy Aging using a Fuzzy Collaborative Intelligence Approach

Active and healthy living is critical in an aging society. Mobile and smart technology applications can assist in achieving this goal of healthy living. However, selecting a suitable and smart technology application for active and healthy living is difficult. To address this difficulty, a fuzzy collaborative intelligence (FCI) approach was proposed in this study to assess the suitability of a mobile and smart technology application. The FCI approach is a posterior-aggregation fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach that combines the fuzzy inverse of column sum, partial-consensus fuzzy intersection, and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution. The FCI approach starts from the prioritization of critical factors using the fuzzy inverse of column sum by each expert. Subsequently, partial-consensus fuzzy intersection is applied to aggregate the priorities derived by all experts. Based on the aggregation result, each mobile and smart technology application for active and healthy aging is assessed using fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution. The FCI approach was applied to assess five existing mobile and smart technology applications, with various aspects of life as parameters. According to experimental results, the most and least suitable mobile technology applications were smart canes and online food ordering and delivery platforms, respectively. This is because the current elderly population is not very familiar with smartphone applications. This problem will be solved over time when the current middle-age population becomes old. In addition, the ranking result obtained using the proposed methodology was considerably different from those using several existing methods. The aging of population is a natural phenomenon. The results of this study are helpful to creating an environment that is friendly and assists elderly people to age actively and healthily.

What Accounts for International Student Satisfaction in China—An Exploratory Study Based on Fuzzy AHP Approach

China has been recruiting an increasing number of international students. Satisfaction has been held as a significant indicator of education quality, thus international student satisfaction evaluation is considered as a major means to improve education quality. In this study, a framework for evaluating international student satisfaction is constructed based on fuzzy AHP (analytical hierarchy process) in terms of student satisfaction research findings. The study finds that international students are generally happy about their higher education in China; curriculum design and service quality particularly information technology infrastructure have been emphasized as the most influential factors.

A lean approach to healthcare management using multi criteria decision making

Recent challenges induced by the global pandemic COVID-19 have highlighted the critical importance of coping with a sudden surge in demand for front line healthcare services. Motivated by the success of lean implementation in manufacturing systems, this study attempts to apply the lean principles in healthcare delivery environments. The lean approach begins with the identification of seven types of wastes in any production or service system. This study attempts to identify and prioritize the present in hospitals. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in two ways. First, we identify the various sources contributing to the seven basic wastes in healthcare delivery. Second, we prioritize the seven types of wastes and the dimensions contributing to these wastes using a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM). This paper used the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process approach, which is a well-accepted tool in MCDM. The study was conducted at select hospitals located in and around Pune city in India. We find that waiting, transportation, motion, and defects are dominant in adopting lean practices among the seven wastes. The findings of this study may guide hospital management in strategic planning in adopting a lean healthcare process. To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to extract, and prioritise lean wastes within the context of the healthcare sector.

Unlocking the Sustainable Production Indicators: A Novel TESCO based Fuzzy AHP Approach

Sustainable production is becoming an important slant through which business enterprises prepare for achieving sustainable development goals. The concept of sustainable manufacturing deals with the development of various items that may utilize minimum resources and are safer for the society at a reasonable price. The present research problem explores and evaluates the production indicators pertaining to the achievement of sustainability in a textile supply chain. In this research, five main indicators and twenty five sub-indicators were determined through extensive review of literature and experts confirmation. This study proposes a novel TESCO-based fuzzy AHP approach for the evaluation of sustainability dimensions of textile sector under uncertain environment. This paper investigates the key sustainable dimensions based on technical (T), ecological (E), socio-economic (S), core competencies (C) and operational (O) considerations to prioritize the sustainable production indicators (SPIs). The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) approach has been applied to compute the weight vectors of dimension impacting the (SPIs). The findings depict that technical indicators have significant impact whereas operational indicators have the least impact in the decision-making process of a textile sector. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is applied to check the robustness among the criterion ranking and suggest possible measures to improve operational business excellence. Finally, the paper brings out a more systematic decision support toolkit and implications for the concerned stakeholders to formulate the policies regarding physical production and distribution of products.

Adaptability of earth pressure balance shield tunneling in coastal complex formations: a new evaluation method

It is difficult to tunnel in the coastal region of complex formations due to the lack of research into the adaptability of shield tunneling. A new method based on the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach was proposed to evaluate the adaptability of shield tunneling. Furthermore, an improved genetic algorithm (IGA) was introduced to calculate the weight of the index, which overcomes the defect of the AHP in terms of consistency testing. The evaluation model of adaptability was established based on the comprehensive analysis of the factors influencing adaptability in coastal complex formations. A case study on the adaptability evaluation of the Peng-Cai shield zone of Xiamen Metro was introduced to verify the application of the proposed method. The results indicated that the evaluation result accords with engineering practice and the proposed method can be used to evaluate the adaptability of shield tunneling.

A fuzzy AHP approach to evaluating differences between ocean container carriers and their customers

The study has investigated ocean container carrier selection criteria in order to determine the differences and similarities between carriers and their customers in the Turkish market. In application, four separate groups have used: carriers, freight forwarders, shippers, and consignees. For the first time, differences in perspective between carriers and their customers are studied in Turkey, eliminating the gap in knowledge about this market. It is also the first study to utilise fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method to examine the differences in perceptions between ocean container carriers, freight forwarders, shippers, and consignees. This study contributes to the literature by employing both a new region and an unused method. The study's findings are that the most important sub-criterion for carriers and freight forwarders was low freight; meanwhile, the most important criterion for shippers was determined to be equipment availability. The most important sub-criterion of consignees was on-time notification of the customer.

Pemilihan Smartphone Berdasarkan Rekomendasi Profile User: Integrasi Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process dan Rule Based

The usability and usefulness of smartphones have been found to lack optimality. Moreover, the action of the customer appears to behave as a consumptive user instead of buying following the basic needs. In selecting the right smartphone, this study provides an alternative option for buyers. The Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (F-AHP) approach is applied by distinguishing between two distinct decision-making namely, Profile User as a user recommendation-based, and Smartphone-based selection. The suggested requirements are hobbies, areas of jobs, and the use of social network applications in determining the user profile. The weights of the criteria and alternatives for profile users are acquired through the dissemination of questionnaires to 117 respondents. In the meantime, parameters such as Random-Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), camera, processor, screen, and battery are added to the smartphone list of criteria upon on the interviews of 15 experts and practices in smartphone and Information Technology (IT). F-AHP rates each of the Smartphone and User Profiles as a first-round output. A rule-based expert system is employed to intertwine Smartphone and User Profiles decision-making viewpoints. The relationship between the Smartphone and the User Profile is therefore circumscribed as the final decision to applaud the acceptable Smartphone for those users of the profile. A prototype of the MatchSmartPhone application has been developed to computerize the F-AHP calculation. This application can be used to assist users according to the user's profile in delivering the best Smartphone device recommendations. Users would be wiser and smarter when shopping in advance.

Evaluation of energy sources based on sustainability factors using integrated fuzzy MCDM approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model for evaluation of the energy alternates in India based on their sustainability.Design/methodology/approachA fuzzy analytical hierarchy process approach is used for the weight calculation of the criteria and the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution is used for ranking of the energy alternates. Seven energy sources – thermal, gas power, nuclear, solar, wind, biomass and hydro energy are considered for the assessment purpose on the basis of sustainability criteria, namely, economic, technical, social, environmental, political and flexible.FindingsThe result of the analysis shows that economics is the highest weight criterion, followed by environmental and technical criteria. Solar energy was chosen as the most sustainable energy alternate in India, followed by wind and hydro energy.Research limitations/implicationsFew other MCDM techniques such as VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution), weighted sum method and preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations – II can also be explored for the sustainability ranking of the energy alternates. However, the present model has also provided a good result.Practical implicationsThe present research work will help the decision-makers and organizations in the evaluation and prioritizing the various energy sources on the scale of sustainability.Social implicationsResearch finding provides guidance to government and decision-makers regarding the development of social conditions through energy security, job creation and economic benefits.Originality/valueResearch work can be act as a supplement for the investors and decision-makers specifically in prioritizing the investment perspective and to support other multi-perspective decision-making problems.

Fuzzy collaborative intelligence fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach for selecting suitable three-dimensional printers

Three-dimensional (3D) printing presents numerous opportunities for improving rapid prototyping and mass customization. However, the existing methods for assessing the performance of a 3D printer are associated with several problems. To solve these problems, a fuzzy collaborative intelligence fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach is proposed in this study for assessing the performance of a 3D printer. In the proposed methodology, the alpha-cut operations method is first applied to derive the fuzzy priority of each criterion for each decision maker. Based on the derived priorities, the fuzzy-weighted average is then computed to assess the overall performance of each 3D printer for each decision maker. Thereafter, fuzzy intersection is applied to aggregate the assessment results of the decision makers. Finally, the center-of-gravity method is applied to defuzzify the aggregation result. By using the proposed methodology, the consensus among decision makers can be guaranteed. The proposed fuzzy collaborative intelligence FAHP approach has been applied to a real case of 10 3D printers. The experimental results indicated that the accuracy of the proposed methodology is superior to that of the existing methods, which yielded different ranking results owing to the use of approximation.

Extended Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (E-FAHP): A General Approach

Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) methodologies have witnessed a growing development from the late 1980s until now, and countless FAHP based applications have been published in many fields including economics, finance, environment or engineering. In this context, the FAHP methodologies have been generally restricted to fuzzy numbers with linear type of membership functions (triangular numbers—TN—and trapezoidal numbers—TrN). This paper proposes an extended FAHP model (E-FAHP) where pairwise fuzzy comparison matrices are represented by a special type of fuzzy numbers referred to as (m,n)-trapezoidal numbers (TrN (m,n)) with nonlinear membership functions. It is then demonstrated that there are a significant number of FAHP approaches that can be reduced to the proposed E-FAHP structure. A comparative analysis of E-FAHP and Mikhailov’s model is illustrated with a case study showing that E-FAHP includes linear and nonlinear fuzzy numbers.