Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Method Research Articles

Water Environmental Assessment and Comprehensive Utilization of Subsided water Area in Panji coal mining Area of Huainan city

In order to plan and utilize water resources of subsided water area, the basic water quality information of subsided water area is needed. fourteen large scaled subsided water areas have been selected in Panji coal mining area of Huainan city, the investigation and sampling have been carried out. Heavy element of water quality has been analyzed and fuzzy synthetic evaluation method was used to evaluate water environment. The results show that most of the twelve investigated subsided water areas which developed for the fish farming have been polluted already. Only one subsided water area was assessed as class III. Appropriate measures are taken to control subsided water areas of different areas and pollution, then comprehensive development and utilization of water resources can be adopted.

Quantitative assessment of resource and environment security:A case study in mountainous areas of Southwest China

This paper takes mountainous areas of Southwest China(Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region,Chongqing Municipality,Sichuan Province),Guizhou Province and Yunnan Province,which are regions bearing huge pressure of resource and environment,as the study area.According to the Pressure-State-Response model,the integrated assessment index system of resource and environment security was established.Using the entropy weight and fuzzy synthetic evaluation method,the general situation of resource and environment security of each province from 1999 to 2009 were assessed quantitatively.The results are shown as follows.(1) The integral security level of the study area was lower,though the development of resource-environment system of each province showed positive momentum.(2) Yunnan had the highest holistic resource and environment security level,followed by Chongqing,Sichuan,Guizhou and Guangxi.(3) The degree of membership curve of each province presented a convergent tendency since 2006,which indicated that the mountainous areas of Southwest China made some progress during the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan(2006~2010),but the whole region has not got rid of the development model of seeking temporary economic growth at the expense of the environment and resources.

A Novel Approach for Power Enterprise Supply Chain Performance Evaluation Based on Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Method

Abstract This study intends to propose a novel approach based on fuzzy synthetic evaluation in order to realize power enterprise supply chain performance evaluation. Through the characteristic analysis of power enterprise supply chain, a 2-dimensions mesh framework for power enterprise supply chain performance evaluation is put forward, and the indexes of power enterprise supply chain performance evaluation are proposed. Furthermore, the evaluation criteria for each index are established and the evaluation approach based on fuzzy synthetic evaluation for power enterprise supply chain is developed. Finally, an example is presented and the proposed approach is proved feasible and efficient.

Selecting a Location for a City Logistics Facility: A Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Method

The strategic location of city logistics facilities may help to establish more efficient urban logistics systems, reduce social and environmental costs of urban freight transport, and improve urban traffic conditions. In addition, it may allow a number of shippers or freight carriers to jointly operate freight vehicles and terminals or information systems while allowing them to have the capability to provide higher levels of services to their customers. This paper considers the problem of selecting a location for a city logistics facility while considering linguistic factors. This paper identifies the important factors in the selection of a location for a city logistics facility by performing a case study which applies the analytic hierarchy process method on data from Chongqing, China. The optimal location in Chongqing is then determined by using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method. The results of this paper are expected to help municipal governments select appropriate locations for city logistics facilities and quantify the advantages and disadvantages of alternative locations.

Selecting a Location for a City Logistics Facility: A Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Method

The strategic location of city logistics facilities may help to establish more efficient urban logistics systems, reduce social and environmental costs of urban freight transport, and improve urban traffic conditions. In addition, it may allow a number of shippers or freight carriers to jointly operate freight vehicles and terminals or information systems while allowing them to have the capability to provide higher levels of services to their customers. This paper considers the problem of selecting a location for a city logistics facility while considering linguistic factors. This paper identifies the important factors in the selection of a location for a city logistics facility by performing a case study which applies the analytic hierarchy process method on data from Chongqing, China. The optimal location in Chongqing is then determined by using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method. The results of this paper are expected to help municipal governments select appropriate locations for city logistics facilities and quantify the advantages and disadvantages of alternative locations.

Developing a fuzzy risk assessment model for guaranteed maximum price and target cost contracts in construction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy risk assessment model for construction projects procured with target cost contracts (TCC) and guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contracts using factor analysis (FA) and fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, based on an empirical questionnaire survey with relevant industrial practitioners in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachA total of 34 key risk factors (RFs) inherent with TCC/GMP contracts were identified through an extensive literature review and a series of structured interviews. A questionnaire survey was then launched to solicit the opinions of industrial practitioners on risk assessment of such RFs.FindingsThe most important 17 principal RFs after the calculation of normalised values were selected for undertaking FA. Five principal risk groups (PRGs) were then generated in descending order of importance as: design risks, pre‐contract risks, economic and financial risks, lack of experience in TCC/GMP procurement process and post‐contract risks. These survey findings also reveal that design risks may be the major hurdle to the success of TCC/GMP projects in Hong Kong.Originality/valueAn overall risk index (ORI) associated with TCC/GMP construction projects and the risk indices of individual PRGs can be generated from the model for reference. An objective and reliable assessment can be achieved. The model provides a solid platform to measure, evaluate and reduce the risk levels of TCC/GMP projects based on objective evidence instead of subjective judgments. The research methodology could be replicated in other countries or regions to produce similar models for international comparisons and the assessment of risk levels for different types of TCC/GMP projects worldwide.

Spatial–temporal characteristics of surface water quality in the Taihu Basin, China

Taihu Basin is one of the most developed and industrialized regions in China. In the last two decades, rapid development of economy as well as an increase in population has resulted in an increase of pollutants produced and discharged into rivers and lakes. Much more attention has been paid on the serious water pollution problems due to high frequency of algal blooming. The dataset, obtained during the period 2001-2002 from the Water Resources Protection Bureau of the Taihu Basin, consisted of eight physicochemical variables surveyed monthly at 22 sampling sites in the Taihu Basin, China. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were used to identify the characteristics of the surface water quality in the studied area. The temporal and spatial variations of water quality were also evaluated by using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) method. PCA extracted the first two principal components (PCs), explaining 86.18% of the total variance of the raw data. Especially, PC1 (73.72%) had strong positive correlation with DO, and was negatively associated with COD(Mn), COD, BOD, NH(4)(+)-N, TP and TN. PC2 (12.46%) was characterized by pH. CA showed that most sites were highly polluted by industrial and domestic wastewater which contributed significantly to PC1. The sites located in the west of Lake Taihu were influenced by farmland runoff which may contribute to nitrogen pollution of Lake Taihu, whereas the monitoring sites in the eastern of Lake Taihu demonstrated that urban residential subsistence and domestic wastewater are the major contaminants. FSE indicates that there is no obvious variance between 2001 and 2002 among most sites. Only several sites free from point-source pollution appear to exhibit good water quality through the studied period.

Application of AHP FSE Method in the Network Course Quality Evaluation

In order to resolve a problem on the network course quality evaluation be affected by many complicated factors, combining with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation (FSE) is applied in it. Firstly, it makes a top-down analysis of the factors that affect the network courses and establishes a set of hierarchical factor structure with AHP. Then, it evaluates the single factor, including to determine the weight of each factor to decision-making with AHP and to calculate the influence degree of each factor with FSE. Finally, it gives a down-top comprehensive fuzzy evaluation until obtaining the final evaluation result. Its results showed that AHP FSE considered fully the factors’ hierarchy and weight that affect the quality of network course. The Application of AHP FSE method can give an overall evaluation for the network course effectively.

Location Decision of City Logistics Facility Based on Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation

The concept of city logistics facilities is to help establish more efficient urban logistics systems for both private companies and society, reduce the total social and environmental costs of urban freight transport and improve the urban traffic conditions on the road network. This study adopts a fuzzy synthetic evaluation method to determine the optimal location of city logistics facilities.

Operational state monitoring and fuzzy fault diagnostic system of mine drainage

A system to monitor the operational state of a coal mine drainage system is presented, fault problems are diagnosed and solved. The system includes a Single Chip Microprocessor (SCM) Atmega169 and an industrial PC used as a master-slave structure. Characteristic parameters of the drainage system were extracted and analysed. As well, a research project on the fault diagnosis of centrifugal water pump based on a fuzzy synthetic evaluation method is initiated. The proposed monitoring and fault diagnostic system can improve the automation, safety, reliability, economy and efficiency of mine drainage systems considerably, decrease blindness and shorten the time required for water pump maintenance.

Application of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process model on determination of optimized pile-type

Pile-type selection is a very important stage of foundation design, and there are many field factors influencing the decision of pile-type selection. Since there is a limitation of traditional “major factors method” to satisfy the requirement of modern foundation construction, this study presents an efficient approach, in which analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is employed. AHP is a multiple criteria decision-making tool that has been applied in many fields related to the decision-making, e.g., in the field of economics, marketing, sociology, etc. However, it is rarely reported that AHP is applied in the field of civil engineering for decision making. In this study, AHP combined with fuzzy synthetic evaluation method is employed to select the type of pile used as the foundation of a residential building in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. The results show that fuzzy AHP approach is an easy and efficient way for pile-type selection.

Evaluation Method and Application of CNC Machine Tool’s Green Degree Based on Fuzzy-EAHP

A method applying the fuzzy extension analytic hierarchy process (EAHP) method is proposed to evaluate the green degree of CNC machine tool whose evaluation indexes of green degree can be qualitative and quantitative and multi-hierarchic. It can quantitatively show the relative important degree between indexes with the extension interval number. By the extension interval judging matrix of evaluation index constructed by the experts, the weight of the indexes is identified and the green degree is evaluated step by step with fuzzy synthetic evaluation method. At last the result of synthetical green degree is obtained with fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. An example with machining center is given to evaluate its green degree. The result shows that the green degree of the machining center is medium. It is consistent with the reality.

A fuzzy logic-based approach to idea screening for product design

The idea screening of a new product concept is perhaps the most critical activity in new product development (NPD). This paper presents a fuzzy synthetic evaluation method (FSEM) for selecting an optimum design alternatives based on fuzzy set theory. The process involves constructing a hierarchical objective, setting evaluation criteria, establishing a fuzzy judgment matrix and weight vector, and then ranking the order of design alternatives by a fuzzy number in the fuzzy sequencing vector. A hierarchical structure is used to calculate the fuzzy probability level by level from the lowest-level objectives. The evaluation objectives are arranged in the hierarchical structure with several levels. The relative contribution of each objective to the overall value of the solution and the rating or degree of approximation of a solution with respect to a given objective are quantified with the membership functions of a fuzzy set. After the fuzzy expected values of the top-level objectives are calculated, they are then used to make a decision quantitatively on selecting the optimal design alternative. The proposed approach can efficiently aid managers in dealing with both ambiguity and complexity in product screening decisions. To verify the feasibility of this approach, a case study is conducted with a product design of Power Line Communication (PLC) in this study.

Analysis and evaluation of tourism e-commerce websites in China

Internet has become a platform for companies in the travel and tourism industry to bring their products and services to the customers around the world in a direct, efficient, and cost-minimising fashion. In this research, we develop an index system for the evaluation of Chinese tourism websites, incorporating factors relating to website design, contents, and effectiveness. We use the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine the weights of different components of the index, and the Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation (FSE) method to evaluate the websites. We illustrate the use of our method by analysing the China Travel Network website.

Residents' Perceptions of Tourism Impacts: An Analysis of Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation

Investigating residents' perception of tourism impacts is a good method to analyze the status of tourism impact. Due to the underlying correlation among several impacts indices, tourism impacts are generally very complex to model. Various methods such as single-variable and statistics used in previous authoritative studies are not sensitive enough, which may affect the decision-making process adversely. The purpose of this research is to present the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method to analyze residents' perceptions of tourism impacts. Basic attributes and a hierarchical framework of tourism impacts are defined and formed. Then weighted vectors are determined according to the knowledge and experience of experts. The weighted evaluation matrices are then aggregated to get the fuzzy sets of tourism impacts. In the final stage, the final fuzzy sets are defuzzified to get the rank of residents' perceptions of tourism impacts. Sensitivity of fuzzy synthetic evaluation is quite high compared to other index evaluation techniques. A case study in Jiuzhaigou National Park of China is provided to demonstrate the application of this method. The findings clearly indicate that the fuzzy synthetic evaluation may successfully harmonize inherent complex conditions in residents' perception of tourism impact.

Entropy method for determination of weight of evaluating indicators in fuzzy synthetic evaluation for water quality assessment

Considering the difficulty of fuzzy synthetic evaluation method in calculation of the multiple factors and ignorance of the relationship among evaluating objects, a new weight evaluation process using entropy method was introduced. This improved method for determination of weight of the evaluating indicators was applied in water quality assessment of the Three Gorges reservoir area. The results showed that this method was favorable for fuzzy synthetic evaluation when there were more than one evaluating objects. One calculation was enough for calculating every monitoring point. Compared with the original evaluation method, the method predigested the fuzzy synthetic evaluation process greatly and the evaluation results are more reasonable.

Fuzzy synthetic evaluation on resident’s perceptions of tourism impacts

Tourism can have both positive and negative outcomes for residents in tourism destinations. It is a good method to analyze the status of tourism impact by means of investigating residents’ perceptions of it. Various methods have been used in previous authoritative studies. However, owing to inherent imprecision, difficulties always exist in some conventional methodologies when describing the interpretation of linguistic or measured uncertainties for real-world random phenomena. The purpose of this research is to present the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method to investigate residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts. At first, basic attributes and a hierarchical framework of tourism impacts are defined and formed. Secondly, the weighted vectors are determined according to the knowledge and experience of experts. Thirdly, the weighted evaluation matrices are aggregated to get the fuzzy sets of tourism impacts. In the last stage, the final fuzzy sets are defuzzified to get the rank of the residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts. A case study in Jiuzhaigou National Park of China is provided to demonstrate the application of this method.

Determining the repair ranking of existing RC bridges using fuzzy synthetic evaluation method

The main purpose of this paper was to adopt the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, which uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for determining a weight vector, to assess the repair ranking of existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. Five existing RC bridges in Taiwan were used as illustrative examples. To verify the feasibility and reliability of the proposed method, the previous wide reliability bound method was also employed to assess the same five existing RC bridges. The results obtained from both the proposed and wide reliability bound methods produced the same repair rankings. The results represented in this study can be used as an engineering decision‐making tool for the repair, strengthening or demolition rankings for existing RC bridges.

Selection of mobile value-added services for system operators using fuzzy synthetic evaluation

Following deregulation of the mobile phones market and liberalization of the telecommunications sector, the service sector for mobile phones is becoming increasingly saturated. Telecom operators are confronted with a sluggish user growth rate and a fall in the average revenue per user (ARPU). Mobile value-added services are expected to form mobile operators' strategy to make up for the dwindling revenues obtained from users. The purpose of this study is to provide an analytical tool to select the best mobile value-added service firm providing the most customer satisfaction. This study adopts a fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate the performance of mobile value-added services system operators. This method can help consumers select the appropriate firm from the other consumers' opinions, and can help telecom operators to understand the market status of mobile value-added services as well as the prevailing consumer patterns.

An approach to evaluation of sustainability for Guangzhou's urban ecosystem

SUMMARY Guangzhou has ambitions to build itself into a world class metropolis by 2010. Sustainable development is the only way to achieve this magnificent goal. Based on the ecological perspective of sustainable development and the principles of ecosystem integrity, this paper develops an approach for evaluation of sustainable development in Guangzhou between 1986 and 1995. A hierarchical evaluation system of four tiers of sustainability indicators was established. Using the method of fuzzy multistage synthetic evaluation, sustainability development level index, QIx, was calculated for the indicators at the B, C, D, and E tiers. Development stages were identified based on these index values. The coordination degree among the economic, social, and natural subsystems was also computed. Further, an overall sustainability index for each year was computed by combining the development level index and the coordination degree. It was found that the urban ecosystem in Guangzhou had generally become more sustainable, in spite of fluctuations in coordination degree. The development level index of the economic subsystem has surpassed that of social and natural subsystems since 1995. Appropriate measures must be taken to ensure coordinated development among the subsystems for the purpose of sustainable development.