Multi-attribute Evaluation Research Articles

A Multiattribute Performance Measurement for Marine Energy Saving and Environmental Protection Enterprises

Fang, F., 2020. A multiattribute performance measurement for marine energy saving and environmental protection enterprises. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 396–401. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.With the rapid development of modern technology and industries, an industry revolution is approaching. Many countries have adjusted their own strategic development steps by raising emerging industries that are based on significant technical breakthroughs and development demand. The Chinese government has adopted the “blue economy” as the direction for high-quality development. Energy Saving and Environmental Protection (ESEP) industries have been chosen for the nature of their intensive knowledge and technology, their low consumption of material resources, their large growth potential, and the good overall benefit. China's listed ESEP enterprises, as an example, set performance evaluation indicators based on the path of their corporate value formation and use multiattribute evaluation methods to obtain stable evaluation results. They also comprehensively evaluate marine ESEP safeguard measures to protect the marine environment, to contribute toward transforming traditional development methods, and to accelerate the high-quality development of the marine economy.

Multi-attribute concept design procedure of a generic naval vessel

This paper presents a multi-attribute concept design procedure of a generic naval vessel. The procedure generates a set of Pareto optimal design solutions of up to corvette size vessels. It is composed of the self-balanced concept design model and of the search for the Pareto optimal design solutions. The self-balanced concept design model generates a set of balanced designs of required displacement, deck area, and internal volume, respectively, solving the naval architecture-related problems. The Pareto optimal search performs the multi-attribute evaluations of design solutions and identification of Pareto optimal set. The design variables are related to the ship’s form parameters and to the tactical and technical characteristics of the ship, such as selected options of armament, cruising range, autonomy, materials, propulsion, and the ship signatures, respectively. The selected design attributes are ship life cycle cost and the overall measure of effectiveness (OMOE). The procedure is codded in the form of the software named “Monako PRB”. The procedure is verified by performing the series of tests on the module level as well as on the global level. The final results were compared to the parameters of the existing ships. The results were satisfactory and proved the feasibility and reliability of the presented procedure.

Multi-UUV Cooperative Dynamic Maneuver Decision-Making Algorithm Using Intuitionistic Fuzzy Game Theory

In this paper, a multi-unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) cooperative dynamic maneuver decision-making algorithm is proposed based on the combination of game theory and intuitionistic fuzzy sets. Underwater environments with weak connectivity, underwater noise, and dynamic uncertainties are fully considered through intuitionistic fuzzy sets, which solves one of the main problems in making decisions underwater. Subsequently, the intuitionistic fuzzy multiattribute evaluation of a UUV maneuver strategy is conducted, and the intuitionistic fuzzy payment matrix of the cooperative dynamic maneuver game is obtained. Thereafter, the Nash equilibrium condition is proposed to satisfy the intuitionistic fuzzy total order, and the Nash equilibrium maneuver decision-making model under a dynamic underwater environment is established. Meanwhile, the modified particle swarm optimization method is presented to solve the established problem and find the optimal strategy. Finally, an example is used to verify the superiority of the proposed cooperative dynamic maneuver decision-making algorithm.

Study on Hesitant Fuzzy Multiattribute Quality Evaluation Based on Surface Defect Information of Autobody Panels

Surface defects of autobody panels have the greatest impact on the surface quality of the automobile body, but many enterprises lack a scientific and reasonable evaluation method of surface quality, relying solely on the subjective judgment of decision makers which will lead to an increase in the probability of misjudgment. In this paper, the subjective weight is determined by the genetic algorithm based on optimization, and the objective weight is determined by the improved deviation maximization method. Combining the hesitant fuzzy set theory, the hesitant fuzzy mixed weighted arithmetic average operator (HFHWA), and the score function, the surface defect information of the panel is quantified. On this basis, a complete set of hesitant fuzzy multiattribute evaluation model of surface defect information is proposed. Taking a batch of inner panels of the automobile door produced by A automobile enterprise as an example, five common defects including hidden pit, bump and scratch, rust, indentation pockmark, and ripple are selected as evaluation attributes to evaluate their surface quality, which verifies the validity and practicability of the model.

Fire Safety Protection and Prevention Measures in Nigeria Office Buildings

office buildings are generally known to have high-rise of fire due to its complexity, combustible materials, and its economic value. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the fire safety protection and prevention system installed in six randomly selected office buildings. The method adopted in achieving the study objective includes literature review, interview, and physical inspection/observation. Thus, a multiattribute evaluation approach was adopted to establish adequate, inadequate, and no fire safety systems, used the pre-designed checklist from NFPA, 2008, NBC, 2006, and NFSC, 2013. The analysis of the result shows that some of the fire safety systems are mainly provided in the buildings. Thus, inadequate maintenance affect their performance greatly; the result shows that fire extinguisher has the highest performance among the fire safety system provided with 66.6% of the buildings have adequate, good working condition, properly position, etc., while 33.4% of the building does not have adequate fire extinguisher in term of performance, are not maintenance the system display lack in term of total compliance to the standard fire regulation. The results of the other systems were as follows: place of safety (33.4%); inadequate, (66.4%) no fire safety system, (0.00%) adequate, Escape Stair (0.00%), adequate, (33.4%) inadequate, (66.6%), no fire safety system, Fire Door (17%) adequate, (83%) inadequate (0.00%) no fire safety system, Travel distance (0.00%) adequate, (83%) inadequate, (17%) no fire system, Emergency lighting (0.00%) adequate, (100%) inadequate, (0.00%) no fire safety system, Fire Alarm (16.6%) adequate (66.6%) inadequate, (16.6%) no fire safety system. The firefighters access (0.00%) adequate, (100%) inadequate, (0.00%) no fire safety system, Artificial lighting (17%) adequate, (83%) inadequate and (0.00%) no fire safety system. Judging from the findings, the study recommended that, regular maintenance of fire safety system should be done to enhance effective functionality of the systems, effective fire safety management system should be developed to enhance continuous functions of the installed system and construction of any office building should be made to comply strictly with existing fire safety regulation, standard, and code.

Multi-attribute evaluation and deviation analysis of regional distribution network investment effect

As the input ratio of regional distribution network increases year by year, higher requirements are put forward for high quality and high reliability of power consumption. Under this background, this paper involves 11 evaluation indexes from three dimensions of reliability, economy and environmental protection, and designs the evaluation index system of investment effect of regional distribution network. The multiattribute AHP-TOPSIS-entropy weight combination evaluation method for the investment effect of regional distribution networks is constructed. And select distribution network A, B, C area for example analysis, the results show that the n-1 pass rate, power supply reliability, power consumption growth and emission reduction of clean energy generation are positively correlated with the investment effect of regional distribution network.

Adaptive entropy theory polymerization method for path optimization in edge computing educational systems

In this paper, through the edge computing application path, the educational evaluation system was optimized using the adaptive entropy theory polymerization method which based on applying the path. By adding multiple constraints to filter out nodes and educational evaluation edges that do not meet the requirements, the improved algorithm is used to optimize the redundant paths to avoid loops and node detour problem. To improve the accuracy of education evaluation and evaluation, ensure the load balance in the domain, and solve the problems of single evaluation attribute and high overlap of education evaluation paths. This paper proposes a multi-attribute education evaluation model that refines the evaluation attributes of education evaluation and uses analytic hierarchy process perform weight distribution. The algorithm can improve the accuracy of the evaluation of the education evaluation system while ensuring the computational efficiency, and can ensure the load balance within the domain, and improve the network survival time.

Linguistic multi-attribute decision-making evaluation method for product innovation design scheme with demand preferences of customers

Linguistic multi-attribute decision-making evaluation method for product innovation design scheme with demand preferences of customers

COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF MULTIPLE STAINING TECHNIQUES FOR IDENTIFICATION OF DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF ACANTHAMOEBA AND NAEGLERIA

Potentially pathogenic free-living amoebae (FLA) are unique protozoa that present a healthcare challenge. The appropriate choice of staining technique is crucial to improving the efficiency of microscopic diagnosis of FLA isolated from environmental as well as clinical samples. This study aimed to evaluate different staining techniques for morphologicalidentification of Acanthamoeba and Naegleria isolated from tap water samples in different localities in Assiut City, Egypt. A multi-attribute evaluation was performed to compare these techniques considering staining quality, ease of performance, cost and time of each procedure. Seven staining techniques were used including Lugol’s iodine and lactophenol cotton blue as temporary stains, with Giemsa, trichrome, iron hematoxylin, acid-fast and Gram stains as permanent stains. Both lactophenol cotton blue and Lugol's iodine showed good structural details of different stages of FLA and good contrast at a very short time and reasonable cost, followed by Giemsa. Both trichrome and iron hematoxylin stains gave comparable staining quality but at a longer time with more complex staining procedures and higher cost. Both modified acid-fast and Gram stains didn't provide sufficient staining quality to identify morphological details of FLA. According to the multi-attribute evaluation, both Lugol’s iodine and lactophenol cotton blue achieved the highest rank (92.85%) followed by Giemsa and Gram stains (64.28 %), modified acid-fast stain (57.14%), while iron hematoxylin and Masson’strichrome had the last rank (46.42%).

Multi-Attribute Evaluation and Selection of Broiler House for the Low Prevalence of Footpad Lesion

ABSTRACT Intensive broiler production requires large flock density, which compromises litter quality and increases the prevalence of footpad lesions. The present study aimed at comparing the incidence of footpad dermatitis of broilers reared in two different rearing environments. Data from two broiler houses were recorded during 42 d. Air temperature and relative humidity; litter moisture, pH, and temperature; footpad surface temperature; and the incidence of footpad lesions was investigated. Litter quality was analyzed in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement, with two house types (dark house or open-sided house) and four rearing phases (21, 28, 35, and 42 d of growth), with four replicates per treatment using 12 replicates. Four replicates were used for analyzing the air environment data. For the footpad lesion identification, a randomly factorial scheme of recording the surface temperature was built (2 x 2) using two houses, and the broiler sex using 15 replicates in the grow-out stages. The measures of association (odds ratio and risk ratio) were calculated. The multi-criteria analysis (Analytic Hierarchy Process - AHP) was applied for estimating the house that provided less prevalence of lesions. The field data did not provide enough evidence for selection of a particular house with less incidence of footpad dermatitis. However, when applying the measures of association data, and corresponding literature data to the AHP, there was an indication that the dark-house provided broiler rearing condition that reduced the incidence of footpad lesions.

Establishing a dynamic ergonomic evaluation index system for complex product designs based on the theory of product life cycle

Ergonomic design and evaluation for complex product (tractor as an example) in different lifecycle stages should be different and specific according to changing business strategies. Being key factors for multi-attribute evaluation, how to define indicators and assign weights to them for tractor's different lifecycle stages are discussed in this paper. Focus group has been used for brainstorming initial indicators as many as possible. Then, indicators and their relationship-structures for three lifecycle stages were assessed and optimized by two rounds of Delphi surveys involving 15 experts. After that, a synthetic indicator weight assignment method suitable for value evaluation and ranking evaluation was proposed. Indicators' weights for value evaluation was composed by experts' value judgment weight and experts' credibility weight, the former was assigned by Group Analytic Hierarchy Process method and the latter was assigned by calculating distances between individual weight and the average weight. To differentiate alternatives' ergonomic performances clearly, weight set of value evaluation has been modified by indicator's information entropy weight. The results show that there are some significant differences in three indicator systems (for three lifecycle stages) and weight sets developed by the proposed method, and this will have significant impacts on ergonomic evaluation results, which can provide useful feedback for tractor's design during its early design stage. The proposed method can be applied to ergonomic evaluation study of other complex products in their lifecycle.

Engineering Water Pollution Control System Design Based on Robust Optimization Strategy

Environmental and health problems caused by engineering water pollution have become an important factor restricting the sustainable development of our country’s engineering. Our country’s engineering water pollution control has the characteristics of diverse structure, multiple objectives, related elements and great uncertainty, which brings challenges to the reasonable and effective development of engineering water pollution control planning. The structural design and technical selection method of engineering water pollution control established in this paper includes two parts: multi-objective robust optimization model and robust analysis framework. Among them, the multi-objective robust optimization model uses Latin hypercube sampling to improve the non-dominated sequencing genetic algorithm to provide an optimal scheme set that takes robustness into consideration for the planning of the engineering water pollution control system. A multi-attribute evaluation index system is constructed in the framework of robustness analysis. Through evaluation and selection of the optimal scheme set, subjectivity of system optimization scheme selection is reduced, and the scientific and quantitative level of scheme evaluation is improved. Based on the uncertainty analysis, key factors and sensitive areas affecting the robustness of the system are identified, which further improves the interpretation and application capabilities of the multi-objective robust optimization model.

The evaluation of electricity generation resources: The case of Turkey

Electricity is the rising force among worldwide end-uses of energy. To meet the increasing demand, accurate policy decisions should be made considering each country's own dynamics. In fact, the selection of appropriate electricity generation resources necessitates the consideration of different aspects of the problem; hence, multi-attribute evaluation should be used. Topcu and Ulengin (2004) conducted a multi-attribute study to select the appropriate electricity generation resource in Turkey. To analyze the potential changes that may occur in electricity generation policy due to the recent dynamics in Turkey, the electricity generation resource selection problem is revisited in this research. Alternatives to be evaluated as well as the criteria to be used for evaluation are initially determined based on the synthesis of a literature survey and expert opinions. The alternatives are identified as solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, hydro, biomass, natural gas, coal, oil, and nuclear. The alternatives were evaluated using a new multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) approach based on the integration of Monte Carlo simulation, entropy, and Borda count methods. Besides updating data of Topcu and Ulengin, this new approach makes a significant contribution to the analysis stage as well. The results reveal that the primary electricity generation resources for Turkey should be a combination of renewable resources.

Financial risk investment decision based on fuzzy logic theory model

To explore the influencing factors in financial investment, fuzzy logic theory was applied to the decision-making of financial risk investment. Using the methods of system analysis and empirical research, the influencing factors of investment projects were comprehensively analyzed. Based on the fuzzy matrix and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model, the uncertain factors were analyzed. The analytic hierarchy process was introduced to determine the weight of each indicator. The results showed that in the decision-making of financial risk investment projects, fuzzy consistent matrix method and fuzzy multi-attribute comprehensive evaluation method made the decision more reasonable. In summary, the analytic hierarchy process and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method constitute a comprehensive evaluation model. It can effectively overcome the respective shortcomings of decision making by using the model of AHP or fuzzy evaluation alone. In the financial risk investment environment, a satisfactory portfolio of high-risk and high-yield dual goals is obtained.

Identifying Important Nodes in Complex Networks Based on Multiattribute Evaluation

Assessing and measuring the importance of nodes in a complex network are of great theoretical and practical significance to improve the robustness of the actual system and to design an efficient system structure. The classical local centrality measures of important nodes only take the number of node neighbors into consideration but ignore the topological relations and interactions among neighbors. Due to the complexity of the algorithm itself, the global centrality measure cannot be applied to the analysis of large-scale complex network. The k-shell decomposition method considers the core node located in the center of the network as the most important node, but it only considers the residual degree and neglects the interaction and topological structure between the node and its neighbors. In order to identify the important nodes efficiently and accurately in the network, this paper proposes a local centrality measurement method based on the topological structure and interaction characteristics of the nodes and their neighbors. On the basis of the k-shell decomposition method, the method we proposed introduces two properties of structure hole and degree centrality, which synthetically considers the nodes and their neighbors’ network location information, topological structure, scale characteristics, and the interaction between different nuclear layers of them. In this paper, selective attacks on four real networks are, respectively, carried out. We make comparative analyses of the averagely descending ratio of network efficiency between our approach and other seven indices. The experimental results show that our approach is valid and feasible.

Critical Lines Identification for Skeleton-Network of Power Systems under Extreme Weather Conditions Based on the Modified VIKOR Method

Identifying and preferentially reinforcing critical lines for skeleton-network of power systems is significant in improving the secure and stable operation of power systems under extreme weather conditions. Under this background, in this paper, six indexes are first presented for identifying critical lines for skeleton-network with the power elements’ parameters and the impact of extreme weather conditions, the network topology and the operation state of power systems considered. Then, the modified Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje in Serbian (VIKOR) method, in which the synthetic weights of indexes determined by the combination weighting method are adopted, is utilized to identify the importance degrees of lines in a given power system. Both the overall performance and the outstanding individual performance of lines are considered, which is beneficial for the critical lines identification for skeleton-network. Finally, the proposed multi-indexes and methods are applied to part of the actual Guangdong power system in China. The numerical results are compared with those obtained by single-attribute and multi-attribute evaluation methods and other evaluation methods.

CRITIC-Based Node Importance Evaluation in Skeleton-Network Reconfiguration of Power Grids

Seven centrality indexes are first presented for identifying important nodes with topological features of a complex network and electrical characteristics of a power system considered. Then, a criteria importance through intercriteria correlation-based multi-index decision-making method, in which entropy and the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient are integrated for reflecting the differences and correlations among multiple indexes, respectively, is presented to comprehensively identify the importance degrees of nodes in a given power grid. Finally, the proposed indexes and method are applied to actual Guangdong power system in China, and the results are compared with those attained by single-attribute and multi-attribute evaluation methods.

Investment efficiency of urban infrastructure systems: Empirical measurement and implications for China

Infrastructure investment is vital to a nation's long-term development and its performance needs to be carefully evaluated to ensure the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of infrastructure decisions. Though some studies attempt to evaluate the development level of infrastructure systems, most of them focus on economic influence but neglect other aspects such as societal benefits. To advance the accuracy of the current method, we expanded a multi-attribute evaluation framework based on a data envelopment analysis (DEA) based Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to evaluate the longitudinal efficiency of China's infrastructure investment. The statistical data from 2004 to 2014 in 30 provincial-level administrative divisions were collected as inputs and outputs of the model for a dynamic cross-provincial comparison. We found that, firstly, the overall efficiency of infrastructure investment during the study periods was improved by 2.4% and the increase was primarily due to technical change rather than efficiency change. Secondly, an uneven distribution of the efficiency level existed among different regions, with the eastern region as the best performance of an average MPI of 1.067 and the western region being the lowest. Thirdly, each provincial-level administrative division exhibited a distinctive changing profile over the period, with Beijing (20.5%) and Shanghai (20.4%) as the fastest growing provinces yet Shandong the slowest (−13.1%). The yearly change, its interpretation and in-depth analysis of MPI's decomposition have also been discussed. The proposed approach and findings can provide insights for making long term investment strategies and infrastructure policies in China and similar countries.

Risk assessment: method and case study for traffic projects

A comprehensive project evaluation and decision-making method considering multiple objectives, stakeholders, and attributes of proposed traffic treatments is inherently complicated. Although individual techniques in evaluating operations, safety, economic, and stakeholder objectives are available, a practical method that integrates all these risk factors and their uncertainties into a multi-attribute decision-making tool is absent. A three-level project decision-making process was developed to model and assess multiple-attribute risk in a proposed traffic treatment from the perspective of multiple stakeholders. The direct benefits from reducing delay and safety risk (basic objectives of traffic treatments) are computed in Level 1 with established methods. Feasibility and performance analysis in Level 2 examine site-specific constraints and conduct detailed performance analysis using advanced analysis tools. In Level 3, this paper introduces an innovative and integrated multiple attributes evaluation process under fuzziness and uncertainty (MAFU) process for evaluation and decision-making. The MAFU is a comprehensive and systematic assessment and decision-making procedure that can assess the magnitudes of project performance and to integrate conflicting interests and trade-offs among stakeholders. A case study illustrates the application of MAFU for the selection of a traffic alternative involving several evaluation attributes and stakeholders. Results show that the MAFU produced the smallest variance for each alternative. With traditional cost–benefit evaluation methods, the uncertainty associated with performance of a traffic project in terms of operation, safety, environmental impacts, etc., is unrestricted and cumulative. Therefore, a reliable multi-attribute evaluation of complex traffic projects should not be made with conventional cost–benefit analysis alone but with a process like MAFU.

Using the data mining method to assess the innovation gap: A case of industrial robotics in a catching-up country

It is critical for “catching-up” countries to narrow innovation gaps with developed countries by developing emerging industries. This research introduces a data-mining based method to systematically assess the national innovation gap that is specifically for emerging industries. The method examines the five key attributes of emerging industries, including the ownership of platform technologies, globalization intention, international knowledge position, university-industry linkage, and cross-disciplinary technology development. In particular, this method combines data-mining with experts' knowledge to build patent-training examples, and then uses a support vector machine-based classifier to single out all high-quality patents for each innovation attribute. Based on the selected high-quality patents, the authors utilize a factorial design analysis to systematically evaluate the innovation gap between countries. This method can significantly reduce measurement bias of traditional single patent indicators. In addition, it also can robustly adjust measuring weights in response to the specifics of each innovation attribute, while traditional multi-attribute evaluation methods cannot. As a result, this research empirically shows that China' industrial robot sector has apparent innovation gaps compared to developed economies, specifically in university-industry linkage, cross-disciplinary competence, and globalization intention, and this calls for the attention of policy makers and industrial experts.