Multi-criteria Ranking Method Research Articles

Handling the inconsistency in ranking customers via several multi-criteria ranking methods

Handling the inconsistency in ranking customers via several multi-criteria ranking methods

Using a Multi-Criteria Ranking Method to Assess Factors Influencing the Implementation of Sustainable Development at Higher Educational Institutions

Over the last years, there has been a significant increase in interest in sustainable development in higher education institutions, and many have begun to implement sustainable development into their system. Several sustainable development assessment tools have also been developed to help universities systematically measure, monitor, benchmark, communicate, and manage their sustainable development efforts. These efforts have led to mixed results. It seems that one of the main reasons for this situation is the non-systematic and non-holistic approach to implementing sustainable development in universities. Thus, it can be assumed that the implementation of sustainable development in a university should cover all dimensions of its functioning and involve actors within it. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present a tool (inspired by the concept of university sustainability), based on the method of multicriteria rankings, for assessing the factors influencing the implementation of sustainable development in higher education institutions at the level of departments, as relatively autonomous wholes, based on the analysis of departments at one of the leading technical universities in Poland. The proposed tool provides an opportunity for a more holistic view of sustainable development implementation, both by prioritizing factors and by considering that higher education institutions are systems that are, in fact, composed of two distinct but necessarily cooperating subsystems: the academic subsystem and the administrative subsystem. The proposal is preliminary, but it seems that given the relevance and urgency of the sustainable development issue, this is the direction to take in research on sustainable development management in higher education institutions.

Use of multi-criteria ranking method for environmental risk assessment of antineoplastic agents and their transformation products

Among the various classes of pharmaceuticals, antineoplastic agents require particular attention. This work investigates the degradation of the anticancer drugs anastrozole (ANZ) and methotrexate (MTX) by the solar photo-Fenton (SPF) process under different experimental conditions and in different aqueous matrices. Tentative identification of the treatment transformation products (TPs) was performed by suspect screening, employing a purpose-built database containing thirty-three TPs from ANZ and MTX. The experimental condition that achieves the most favorable degradation of ANZ and MTX in real hospital wastewater was pH 5 and multiples additions of Fe2+. This condition provided a reduction of ANZ and MTX of 30 % and 70 %, respectively. Eighteen MTX TPs and five ANZ TPs were tentatively identified in the analyzed samples. After tentative identification, quantitative structure-activity relationship ((Q)SAR) in silico methods were used to predict eight endpoints of environmental risk of the selected analytes. When different possible structures could be proposed, all the possibilities were considered, resulting in fifty-nine structures evaluated. TOPSIS multicriteria decision-making method was used to rank the compounds according to their environmental concern, based on (Q)SAR predictions. As main results, TOPSIS ranking showed that all ANZ TPs and most MTX TPs showed higher environmental risk potential than the parent compounds. The findings highlighted the importance of qualitative tentative identification of TPs and their monitoring throughout treatments, as well as risk assessment using various endpoints simultaneously. The proposed approach can provide objective and holistic evaluation of treatment processes.

Using Structured Decision Making to Evaluate Wetland Restoration Opportunities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Wetland restoration is an important water quality and climate resilience strategy. Wetland restoration rarely considers tradeoffs at large spatial and temporal scales, which limits capacity to aid decision makers. High resolution data can reveal hundreds to thousands of possible restoration options across a landscape, but guidance for setting restoration targets at these scales is limited. This study uses structured decision making (SDM) as a process for evaluating the desirability of numerous restoration options, with a case study on the Outer Coastal Plain of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA. The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with federal, state, and nonprofit organizations, evaluated a decision to target large-scale wetland restoration based on two fundamental objectives: improve water quality and enhance climate resilience. A total of 964 potentially restorable alternatives were delineated across the study area. The alternatives were evaluated on seven water quality and climate resilience criteria. High-priority alternatives were mapped based on multi-criteria ranking methods and principal component analysis. Sensitivity analysis included varying nutrient load data, implementing multiple ranking methods with different assumptions, and varying criteria weights. The maps revealed seven distinct regions of restoration opportunities. Tradeoffs were evaluated to distinguish between desirable and less desirable regions. Results indicated that three regions were promising choices to initiate landowner engagement and outreach. This study highlights the advantages of SDM to structure large-scale restoration decisions. In doing so, our work offers a roadmap toward further developing SDM in future applied restoration contexts.

Prioritization of sub-watersheds of the Kanakapura Watershed in the Arkavathi River Basin, Karnataka, India- using Remote sensing and GIS

ABSTRACT Prioritization of sub-watersheds is a crucial aspect of watershed management as it may not be possible to execute development programs at a time for entire watersheds in a basin owing to the paucity of financial resources. The present study attempts to prioritize sub-watersheds in the Kanakapura watershed, in Ramanagara district, Karnataka, based on the multi-criteria ranking method. This process involves extraction and determination of various parameters such as rainfall, lithology, drainage density, slope, lineament, hydro geomorphology, land-use, and land-cover, using information from rain gauges, topographical sheets, and satellite imagery in Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. Kanakapura watershed is subdivided into nine sub-watersheds, namely, Bannimukudlu, Bennagodu, Doddaalahalli, Gadasahalli, Horalagallu, Kodihalli, Madarahalli, Maralebbekupe, and Mudagod. Priorities indexing of each of the parameters was done, based on their impact significance, and overlay analysis was performed to identify critical sub-watersheds. Some of the strategies proposed for effective conservation and management of water resources are the construction of a check dam, implementation of water harvesting methods, identification of artificial recharge sites. The results of the study show that priority needs to be given to the Bannimukudlu and Kodihalli sub-watersheds followed by remaining sub-watersheds to regulate surface water flow thereby improving water table level.

Safety performance & evaluation framework in Indian construction industry

IntroductionThis paper proposes a framework to evaluate the safety performance of workers in Indian construction industry. The key indicators to measure the safety and health conditions are identified and prioritized on the basis of the importance in the establishment of safe and healthy work environment. Design/methodology/approachFrom the literature review and inputs from the construction managers, key safety indicators were identified. The prioritization was accomplished using multi-criteria ranking method (MCRM). Dominance-based Rough Set (DRSA) is used for the ranking of indicators. It is based on Rough set theory which draws motivation from the indiscernibility relation be- tween the objects. The importance of each indicator is assessed by MCRM method in the contribution towards establishing a safe workplace environ- ment from different perspectives in a construction industry that includes management from top, middle and low-level management. FindingsThe role and involvement of management in the operations and con- stant interaction with workers were found to have a significant impact on the safety performance of the firms. Imparting necessary safety training to the employees and promoting a friendly atmosphere at the workplace aids in building the confidence of the workers that subsequently make them safety compliant. Dedicated staff to ensure that the workers are following safety protocols enlisted in safety manuals acquires an important place in the measurement of the safety performance of the firms. Practical implicationsThe findings of the current study will help the senior management in the small scale Indian construction industry to gain a perspective to- wards the assessment of safety condition in the firms and establishing an efficient and easy-to-use safety assessment framework. It will also be useful for middle and low-level management, since they should read the results as a positive effect of their constant interaction with workers. Management is suggested to design a well-organized and detailed manual that docu- ments the safety-related information including the proper use of safety equipment and emergency procedures. Originality/valueThis paper proposes a safety framework for small-scale Indian construction industry for calibration and benchmarking safety performance of the employees. The mathematical foundation of the framework is the multi-criteria ranking based on Dominance based Rough set approach.

A Supplier Selection Model for a Wholesaler and Retailer Company Based on FITradeoff Multicriteria Method

The problem approached is regarding supplier selection in a wholesaler and retailer of the construction sector. The current approach used in the company analyzed for the supplier selection problem is unable to evaluate the many issues that the company considers must be addressed. Thus, the Flexible and Interactive Tradeoff (FITradeoff) ranking method was chosen to deal with this problem. It seeks to elicit criteria weights in a decision problem, using partial information about the decision maker's (DM’s) preferences in order to choose the most attractive alternative, based on the ranking of the suppliers provided. Based on the Hasse diagram developed when applying the method, the DM makes some observations regarding the suppliers' positions in the ranking. Bar graphics and radar graphics were also used and these enable the DM to evaluate each supplier better. It was perceived that the method is applicable and well accepted by the DM. The graphic part helps the DM in understanding the analysis of the problem, offering no barriers to proceed with the tradeoff. Thus, for this situation of selecting a supplier in a wholesaler and retailer of the construction sector, the DM felt comfortable with the proposed approach using the FITradeoff multicriteria ranking method and with the results presented, and the proposed approach is shown to be adequate.

PRIORITIZATION of ROAD TRANSPORTATION RISKS: AN APPLICATION in GİRESUN PROVINCE

The purpose of this study is to determine and rank the road transportation risk factors that are crucial for effective and economic supply chain management. Road transportation risk factors can be defined as equipment related risks, risk to be lost and disappearance, risks related to delivery and packaging, inadequacy of qualified personnel and technical equipment, risks caused from incompatibility to logistic information system/technology, security risk, compulsory reasons, risks originated from regulations and arrangements, risks related to waiting at customs gate and transport infrastructure based risks. Accordingly, fuzzy PIPRECIA as a multi-criteria ranking method was used to prioritize the risk factors. According to the results, while the transport infrastructure based risks criterion was found as the most important, the risk to be lost and disappearance factor was obtained as the least important one.

Application of Superiority and Inferiority Multi-criteria Ranking Method for Parametric Optimization of Laser Cutting Processes

Laser cutting of advanced engineering materials has now become quite attractive due to its various unique characteristics, like no tool wear, no built-up edge formation, no residual stress generation, no vibration etc. In order to enable this machining process to operate at its maximum competency, its’ different input parameters are often set at their optimal operating levels. This paper presents the applicability of superiority and inferiority multi-criteria ranking (SIR) method for determination of the best-suited parametric combinations for an Nd:YAG and a pulsed CO2 (carbon dioxide) laser cutting processes. The derived optimal parametric mixes obtained for the two considered laser cutting processes are validated based on the developed regression equations. In the Nd:YAG laser cutting process, an optimal parametric combination of gas pressure = 3 kg/cm2, pulse width = 0.6 ms, pulse frequency = 23 Hz, and cutting speed = 20 mm/min reduces the values of kerf width, kerf deviation, and kerf taper angle by 1.71, 2 and 25.88%, respectively. For the pulsed CO2 laser cutting process, the optimal mix determined as laser beam power = 3000 W, cutting velocity = 10 mm/s, gas pressure = 1.2 MPa and pulse frequency = 10 Hz causes reduction of 25.81, 6.65 and 2.84% in the values of surface roughness, kerf width and cut edge slope, respectively. Thus, it can be established that the response values estimated using the SIR method are better than those derived by the other optimisation techniques, while demonstrating its potentiality for parametric optimisation of laser cutting processes leading to enhanced performance.

A novel approach for choosing dynamic community detection algorithms using PROMETHEE II

In this paper, a decision support tool is developed in order to assist senior managers to choose a dynamic community detection algorithm. The main objective behind this novel approach is to improve the search strategy of algorithms to decrease the search time of the best fitting one according to the study case. The suggested study ranks existing dynamic community detection algorithms in order to find the most appropriate one according to some preferences. For that purpose, we need a multi-criteria ranking method such as PROMETHEE II. This latter allows ranking alternatives from the best to the least according to some criteria extracted from the analysis of a provided questionnaire on dynamic community detection algorithms. The process of our approach is as follows: first, the questionnaire is provided to some experts in community detection domain. Second, answers are collected and analyzed in order to extract criteria. Third, a ranking of the algorithms with PROMETHEE II is operated according some extracted criteria and user preferences. Finally, the first ranked algorithm by PROMETHEE II is provided to the user in order to detect the communities.

Automation of multicriteria ranking of students using ePortfolio

Introduction. The paper considers improving the management quality of an educational organization through automating the personalized data collection, storage and ranking. The authors have developed a module of the university corporate system, an ePortfolio of students, which implements a multicriteria optimization method for calculating the students’ rating on the basis of the collected and stored data. The study object is multicriteria ranking methods. The subject of the study is the automated calculation of student’s rating within the electronic portfolio. The study objective is to develop tools for collecting, storing and processing data on individual achievements of students and the implementation of the mathematical method of multicriteria optimization for ranking students on the basis of the portfolio data. Practical implications include development of a tool for an effective management of the educational process.Materials and Methods. A prototype module of the university corporate system “ePortfolio” on the platform of 1C: Enterprise 8.3 is presented. To rank students, a special case of the alternative ranking method is implemented in the block of the data analysis module – pairwise comparison in order of their relative importance. At that, a unified scale of relations was used.Research Results. The authors described the scheme of the information system (IS) operation “ePortfolio”, presented a process interaction pattern for the portfolio formation, as well as a diagram of business processes under calculating an individual rating. A fragment of the sample is shown on which the performance of the multicriteria optimization block has been tested. The criteria of the calculations are described, as well as the rule of screening alternatives for solving for the optimum.Discussion and Conclusion. The paper presents the results of the IS block operation on ranking a list of students. The calculation results coincide with the practical data.

Fiber reinforced alkali-activated stone wool composites fabricated by hot-pressing technique

Cementitious composite that has short molding time and high mechanical performance is favorable in pre-cast concrete industry. In this context, this study reports the use of hot-pressing technique to fabricate PVA fiber reinforced composites using alkali-activated stone wool (a waste from building insulation). Eight different mixtures were developed by varying the pressing time and temperature in comparison to the conventional oven-cured alkali-activated material. The mechanical performance of all compositions was evaluated under bending and compressive loadings. Life cycle assessment was used to investigate the greenhouse gas emission and embodied energy of the developed composites. The results reveal that PVA fibers greatly enhanced the mechanical performance of all reinforced mixtures with deflection hardening behavior and improvement in compressive strength. The hot-pressing technique lowered CO2 emission and saved energy. Finally, a multi-criteria ranking method suggests hot-pressed PVA fiber reinforced cementitious composite, manufactured at 120 °C for 2 h, is the best composition attaining balance among energy spent, mechanical properties, and CO2 footprint.

Multi-fiber reinforced ettringite-based composites from industrial side streams

The development of high-performance cementitious composites from industrial side streams, which has both economic and environmental benefits, is of high demand. Ladle slag is a promising by-product from the steelmaking industry, which can form an ettringite-based binder. This experimental investigation focuses on the mechanical properties of different hybrid and mono fibers reinforced by ettringite-based binders from the ladle slag. The experimental results reveal that fibers greatly enhance the mechanical properties of the developed mixtures. The composites exhibit strain-hardening behavior with multiple cracks under flexural and tensile loading. In addition, the compressive strength of the composites can be 130% higher than the plain materials. To attain a balance between mechanical and economic aspects, a multi-criteria ranking method was used to evaluate 12 different mixtures. The ranking method suggests that a polypropylene micro fiber reinforced composite is the best mixture. The study recommends the efficient use of this industrial by-product for valuable applications in the construction industry.

Interpretive multi-criteria ranking of production systems with ordinal weights and transitive dominance relationships

The paper deals with the situation of manufacturing of customized engineering products under intense competitive environment. Such customized engineering products can be manufactured by different types of production systems such as job production, batch production, mass production, and flexible manufacturing systems. It then becomes an important decision to choose the best one among these production systems which is also dependent on multiple criteria. The three basic criteria predominantly considered in the context of manufacturing are cost, quality, and flexibility. The paper applies the efficient interpretive ranking process (IRP) as an interpretive multi-criteria ranking method to demonstrate its utility in this context. It considers the design of the decision problem by treating the cross-interaction matrix of ‘Alternatives × Criteria’ as a unit matrix, i.e. each alternative is linked with each criterion. In this type of decision problem, the IRP method is implemented with transitive dominance relationships. Further, it carries out the sensitivity analysis concerning different ordinal weights of various criteria. The paper also makes a methodological contribution in IRP by way of computing dominance index rather than simply considering net dominance (which would be either positive or nil or negative). The dominance index gives a better depiction of the dominance of one alternative over the others.

国家级经济技术开发区绿色发展指数研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 国家级经济技术开发区绿色发展指数研究 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201706301178 作者: 作者单位: 清华大学环境学院,清华大学环境学院,清华大学环境学院,清华大学 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金项目（41671530，41471468） Green development index of the Chinese national economic-technology development area Author: Affiliation: School of Environment Tsinghua University,,,Tsinghua University Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:国家级经济技术开发区是改革开放以来中国经济发展的缩影，已成为中国推动开放型经济发展，促进工业化、城镇化进程，实现区域发展战略的重要支撑。处理好经济发展与节约资源、保护环境的关系，实现绿色、低碳、循环发展，提高发展的质量和效益，是国家级经开区在新形势下面临的新挑战。为推进国家级经开区的创新驱动和绿色发展，加强对国家级经开区绿色低碳循环发展的引导，通过建立绿色发展指数方法，对国家级经开区的绿色发展水平进行评价，以期为管理决策提供参考。绿色发展水平定量评价研究运用多准则排序方法构建了绿色发展指数。首先从经济发展、资源能源消耗、生态环境和基础设施4个方面构建了国家级经开区绿色发展评价指标体系，其次对各项指标进行归一化处理，加权后得到绿色发展指数。以2007年52家国家级经开区各项指标（基于不变价格的平均值）为参照，分析了2007-2012年52家国家级经开区绿色发展指数的动态变化，采用动态气泡图直观地表征年际间经开区绩效的横向和纵向变化。比较了东中西部国家级经开区绿色发展水平的差异，及建设国家生态工业示范园区对其绿色发展指数的影响，进而对国家级经开区的绿色发展进行了展望。 Abstract:The National Economic-Technology Development Area (NETDA) is a key part of China's economic development after the Reform and Opening Policy in 1978. After more than 30 years of development, NETDA has played a crucial role in facilitating growth of the economy, industrialization, urbanization, and local development in China. NETDA is generally secondary industry focused and is associated with intensive resource and energy consumption and significant pollution emissions, thus requiring more stringent environmental standards. It is a daunting challenge for NETDAs to balance economic development with resource conservation and environmental protection and support the economy by implementing green development. This study established a green development index (GDI) to assess the degree of environmental friendliness of the Chinese NETDA developments, aiming to establish a baseline to facilitate performance improvement. The GDI was created using a multi-criteria ranking method. First, an index system was established, which included four categories:economic development, water and energy consumption, ecological environmental protection, and infrastructure. Second, the original value of each individual metric was normalized in relation to a benchmark, by transferring both industrial added value and GDP to comparable prices of 2007. The metrics were then weighted and aggregated to calculate the GDI. We then used this method to calculate the GDI evolution of 52 NETDAs. A dynamic bulb-diagram flash was designed to present the GDI evolution of each NETDA from 2007 to 2012 and comparisons among different NETDAs. Differences in GDIs for the NETDAs located in East, Central, and West China were analyzed, as well as the effect of a national demonstration program on eco-industrial park development on GDIs. We found that the GDI improved markedly from 2007 to 2012. The NETDAs accredited as national demonstration eco-industrial parks (EIPs) generally outscored NETDAs that were listed as EIP candidates. Non-EIP NETDAs scored the lowest. Finally, the policy implications of GDI for the NETDAs were discussed. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Smart Parking Reservation System Based on Distributed Multicriteria Approach

ABSTRACTIn metropolitan area, finding a parking space is a difficult task for drivers especially in rush hours. This causes waste of time and fuel and results in traffic congestion. We propose a smart parking system based on multi-agent approach to provide a real-time decision-aid for drivers by handling their preferences. The system ensures an online space allocation based on real-time information by optimizing drivers’ preferences with respect to operational constraints. The online allocation problem is considered as a multicriteria decision-aid problem for which we present a mathematical formulation: multicriteria parking reservation problem. The solution is an optimal compromise from the set of efficient solutions which is determined by means of a multicriteria ranking method ELECTRE III. An update of resource allocation is performed to avoid reservation conflict and to ensure constraints satisfaction. After the reservation process, the driver is assisted via a guidance module to reach the reserved place through the shortest path. Simulation results show the wide applicability of the approach in real cases.

MACBETHSort: a multiple criteria decision aid procedure for sorting strategic products

Efficient companies need to know which their strategic products are. For this purpose, the ABC classification based on the item’s value was developed and was used for a long time. Later, it was recognised that several other criteria need to be considered and multi-criteria ranking methods were applied. However, the classes have always been defined based only on a relative proportion. Therefore, the number of products in a class is independent of the actual importance of the products. In this paper, a new sorting procedure MACBETHSort is introduced, which is an evolution of the choice, ranking and rating technique MACBETH. The procedure has been validated in a real case study for assigning access and entrance solutions in ABC classes.

A Decision Model for Emergency Warehouse Location Based on a Novel Stochastic MCDA Method: Evidence from China

China is one of the disaster-prone countries in the world. Constructing a rapid and effective relief logistic system is important for disaster-responding at country level. Strategic prepositioning of emergency items, especially the decision of appropriate emergency warehouses location, has significant impacts on rapid disaster response to ensure sufficient relief supplies. The emergency warehouse location decision is a complex problem, where a wide variety of criteria need to be considered and the preference information of decision makers (DMs) may be imprecise or even absent. In this paper, we identify key effectiveness-oriented criteria used to evaluate the alternative emergency warehouse locations and make an attempt to propose a new multicriteria ranking method to solve the problem of inaccurate or uncertain weight information based on stochastic pairwise dominant relations and the pruning procedure of ELECTRE-II method. The proposed method extends the conventional ELECTRE-II method by incorporating inaccurate information and broadens its application to emergency warehouse location field. The feasibility and applicability of the proposed method are illustrated with a simulated example.

Selection and implementation of pollution prevention techniques in small and medium enterprises in countries in transition

This paper aims to open the discussion about the possibility and economic feasibility of applying pollution prevention techniques in industrial enterprises with smaller production capacities than those specified in Directive 2010/75/EU. The work refers to countries with transition economies where low cost of environmental resources and pollution fees are present. The research is conducted on pilot sample of seven small- and medium-size enterprises belonging to the food and beverage sector. The enterprises have different characteristics in terms of company size, capacity levels, production processes employed, and status of the transition in terms of their ownership status. The selection of appropriate prevention techniques is done using newly developed Method for Identification of Prevention Techniques (“MIP”). The MIP method combines: (i) Minimization Opportunities Environmental Diagnosis methodology developed by Regional Activity Center for Sustainable Consumption and Production Barcelona and its approach to data collection, (ii) United Nation Industrial Development Organisation’s step-by-step approach to environmental diagnosis of industrial enterprises, (iii) Driving Forces, Pressure, State, Impact, Response Framework used by European Environmental Agency to facilitate problem–solution identification, (iv) Multicriteria ranking method for selection of best available techniques, and (v) Philosophy of Shewhart–Deming’s circle to introduce the system of planning, control, and correction and integrate prevention concept into business policy. This provided necessary flexibility corresponding to companies’ abilities to finance implementation. The results confirmed that the pollution prevention concept can be applied to small- and medium-sized companies of different production capacities and organization levels with both environmental and economic benefits.

Multi-criteria methods for ranking project activities

This paper presents multi-criteria methods for ranking project activities according to several ranking indexes. The methods are based on the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and on the use of common ranking indexes. This paper reviews ranking indexes of project activities for project management tasks. The ranking of project activities in one project is applicable for focusing the attention of the project manager on important activities. The selection of the appropriate ranking indexes should be done in accordance with managerial purposes: 1) Paying attention to activities throughout the execution phase and in the resources allocation process, in order meet pre-determined qualities, and to deliver the project on time and within budget, i.e., to accomplish the project within the "iron triangle" 2) Setting priorities in order to share the managerial care and control among the activities. The paper proposes to use multi-criteria ranking methods in order to rank the activities in a case where several ranking indexes are selected.