Preference Priority Research Articles

Hierarchical prioritization of innovative treatment systems for sustainable dairy wastewater management

Multiple criteria decision making is an effective approach that can be successfully used for revealing eco-innovative solutions in industrial wastewater treatment by prioritizing various promising technologies. Besides, eligible researches on emerging membrane processes viz., forward osmosis and membrane distillation are gaining widespread interest in scientific communities focused on reclamation, recovery and reuse of industrial wastewaters. In this study, the preferability of four innovative systems compared to a traditional system was hierarchically prioritized for environmentally benign treatment and utilization of dairy industry wastewater using the most common tool in multi-criteria decision making analysis, analytical hierarchy process. The analyses were attributed to the preferences classified with regard to the technical, economic and environmental aspects of the alternatives. Despite the existence of both greatest importance of energy consumption and higher energy requirements of novel solutions, major prominent features to be provided by real-scale applications of innovative systems were determined as more valuable multiple outcomes in environmental protection and economic profit. The sensitivity analysis to evaluate how the variations in the predefined weights of attributes influence the preference priorities indicated that the decision prioritization analysis on the novel technology selection was sufficiently sensitive to all the main evaluation criteria. This study proved that novel membrane technologies have more preferable features in dairy wastewater treatment by further whey utilization and waste minimization and more effective industrial water reuse, especially in case of waste heat usage in membrane distillation. Finally, sustainable dairy wastewater management in a more desirable manner than now could be accomplished by means of technically highly efficient, economically cost-effective and environmentally eco-innovative achievements.

Rule Base Home Energy Management System Considering Residential Demand Response Application

The increasing number of consumer and household appliances causes the rise in home energy use. Therefore, home energy management (HEM) technology is essential to manage and reduce electricity consumption. The objective of this paper is to present an intelligent algorithm for HEM using rule base technique to manage the power consumption with demand response (DR) feature. The scheduling algorithm considers household loads according to the comfort level, customer preference setting and priority of appliance that can be managed at a given time. The algorithm guarantees the total power consumption to be below the electrical demand limit. To exhibit the performance of the proposed HEM, a number of simulations are carried out including DR signal from the network operator. The results show that the algorithm can effectively respond to DR signal, comfort level, customer preference setting and priority of appliance. Furthermore, the algorithm is simple to implement and has flexibility to control the appliances.

Efficient priority packet recovery based on network coding in DVB-IPDC system

In DVB-IPDC system, due to the constraints of handheld devices and the broadcast nature of wireless network, packet loss is inevitable. ECDR-NC proposed is a retransmission encoding packet selection algorithm based on the dynamic information updating, which can find the current most effective complete decoding packet. ECDR-NC can not only avoid the redundant encoding packets due to the overlapping among encoding packets, but also reduce the computational complexity compared with the traditional encoding schemes. Furthermore, the retransmission upper bound of ECDR-NC is fully controlled. In time-sensitive applications, to maximize the aggregate number of recovery packets while minimizing the total number of discarded packets due to the time limit according to the priority preference, the adaptive priority scheme EPNC is formulized, and the weighted relation graph is constructed to find the maximum-weighted encoding packets sequence according to the decoding gains. In the same network environment, the performances comparisons between PNC and EPNC show that EPNC is more efficient and more rational, and the average discarded packets ratios of EPNC can be reduced about 18%∼27%. The main contributions of this paper are an effective retransmission encoding packet selection algorithm ECDR-NC proposed, and a new adaptive priority recovery scheme EPNC introduced into DVB-IPDC system.

Design of Smart Home Energy Management System.

A Home Energy Management (HEM) system plays a crucial role in realizing residential Demand Response programs in the smart grid environment. It provides a homeowner the ability to automatically perform smart load controls based on utility signals, customers preference and load priority. The HEMs communication time delay to perform load control is analyzed, along with its residual energy consumption. The main aim is to design how each load performs when being controlled by the HEM unit and measure electrical measurements for the different loads. Demand response (DR) is defined as changes in electricity use by demand-side resources from their normal consumption patterns in response to changes in the price of electricity. HEM system comprises an HEM unit that provides monitoring and control functionalities for a homeowner, and load controllers that gather electrical consumption data from selected appliances and perform local control based on command signals from the HEM system. A gateway, such as a smart meter, can be used to provide an interface between a utility and the data base for the electrical consumption is maintained.

A Memetic Algorithm with Recovery Scheme for Nurse Preference Scheduling

The previous works on designing evolutionary algorithm for nurse preference scheduling problems hardly realized that too many strict constraints on nurse preferences adopted at the same time lead to infeasible solutions frequently during the computational process. Therefore, to efficiently handle infeasible solutions, this study proposes a memetic algorithm that incorporates the genetic algorithm, the recovery scheme, and the local search designed specifically for our nurse preference scheduling problem, which aims to maximize the total satisfaction of the nursing staff with their preference rights and interests, including each nursing staff member’s preferences and preference priority ordering for work shifts and days-off, under the hard constraints of manpower demands and the number of days-off. Our experimental results for the case in a real hospital show that our nurse schedule not only fairly accomplishes the assignment of most nursing staff members to their preferred work shifts and days-off, but also satisfies all constraints.

An analysis of relationship between food safety and pesticides usages of grape growers in Manisa province

This study was carried out in Manisa which has the largest vineyard areas and grape production of Turkey. In this research, awareness of environment and pesticide using attitudes of growers and effects on food safety of pesticides were investigated. Main data of the study was collected by survey from 117 grape growers which are settled in Manisa province where sultana production is very widespread. Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), for reaching quality raisin and table grape target, conventional and environment friendly pesticides preference priorities were estimated. The AHP was applied to determine conventional and environment friendly pesticides usages of grape growers related to food safety. As a conclusion, it is understood that this target could be reached with 66.8% using environment friendly pesticides.

A Hybrid Method Using Factor Analysis and AHP on Passenger Purchase Decisions: The Case of Domestic Airlines in Turkey

This paper investigates factors affecting purchase decisions of domestic airline passengers and their preference priorities. Airline business is substantially dynamic as a service based business. Continuous change in passenger expectations and the increasing number of economic recessions in the world economies are compelling airlines to foresee and to design new services according to the priorities of passengers. In this study, the method uses factor analysis to describe factors affecting purchase decisions and subsequently Analytic Hierarchy Process defines the priorities among the rivals depending on the findings of first part. Output of the model provides us to specify the factors that affect priorities from the passengers’ perspective. Hereby model can help to enhance items according to priorities. The hybrid approach is performed on a sample of 387 domestic passengers in Turkey through online questionnaires. On the other hand findings of the study depend on culture and should be adjusted for other cases.

Exergy–economic evaluation of heat recovery device in mechanical ventilation system

The paper presents new approach in evaluation of heat recovery devices in mechanical ventilation system. The evaluation is based on exergy balance equation and economic analysis, what requires application of one of multicriteria decision aid methods—weighted sum method. The proposed set of evaluation criteria consists of: driving exergy, simple payback time and investment cost. The proposed method is applied to compare the four variants of heat recovery device in inlet-exhaust mechanical ventilation system of the capacity of 10,000m3/h installed in residential part of hotel. The analysis is performed for four preference models. The results of the multicriteria evaluation indicate that counter flow plate heat exchanger and the rotating heat/mass regenerator are better solutions comparing with water loop heat exchanger and heat pipe heat exchanger. Counter flow plate heat exchanger is the most compromise solution for the two preference models PREF_00 (based on statistic approach) and PREF_03 (investment cost priority preference model). Rotating heat/mass regenerator is the most compromise solution for the preference model 01 (driving exergy priority preference model). The proposed method can be helpful in the choice of the most compromise solution of the heat recovery device in pre-design phase.

Dental therapists: improving access to oral health care for underserved children.

Disparities in dental health care that characterize poor populations are well known. Children suffer disproportionately and most severely from dental diseases. Many countries have school-based dental therapist programs to meet children's primary oral health care needs. Although dental therapists in the United States face opposition from national and state dental associations, many state governments are considering funding the training and deployment of dental therapists to care for underserved populations. Dental therapists care for American Indians/Alaska Natives in Alaska, and Minnesota became the first state to legislate dental therapist training. Children should receive priority preference; therefore, the most effective and economical utilization of dental therapists will be as salaried employees in school-based programs, beginning in underserved rural areas and inner cities.

Emergency Vehicle Priority Preference at Multiple Wireless Network Sensors (MWNS) Intelligent Road Traffic Signal Control System

Traffic control management system has to be intelligent and equitable in signal allocation management system, especially priority order has to be given to emergency vehicles so as to prevent unforeseen circumstances, likeaccident and delay in emergency duties delivery. However we apply multiple wireless network sensors (MWNS) to intelligently control the road traffic system for equitable allocation of time frame; and to dynamically give priority preference to any sighted emergency vehicle on the road at any point in time; this will enable emergency vehicles to pass through signalized intersections withfewer interruptions from surrounding vehicular traffic.This approach increases road capacity, traffic flow, prevents traffic congestions, accident and thus increases society economic growth.

Emergency Vehicle Priority Preference at Multiple Wireless Network Sensors (MWNS) Intelligent Road Traffic Signal Control System

Emergency Vehicle Priority Preference at Multiple Wireless Network Sensors (MWNS) Intelligent Road Traffic Signal Control System

Mate preferences do predict attraction and choices in the early stages of mate selection.

Although mate preference research has firmly established that men value physical attractiveness more than women do and women value social status more than men do, recent speed-dating studies have indicated mixed evidence (at best) for whether people's sex-differentiated mate preferences predict actual mate choices. According to an evolutionary, mate preference priority model (Li, Bailey, Kenrick, & Linsenmeier, 2002; Li & Kenrick, 2006; Li, Valentine, & Patel, 2011), the sexes are largely similar in what they ideally like, but for long-term mates, they should differ on what they most want to avoid in early selection contexts. Following this model, we conducted experiments using online messaging and modified speed-dating platforms. Results indicate that when a mating pool includes people at the low end of social status and physical attractiveness, mate choice criteria are sex-differentiated: Men, more than women, chose mates based on physical attractiveness, whereas women, more than men, chose mates based on social status. In addition, individuals who more greatly valued social status or physical attractiveness on paper valued these traits more in their actual choices. In particular, mate choices were sex-differentiated when considering long-term relationships but not short-term ones, where both sexes shunned partners with low physical attractiveness. The findings validate a large body of mate preferences research and an evolutionary perspective on mating, and they have implications for research using speed-dating and other interactive contexts.

Design of Intelligent Home Energy Management for Demand Response Applications

A Home Energy Management (HEM) system is an integral part of a smart grid that can potentially enable demand response applications for residential customers. It provides a homeowner the ability to automatically perform smart load controls based on utility signals, customers preference and load priority. This paper presents an intelligent HEM for managing high power consumption household appliances for demand response (DR) analysis. The proposed HEM manages household loads according to their preset priority and guarantees the total household power consumption below certain levels.Given the lack of understanding about DR potentials in this market, this work serves as an essential stepping-stone toward providing an insight into how much DR can be performed for residential customers.

Combining human preference and biodiversity priorities for marine protected area site selection in Sabah, Malaysia

High human reliance on marine resources in developing countries is a challenge for implementing marine protected areas, which usually seek to limit or restrict fishing in selected areas. Fishers’ spatial preferences should be considered during the site selection process, but biodiversity considerations are generally the primary focus. The Protected Area Suitability Index (PASI) is a fuzzy logic spatial planning tool that combines human preferences and conservation criteria to assess the suitability of marine sites for being protected from fishing and other extractive use. We apply the PASI in zoning a marine sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia, with the objectives of (i) assessing the PASI’s ability to capture fishers’ spatial preferences; and (ii) comparing the nuances of community based and fuzzy logic approaches in spatial planning. There was overlap in sites chosen for protection by both approaches, and multi-dimensional scaling results suggest that the PASI captures fishers’ preferences. Community consultations enable direct integration of local knowledge to fill gaps in scientific knowledge, but can be time consuming and expensive. The PASI is an alternative to data and labour intensive conservation planning tools that are currently available, and can be particularly useful for zoning marine protected areas in data poor developing countries where conservation requires quick action.

Evaluation of Effects of Priority Preferences on Optimal Resource Allocation in Pavement Management

Certain aspects of prioritization have commonly been employed in the optimum resource allocation program for pavement maintenance management. However, issues associated with incorporating priority preferences into pavement maintenance programming have not been evaluated. For example, application of priority weights to certain problem parameters will affect the optimality of the end solution with respect to the original objective. However, the degree of loss in optimality is related to the form or structure, the magnitudes, and the range of priority weights adopted. Decision makers, who adopt such an approach, are often oblivious to the degree of sub-optimality of the solutions. Therefore, this paper presents a study that examines the implications of applying priority weights, of varying magnitudes and ranges, in the pavement maintenance programming analysis in terms of optimality of the solution/strategy.

Alternative Characterizations of Boston Mechanism

Kojima and Unver (2011) are the first to characterize the class of mechanisms coinciding with the Boston mechanism for some priority order. By mildly strengthening their central axiom, we are able to pin down the Boston mechanism outcome for every priority order. Our main result shows that a mechanism is outcome equivalent to the Boston mechanism at every priority if and only if it respects both preference rankings and priorities and satisfies individual rationality for schools. In environments where each student is acceptable to every school, respecting both preference rankings and priorities is enough to characterize the Boston mechanism.

Alternative characterizations of Boston mechanism

Kojima and Ünver (forthcoming) are the first to characterize the class of mechanisms coinciding with the Boston mechanism for some priority order. By mildly strengthening their central axiom, we are able to pin down the Boston mechanism outcome for every priority order. Our main result shows that a mechanism is outcome equivalent to the Boston mechanism at every priority if and only if it respects both preference rankings and priorities and satisfies individual rationality for schools. In environments where each student is acceptable to every school, respecting both preference rankings and priorities is enough to characterize the Boston mechanism.

Web service selection algorithm based on principal component analysis

Existing Web service selection approaches usually assume that preferences of users have been provided in a quantitative form by users. However, due to the subjectivity and vagueness of preferences, it may be impractical for users to specify quantitative and exact preferences. Moreover, due to that Quality of Service (QoS) attributes are often interrelated, existing Web service selection approaches which employ weighted summation of QoS attribute values to compute the overall QoS of Web services may produce inaccurate results, since they do not take correlations among QoS attributes into account. To resolve these problems, a Web service selection framework considering user’s preference priority is proposed, which incorporates a searching mechanism with QoS range setting to identify services satisfying the user’s QoS constraints. With the identified service candidates, based on the idea of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), an algorithm of Web service selection named PCA-WSS (Web Service Selection based on PCA) is proposed, which can eliminate the correlations among QoS attributes and compute the overall QoS of Web services accurately. After computing the overall QoS for each service, the algorithm ranks the Web service candidates based on their overall QoS and recommends services with top QoS values to users. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of our approach are validated by experiments, i.e. the selected Web service by our approach is given high average evaluation than other ones by users and the time cost of PCA-WSS algorithm is not affected acutely by the number of service candidates.

Exploring the Effects of Different Walking Strategies on Bi-Directional Pedestrian Flow

Three types of different walking behaviors (right preference, conformity, and space priority) are taken into account to model bi-directional pedestrian flow in the channel with cellular-automata formulation. The fundamental diagrams ofR-pedestrian flow,C-pedestrian flow, andS-pedestrian flow are obtained from the simulation result to analyze the effect of these behaviors on bi-direction flow. TheC-pedestrian flow has the minimum critical density andR-pedestrian flow has the highest, while theS-pedestrian flow has higher average-speed than other two types of pedestrian flow under the same density. Further, through the study of pedestrian distribution in the channel and the proportion of pedestrians not able to move to the front cell, reasons leading to different characteristics of these three types of pedestrian flow are analyzed. Moreover, the simulation experiment based on BehaviorSearch is designed to explore the optimal percentages ofR-pedestrian,C-pedestrian, andS-pedestrian in pedestrian flow. The result of the experiment shows that the condition that makes the highest average speed of pedestrian flow is not that pedestrian flow consists of purely one type of pedestrians, but pedestrian flow mixed withS-pedestrians as majority andC-pedestrians andR-pedestrians as minority.

Hardware Demonstration of a Home Energy Management System for Demand Response Applications

A Home Energy Management (HEM) system plays a crucial role in realizing residential Demand Response (DR) programs in the smart grid environment. It provides a homeowner the ability to automatically perform smart load controls based on utility signals, customer's preference and load priority. This paper presents the hardware demonstration of the proposed HEM system for managing end-use appliances. The HEM's communication time delay to perform load control is analyzed, along with its residual energy consumption.