Top-level Criteria Research Articles

Evaluation and choice of an anti-aircraft missile system under uncertain conditions based on fuzzy-integral calculus and hierarchical cluster analysis

Evaluation and choice of anti-aircraft missile weapon systems (AAMWSs) are a relevant problem in many countries. Estimates are often reduced to one top-level criterion. This is questionable since subordinated criteria are usually difficult to compare and decision-makers excluded from the final decision. The solution to the problem should also take into account non-statistical uncertainty. We propose to use a combination of two algorithms. The first algorithm calculates the estimates of AAMWSs in the criteria hierarchy using fuzzy-integral calculus. The hierarchy relates the characteristics of the AAMWSs to the three top-level criteria. In the space of these criteria, the second algorithm based on hierarchical clustering forms a class of the best AAMWSs equivalent to each other. The decision-maker makes the final choice from the obtained class, taking into account non-formalized factors. These algorithms are tested using the example of medium-range AAMWSs.

Digitalization approach in education based on applying the network readiness index as the universal metric

Purpose. To achieve an integrated approach to assess the readiness of a higher educational institution for digital transformation in the form of a multi-criteria analysis of the university activities and development. Methodology. The approach of educational institutions rating assessment, based on a hierarchical criterion, called the Index of Information and Communication Technologies Development (hereinafter ICT Index) is proposed in the work. The approach is considered to be an analogy of the Networked Readiness Index developed by the Information Technology Group at Harvard Universitys Center. Findings. It is proposed to follow the approach of the ICT Index calculating as a universal metric for the digital transformation level assessment of educational institutions based on the Networked Readiness Index, namely to adopt abstract categories of top-level criteria and to average the values of hierarchical nesting. Originality. The approach originality consists in the weight coefficients input at any level of the hierarchy. In addition, the approach provides a flexible choice of the Index resulting scale for the most understandable interpretation of the results, as well as the universal mathematical apparatus development for Index calculating. The proposed mathematical apparatus can be easily modified for any specificity of an educational institution and its criteria. Practical value. The use of the ICT Index for all educational institutions in Kazakhstan will solve the problems of automating processes to ensure training and expanding the technological capabilities of educational institutions for modifying the forms of education at the state level by bringing the assessment indicators of all objects to a single scale.

An Integrated Framework for the Performance Evaluation of Fruits and Vegetable Store Located in a Supermarket

The quality of fruits and vegetable stores should be maintained with high priority for customer satisfaction. The performance evaluation of fruits and vegetable store located in a supermarket is a big challenge for the managerial personnel of the supermarket. In this paper, a new performance evaluation framework is proposed for the fruits and vegetable store located in a supermarket. The criteria for performance evaluation have been found out in a hierarchical structure through a brainstorming session among the experts. The 4 top-level criteria are storage, processing, sales and transport. These 4 top-level criteria are broken into 9 lower-level criteria. Fuzzy AHP is used to calculate the weights of criteria for each level of the hierarchy. Fuzzy TOPSIS generally ranks the alternatives. An improved fuzzy TOPSIS, which is named fuzzy k-TOPSIS, is proposed here to find out the rank as well as classification of the stores of fruits and vegetables. The proposed framework is demonstrated here with a case study for a better understanding of the complete framework.
 HIGHLIGHTS
 
 The proposed framework integrates Fuzzy Set Theory, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), and k-means clustering for the performance evaluation of fruits and vegetable store located in a supermarket
 The main contribution of this paper is that the proposed framework not only ranks the alternative fruits and vegetable stores but also does a classification among the alternative fruits and vegetable stores based on their performance
 The proposed framework is demonstrated here with an illustrative example, which includes 24 stores of fruits and vegetables, 9 criteria, and the expert’s committee of 3 members
 The proposed framework can also be used in other Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problems
 
 GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) for evaluating new medicines in Health Technology Assessment and beyond: The Advance Value Framework

Escalating drug prices have catalysed the generation of numerous “value frameworks” with the aim of informing payers, clinicians and patients on the assessment and appraisal process of new medicines for the purpose of coverage and treatment selection decisions. Although this is an important step towards a more inclusive Value Based Assessment (VBA) approach, aspects of these frameworks are based on weak methodologies and could potentially result in misleading recommendations or decisions.In this paper, a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodological process, based on Multi Attribute Value Theory (MAVT), is adopted for building a multi-criteria evaluation model. A five-stage model-building process is followed, using a top-down “value-focused thinking” approach, involving literature reviews and expert consultations. A generic value tree is structured capturing decision-makers' concerns for assessing the value of new medicines in the context of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and in alignment with decision theory.The resulting value tree (Advance Value Tree) consists of three levels of criteria (top level criteria clusters, mid-level criteria, bottom level sub-criteria or attributes) relating to five key domains that can be explicitly measured and assessed: (a) burden of disease, (b) therapeutic impact, (c) safety profile (d) innovation level and (e) socioeconomic impact. A number of MAVT modelling techniques are introduced for operationalising (i.e. estimating) the model, for scoring the alternative treatment options, assigning relative weights of importance to the criteria, and combining scores and weights.Overall, the combination of these MCDA modelling techniques for the elicitation and construction of value preferences across the generic value tree provides a new value framework (Advance Value Framework) enabling the comprehensive measurement of value in a structured and transparent way. Given its flexibility to meet diverse requirements and become readily adaptable across different settings, the Advance Value Framework could be offered as a decision-support tool for evaluators and payers to aid coverage and reimbursement of new medicines.

ICT security curriculum or how to respond to current global challenges

The paper presents some results obtained through the implementation of the Erasmus LLP “SALEIE” (Strategic Alignment of Electrical and Information Engineering in European Higher Education Institutions). The aim of the project was to bring together experts from European universities to enhance the competitiveness of Electrical and Information Engineering (EIE) education within Europe, especially in relation to modern global technical challenges and to provide higher education models in a few EIE fields in accordance with these challenges. One of the outcomes of the project was a new ICT (Information and Computer Technology) Security curriculum for bachelor and master levels. The research methodology comprised such stages as: identifying the most important current global challenges, conducting a survey related to existing EIE programs in order to establish the top-level criteria for an EIE curriculum, analyzing the results of the survey, obtaining the industry feedback related to technical and non-technical skills required for the specific field, and proposing a new curriculum for ICT Security programmes to respond to the modern technical challenges and to meet the needs of the industry, students, academics and graduates. As future work we will focus on stakeholder assessment in the EIE field and, based on the resulting feedback, on improving the ICT Security curriculum.

Utilization of waste for large capacity productions of phosphorus-containing products based on the system analysis methods

Waste from the phosphorus industry are one of the key environmental problems for manufacturers all over the world. An innovative strategy for phosphorus industry waste utilization was developed by the authors in collaboration with their colleagues within EC INCO-Copernicus ECOPHOS project. The first stage involves the analysis of main indicators of innovative development of leading phosphorus sector companies taking into account the influence of innovations on reduction of environmental pollution. At the second stage, a strategy was developed for phosphorus industry waste utilization, which was underpinned by development of an information CALS-system of marketing analysis. The analysis was done according to the following three top level criteria: the raw material and processing market analysis; analysis of processing technologies; and analysis of utilization products markets. At the third stage, analysis of the technologies of phosphorus industry waste processing was carried out on the basis flexible technology of phosphoric sludge utilization case study. The study was carried out within the advanced system of computer support—CALS-technologies (Continuous Acquisition and Life cycle Support).

Determination of performance criteria at hierarchical levels in a nuclear power plant

Abstract This paper presents a methodology that derives the intermediate-level and low-level criteria from the top-level criteria by means of the noninferior solution technique where unavailabilities of the safety functions/systems are maximized. Although the methodology uses a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model as a basic safety model for the plant, in contrast to the previous methods, it does not require reliability cost functions of the components constituting the plant. The basic element of the methodology is to find two-tier solutions that are noninferior both in the objective space and in the risk space. Once the two-tier noninferior solutions are obtained, an informal preference assessment is performed by comparing the risk values associated with the two-tier noninferior solutions with the top-level safety criteria, and obviously unattractive noninferior solutions are discarded resulting in a much narrower band in the two-tier noninferior subspace. The lower limits of the band are then proposed as the lower level performance criteria. As an illustration, the methodology is applied to a nuclear power plant with an existing PRA model.