scholarly journals SETTING THE WEIGHTS OF SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA FOR THE APPRAISAL OF TRANSPORT PROJECTS

Transport ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Carolina Bueno Cadena ◽  
José Manuel Vassallo Magro

Although the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) has made progress towards appraising and measuring the performance of smart and sustainable transport projects, it still has important issues that need to be addressed such as the problem associated with incomparable quantities, the inherent subjective qualitative assessment, the complexity of identifying impacts to be included and its measurement method, and the corresponding weights. The issue of trading-off different sustainability criteria is the main unresolved matter. This problem may lead to lack of accuracy in the decision making process. This paper presents a new methodology to set the weights of the sustainability criteria used in the MCDA in order to reduce subjectivity and imprecision. We suggest eliciting criteria weights based on both expert preferences and the importance that the sustainability criteria have in the geographical and social context where the project is developed. This novel methodology is applied to a real case study to quantify sustainable practices associated with the design and construction of a new roadway in Spain. The outcome demonstrates that the approach to the weighting problem has significance and general application in a multi-criteria evaluation process.

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haresh Kumar Sharma ◽  
Jagannath Roy ◽  
Samarjit Kar ◽  
Olegas Prentkovskis

Abstract This study proposes a hybrid multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methodology for evaluating the performance of the Indian railway stations (IRS). Since the customers are heterogeneous and their requirements are often imprecise, the evaluation process is a critical step for prioritizing the IRS. To improve the existing approaches, an efficient evaluation technique has been proposed by integrating rough numbers, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and multi-attribute border approximation area comparison (MABAC) methods in rough environment. The relative criteria weights based on their preferences given by experts is determined by rough AHP whereas evaluation of the alternatives based on these criteria are done by the modified rough MABAC method. A case study of prioritizing different railway stations in India is provided to demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the proposed method. Among different criteria “proactively” is observed to be the most important criteria in our analysis, followed by ‘Railfanning’ and ‘DMO’ is found to be the best among the forty IRS in this study. Finally, a comparative analysis and validity testing of the proposed method are elaborated and the methodology provides a standard to select IRS on the basis of different criteria.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-205
Author(s):  
Nahyeong Kim ◽  
Jeongwon Joo ◽  
Minyeong Kim ◽  
Kijung Park

The importance of designated earthquake shelters has been emphasized in South Korea. However, the lack of an appropriate evaluation process for shelter candidates often leads to an ad-hoc selection of earthquake shelters, resulting in inefficient disaster management. To address this issue, this study proposes an evaluation framework based on multi-criteria decision-making to measure the suitability of earthquake shelters quantitatively. First, available indicators for shelter evaluation are extracted from the relevant literature, which are then streamlined and grouped using text mining to represent evaluation areas. Next, the selected indicators are standardized to the same value scale, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to derive the relative importance of each evaluation area to compute the weighted sum total score of each candidate. The developed evaluation framework is applied to a case study of earthquake shelter selection in the city of Songdo-dong. The results show that there are additional shelter candidates suitable for earthquake evacuation in addition to the current designated shelters. This study can serve as a basis for objective shelter selection that would improve the identification and utility of designated shelters.


Algorithms ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 140
Author(s):  
Miguel Ângelo Lellis Moreira ◽  
Igor Pinheiro de Araújo Costa ◽  
Maria Teresa Pereira ◽  
Marcos dos Santos ◽  
Carlos Francisco Simões Gomes ◽  
...  

This paper presents a new approach based on Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), named PROMETHEE-SAPEVO-M1, through its implementation and feasibility related to the decision-making process regarding the evaluation of helicopters of attack of the Brazilian Navy. The proposed methodology aims to present an integration of ordinal evaluation into the cardinal procedure from the PROMETHEE method, enabling to perform qualitative and quantitative data and generate the criteria weights by pairwise evaluation, transparently. The modeling provides three models of preference analysis, as partial, complete, and outranking by intervals, along with an intra-criterion analysis by veto threshold, enabling the analysis of the performance of an alternative in a specific criterion. As a demonstration of the application, is carried out a case study by the PROMETHEE-SAPEVO-M1 web platform, addressing a strategic analysis of attack helicopters to be acquired by the Brazilian Navy, from the need to be evaluating multiple specifications with different levels of importance within the context problem. The modeling implementation in the case study is made in detail, first performing the alternatives in each criterion and then presenting the results by three different models of preference analysis, along with the intra-criterion analysis and a rank reversal procedure. Moreover, is realized a comparison analysis to the PROMETHEE method, exploring the main features of the PROMETHEE-SAPEVO-M1. Moreover, a section of discussion is presented, exposing some features and main points of the proposal. Therefore, this paper provides a valuable contribution to academia and society since it represents the application of an MCDA method in the state of the art, contributing to the decision-making resolution of the most diverse real problems.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ann Abbott ◽  
Debby McBride

The purpose of this article is to outline a decision-making process and highlight which portions of the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) evaluation process deserve special attention when deciding which features are required for a communication system in order to provide optimal benefit for the user. The clinician then will be able to use a feature-match approach as part of the decision-making process to determine whether mobile technology or a dedicated device is the best choice for communication. The term mobile technology will be used to describe off-the-shelf, commercially available, tablet-style devices like an iPhone®, iPod Touch®, iPad®, and Android® or Windows® tablet.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Firrean Firrean

Special Economic Zones (SEZ) is a region with certain limits within the jurisdiction of Indonesia which is set to perform economic functions and obtain certain facilities. One SEZ developed in North Sumatra Province and included in the National Strategic Area (KSN) Medan - Binjai - Deli Serdang - Karo is SEZ Sei Mangke. SEZ Sei Mangke is defined in PP 29 of 2012 on 27 February 2012 and is the first KEK in Indonesia which was inaugurated its operation by President Joko Widodo on January 27, 2015. KSN Mebidangro itself is an area of priority spatial arrangement because it has a very important influence nationally against state sovereignty, defense and state security, economic, social, cultural, and / or environment, including areas designated as world heritage. This research is an evaluative research intended to find out the end of a policy program in order to determine recommendation of last policy by using CIPO model which includes four stages: (1) context, (2) input, (3) process, and (4) output. The research method used is case study by applying qualitative research that aims to make an accurate interpretation of the characteristics of the object under study. Findings on the evaluation context indicate that the program is generally running well, but some aspects of synergy and policy optimization as well as financing support from central and local government need to be improved. In the input evaluation, and evaluation process some aspects need to be improved because the findings show the weakness of some aspects is the result of lack of synergy and optimization of policy and support from local government. Interesting from the evaluation of ouput is that with some weaknesses in the input and process components, it turns out the evaluation findings ouput show Seek Mangke SEZ development can still run well. The recommendation of this research is to improve the quality of policy synergy / program of SEZ Seek development by improving several aspects that are categorized in each stage of evaluation


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yogesh Badhe ◽  
Ravindra Medhe ◽  
Tushar Shelar

The site suitability for construction of water conservation structures is an important step towards groundwater conservation in arid and semi-arid regions. Water is the most crucial for maintaining an environment and ecosystem which is helpful to sustaining all forms of the life. The increasing water scarcity day to day has been one of the common problems over a period of time. On top of it, when the area is a part of rain shadow zone like Ahmednagar district, water conservation activities are become more important. The present study aims to identify the suitable zones for water conservation activity. Multi- criteria evaluation is carried out using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to help the choice makers in defining suitable site for construction of water conservation structures. Different layers which were considered for multi-criteria evaluation: slope, land use land cover, soil texture, lithology, soil depth, soil erosion, wells, lineaments and drainage network. Analytical Hierarchy Processes (AHP) is used for weighted sum to find suitable sites for implementation of water conservation activity using selected criterions. The site suitability map was classified into four classes: highly suitable, moderately suitable, less suitable and not suitable with area of 19.19%, 26%, 49.03% and 5.78, respectively. This map will help for selection of suitable sites for construction of Mati Nala Bund (MNB), Check Dam, Cement Nala Bund (CNB) and Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT) for conservation of groundwater resource in the region.


Author(s):  
Kasey Barr ◽  
Alex Mintz

This chapter examines the effect of group dynamics on the 2016 decision within the administration of President Barack Obama to lead the international coalition in a mission to liberate Raqqa, Syria, from the Islamic State. The authors show that whereas the groupthink syndrome characterized the decision-making process of the US-led coalition’s decision to attack Raqqa, it was polythink that characterized the decision-making dynamics both in the US-led coalition and within the inner circle of Obama’s own foreign policy advisors. Through case-study analysis, the authors illustrate that groupthink is more likely in strategic decisions, whereas polythink is more likely in tactical decisions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 403
Author(s):  
Jiamin Liu ◽  
Yueshi Li ◽  
Bin Xiao ◽  
Jizong Jiao

The siting of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfills is a complex decision process. Existing siting methods utilize expert scores to determine criteria weights, however, they ignore the uncertainty of data and criterion weights and the efficacy of results. In this study, a coupled fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach was employed to site landfills in Lanzhou, a semi-arid valley basin city in China, to enhance the spatial decision-making process. Primarily, 21 criteria were identified in five groups through the Delphi method at 30 m resolution, then criteria weights were obtained by DEMATEL and ANP, and the optimal fuzzy membership function was determined for each evaluation criterion. Combined with GIS spatial analysis and the clustering algorithm, candidate sites that satisfied the landfill conditions were identified, and the spatial distribution characteristics were analyzed. These sites were subsequently ranked utilizing the MOORA, WASPAS, COPRAS, and TOPSIS methods to verify the reliability of the results by conducting sensitivity analysis. This study is different from the previous research that applied the MCDM approach in that fuzzy MCDM for weighting criteria is more reliable compared to the other common methods.


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 1554
Author(s):  
Dragiša Stanujkić ◽  
Darjan Karabašević ◽  
Gabrijela Popović ◽  
Predrag S. Stanimirović ◽  
Muzafer Saračević ◽  
...  

The environment in which the decision-making process takes place is often characterized by uncertainty and vagueness and, because of that, sometimes it is very hard to express the criteria weights with crisp numbers. Therefore, the application of the Grey System Theory, i.e., grey numbers, in this case, is very convenient when it comes to determination of the criteria weights with partially known information. Besides, the criteria weights have a significant role in the multiple criteria decision-making process. Many ordinary multiple criteria decision-making methods are adapted for using grey numbers, and this is the case in this article as well. A new grey extension of the certain multiple criteria decision-making methods for the determination of the criteria weights is proposed. Therefore, the article aims to propose a new extension of the Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) and PIvot Pairwise Relative Criteria Importance Assessment (PIPRECIA) methods adapted for group decision-making. In the proposed approach, attitudes of decision-makers are transformed into grey group attitudes, which allows taking advantage of the benefit that grey numbers provide over crisp numbers. The main advantage of the proposed approach in relation to the use of crisp numbers is the ability to conduct different analyses, i.e., considering different scenarios, such as pessimistic, optimistic, and so on. By varying the value of the whitening coefficient, different weights of the criteria can be obtained, and it should be emphasized that this approach gives the same weights as in the case of crisp numbers when the whitening coefficient has a value of 0.5. In addition, in this approach, the grey number was formed based on the median value of collected responses because it better maintains the deviation from the normal distribution of the collected responses. The application of the proposed approach was considered through two numerical illustrations, based on which appropriate conclusions were drawn.


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