Intra State Infrastructural Disparity in Maharashtra

Maharashtra is the economically leading state in the country. The state comprises 36 districts that are divided into six revenue divisions. There is a wide disparity in the state at the regional level and among the districts in terms of development. Infrastructure being the important accelerator of economic activities in any region is not balanced in the state. This paper highlights this intra state disparity considering nine broad infrastructural categories. The method of ranking analysis is used for this purpose. It is observed that Pune, Konkan, Nashik and Nagpur are the regions of comparatively good infrastructure development in state whereas Aurangabad and Amravati are the regions of comparatively low level of infrastructure development. At district level most of the districts are falling in the Pune, Konkan, Nashik and Nagpur region but there is a change in ranking position in various districts during 2010 to 2015. The widening gap in infrastructure development in resent past highlights the serious concern of governmental intervention in bridging the development gap in infrastructure and resultant inequalities.

STUDY TOWARDS THE TIME-BASED MCDA RANKING ANALYSIS – A SUPPLIER SELECTION CASE STUDY

Decision-making processes increasingly use models based on various methods to ensure professional analysis and evaluation of the considered alternatives. However, the abundance of these methods makes it difficult to choose the proper method to solve a given problem. Also, it is worth noting whether different results can be obtained using different methods within a single decision problem. In this paper, we used three selected Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods called COMET, TOPSIS, and SPOTIS in order to examine how the obtained rankings vary. The selection of material suppliers was taken into consideration. The equal weights, entropy and standard deviation methods were used to determine the weights for criteria. Final preferences values were then compared with the WS similarity coefficient and weighted Spearman correlation coefficient to check the similarity of the received rankings. It was noticed that in the given problem, all of the methods provide highly correlated results, and the obtained positional rankings are not significantly different. However, practical conclusions indicate the need to look for improved solutions in the correct and accurate assessment of suppliers in a given period.

Acceptability of Vegetable Fortified Ugali in Sub-Saharan Africa

Corn flour-based porridge like dough, ugali, is the staple food of low-income population in sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of vitamin A, carotenoids, and dietary fibers brings about serious health issues to this population. In this study, vegetables including bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, Chinese onion stalk (C_onion), mushroom, are added during the cooking of ugali, as nutritional supplements. The freeze-dried powder of each vegetable was used for its long storage, stable nutrients, and similar particle size. Sub-Saharan African assessors were trained and sensory evaluated the six different vegetable fortified ugali with the plain, unfortified as the control on five attributes. The plain ugali was indistinguishable with the C_onion stalk fortified in color, with the carrot and C_onion stalk fortified in odor, with all vegetables (except broccoli and mushroom) fortified ugali in taste, with carrot and C_onion stalk fortified in granularity, and with cabbage, carrot, C_onion stalk fortified in viscosity. Preference ranking analysis showed that the C_onion stalk fortified ugali is even more favorably preferred than the plain, unfortified ugali, probably due to the umami components in C_onion that serve as the taste enhancer. This study indicates that Chinese onion stalk is a potential vegetable supplement to population in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Performance of Unit Trust Funds between Conventional and Islamic Funds in Malaysia using Data Envelopment Analysis

This study aims to analyse the current performance of unit trust funds between conventional and Islamic funds using data envelopment analysis because most Malaysians are incapable to distinguish between conventional and Islamic unit trust funds performances since they tend to assume both funds perform similarly. This paper uses 20 authorised funds by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) for three years by using trailing data that consists of volatility element as input and total return as output. Indeed, the funds selected do not mix asset classes of funds, instead relying solely on equity funds to create a fair and reasonable ranking. The study employs Data Envelopment Analysis by testing two different models, namely Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes input oriented (CCR-I) model and Banker, Charnes, and Cooper input oriented (BCC-I) model. The use of two models in this study is to ensure that the results of the ranking analysis are more accurate and precise. Both models employ the input-oriented model function as a means of maximising efficiency in order to increase the number of fairies. The efficiency of Islamic funds is more consistent than that of conventional funds for both models, as several Islamic funds maintain their position at the top of the efficient rank. However, there is a significant increase in conventional funds because 80% of the selected conventional funds that are not efficient in the CCR-I model achieve the efficiency level in the BCC-I model. As a result, there are four unit trust funds that are consistent in occupying efficiency level when tested for both CCR-I model and BCC-I model whereby three out of four are Islamic funds while the other is conventional fund. The Islamic funds consist of Apex Dana Aslah, BIMB i Growth Fund, and Maybank Malaysia Growth-I Fund while KAF Tactical Fund is conventional fund. Ultimately, it is concluded that Islamic funds perform better than conventional funds in Malaysia for the 3 years period ending 31 March 2021.

Group Decision-making Method Based on Grey Relational Analysis and Evidence Theory for XAI

For the uncertainty and complexity ingroup decision making and the differences of decision makers’ reliabilities, a group decision making method based on grey relational analysis and evidence theory is proposed. Combining grey relational analysis with evidence theory, a novel decision-making method extracting the degree of ignorance for individual decision makers’ information and constructing the Mass function is presented based on the comprehensive grey relational analysis (CGRA) method. We should also address how AI systems make their black box decisions, which calls for research into Explainable AI (XAI) by pursuing reverse engineering and self-explainability in AI. Considering the differences of decision makers’ reliabilities, the Mass function is modified by the evidence weight, and the group decision information is fused by the Dempster’s combination rule. On this basis, the Mass function is further transformed into the probability by the Pignistic probability transformation, which issued for ranking analysis of group decision making. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the green supplier selection, and the comparative analysis is further performed to verify the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed method.

THE LEVEL OF CROP DIVERSIFICATION AND CROPPING PATTERN SHIFT IN THIRUVARUR DISTRICT OF TAMILNADU, INDIA

Crop diversification provides the farmers a wider choice in cultivation so that profit would be maximised and the risks would be minimised. Understanding the merits of the concept of crop diversification a study was undertaken to analyse the level of crop diversification and cropping pattern shift and to rank the reasons for non – adoption of crop diversification in Thiruvarur district of Tamilnadu. Thiruvarur district was considered as universe of the study. The analyses relied on both preliminary and secondary data. Simple random sampling techniques were adopted for collection of primary data. The estimated Herfindhal and Simpson indices revealed that the crop diversification was much limited in Thiruvarur district. Further the Garrett ranking analysis revealed that “Lack of awareness on the relevance of crop diversification in risk management” was the prime reason for non - adoption of crop diversification in Thiruvarur district. Needed efforts should be initiated by the relevant institutional authorities to improve the awareness among the farmers of Thiruvarur district on crop diversification and its relevance in risk mitigation and the technical know – how on cultivation of new crops should also be provided to the farmers.