Multi-Criteria Analysis and Consequential Lifecycle Assessment of Solid Waste Management

Based on a case study comparing different approaches for management of organic waste generated in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this study proposes the combination of consequential lifecycle assessment (CLCA) and multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA). Compared approaches were landfilling with energy recovery from landfill gas, source segregation of organics for anaerobic digestion and use of digestate as fertilizer, and finally, post-sorting of organics and landfilling of residual bio-solids. Seven different impact categories were assessed in the CLCA. In addition, recovery of electricity and macro nutrients were included as additional impact categories. The use of VIP analysis facilitates the interpretation of results aggregating them under different conditions. Furthermore, approaches for ranking of considered impact categories could be carried out both for a local or a global perspective. This, and the possibility of easily including additional context derived evaluation parameters, clearly highlights the combination of CLCA and VIP analysis for decision support.

The Effect of Lightweight Concrete Cores on the Thermal Performance of Vacuum Insulation Panels

The performance of vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) is strongly affected by several factors, such as panel thickness, design, quality of vacuum, and material type. In particular, the core materials inside VIPs significantly influence their overall performance. Despite their superior insulation performance, VIPs are limited in their widespread use as structural materials, because of their low material strength and the relatively expensive core materials. As an alternative core material that can compensate these limitations, foamed concrete, a type of lightweight concrete with very low density, can be used. In this study, two different types of foamed concrete were used as VIP core materials, with their effects on the thermal behavior of the VIPs having been evaluated using experimental and numerical methods. To confirm and generate numerical models for VIP analysis, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was utilized. The obtained results show that insulation effects increase effectively when panels with lightweight concrete are in a vacuum, and both foamed concrete types can be effectively used as VIP core materials.

Comprehensive multivariate correlations between climatic effect, metabolite-profile, antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activity of Brazilian red propolis metabolites during seasonal study

The standardization of apiceutical products like as propolis extracts has been widely debated worldwide and variations in the propolis chemical composition are still very relevant topics for use-standardized of different propolis-type as medication by much of the world’s population. The present manuscript discuss important issues related to the climate effect and variations in propolis metabolite-profiling changes, antioxidant capacity and variations of the antibacterial activity of the Brazilian red propolis metabolites using comprehensive multivariate correlations. It was observed the increasing of guttiferones concentrations during the intense drought period and drastic decreasing in rainy period. The climate variation induced the high concentration of flavonoids in rainy period with pronounced dropped in some rainy months. The Pearson´s analysis demonstrated correlation between IC50 from DPPH and guttiferones and flavonoids concentrations. The PCA-X and Hotelling T2 test showed outliers during the months with lowest concentrations of formononetin and isoliquiritigenin was observed in antibacterial tests. The PLS-DA, OPLS-DA and VIP analysis demonstrate guttiferone E, guttiferone B, liquiritigenin, naringenin are considered important substances responsible by anti-staphylococcal activity in red propolis composition during the rainy season and drought period, but a synergistic effect with other flavonoids and isoflavonoids are not ruled out.

UMA REVISÃO DE TRÊS PACOTES DE SOFTWARE DEDICADOS A PROBLEMAS MULTIATRIBUTO

In this work we outline and make a critical discussion of three software packages dedicated to multiattribute models, based on a learning oriented paradigm and involving in its development researchers of INESC-Coimbra. Namely, VIP-Analysis Dias and Clímaco 2000) based on the additive model in order to aggregate value functions, but just requiring imprecise information on the scale coefficients; the IRIS system (Interactive Robustness analysis and parameters Inference for multicriteria Sorting problems - Dias e Mousseau, 2003) dedicated to the sorting problematic, according to a pre-defined set of categories, based on the ELECTRE TRI (Yu 1992), but not requiring the decision maker to fix precise values for all parameters of the method; and, finally , an web interface, called “MATRIX”, for a base of methods including: : Simple Additive Weighting and TOPSIS (Yoon and Hwang, 1995), VIKOR (Duckstein and Opricovic, 1980), ELECTRE I (Benayoun et al., 1966; Roy, 1968), ELECTRE III (Roy, 1978), ELECTRE IV (Roy and Hugonnard, 1982), ELECTRE TRI (Yu, 1992) e AHP (Saaty, 1980).

Integração de métodos multicritério na busca da sustentabilidade agrícola para a produção de tomates no município de São José de Ubá-RJ

Este estudo discute alternativas para os sistemas produtivos da terra no plantio de tomates em São José de Ubá-RJ e as relações de trabalho passíveis de serem colocadas em pratica de forma a promover uma agricultura sustentavel na região, priorizando os aspectos economicos, ambientais e culturais do problema. A introdução da questão cultural aumenta a complexidade da questão, sendo necessário o uso de uma metodologia capaz de lidar com toda a subjetividade envolvida nesse processo de tomada de decisão. O estudo visa contribuir para a conquista de um processo sustentavel na região, estabelecendo um processo de tomada de decisão pautado nas opinioes do agricultor, respeitando principalmente as questões culturais do problema. As características do ambiente de tomada de decisão indicaram o uso de uma combinação de métodos de apoio a decisão multicritério - MACBETH e VIP Analysis - para a seleção da melhor alternativa capaz de possibilitar o alcance dos objetivos propostos

Supporting Collaborative Multi-Criteria Evaluation

This article presents the VIP Analysis plug-in of Decision Deck 1.1, a platform that hosts different evaluation methods to support decision makers in the collaborative evaluation of alternatives in a multi-criteria and multi-experts setting. VIP Analysis is a tool for aggregation of multicriteria performances by means of an additive value function under imprecise information. It allows conducting a multicriteria analysis for selecting an alternative when the decision makers are not able to (or do not wish to) fix precise values for the importance parameters. These parameters are seen as variables that may take several values subject to constraints. VIP Analysis incorporates different methods to support the progressive reduction of the number of alternatives, introducing a concept of tolerance that lets decision makers use some of the methods in a more flexible manner. When compared with the original standalone VIP Analysis (programmed in the late 1990s) the main innovation of the VIP Analysis plug-in is to allow several users working on the same problem under different roles: coordinator, evaluator, and decision-maker, thus defining a workflow process and enabling concurrent and remote access to the data over a network. By being included in the Decision Deck platform, VIP Analysis is now integrated with other decision aiding methods within a coherent interface. A final advantage is that the platform is open-source, which facilitates customization and collaborative improvement of the software.

Multicriteria decision group model for the selection of suppliers

Several authors have been studying group decision making over the years, which indicates how relevant it is. This paper presents a multicriteria group decision model based on ELECTRE IV and VIP Analysis methods, to those cases where there is great divergence among the decision makers. This model includes two stages. In the first, the ELECTRE IV method is applied and a collective criteria ranking is obtained. In the second, using criteria ranking, VIP Analysis is applied and the alternatives are selected. To illustrate the model, a numerical application in the context of the selection of suppliers in project management is used. The suppliers that form part of the project team have a crucial role in project management. They are involved in a network of connected activities that can jeopardize the success of the project, if they are not undertaken in an appropriate way. The question tackled is how to select service suppliers for a project on behalf of an enterprise that assists the multiple objectives of the decision-makers.

Modelo multicritério de decisão para localização de nova jaguaribara com vip analysis

Projetos de grandes barragens, na maioria das vezes, implicam inundação de cidades e povoados pelo lago formado. A complexidade do processo de decisão de localizar a população atingida pela barragem decorre de uma interação de variados critérios, em geral, conflitantes, bem como da grande quantidade de atores envolvidos no processo. Este artigo considera um modelo de auxílio à tomada de decisão para o estudo de localização da cidade de Nova Jaguaribara, no Estado Ceará, sendo abordados diferentes pontos de vista técnicos, socioeconômicos e ambientais.