WHY FUZZY ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS APPROACH FOR TRANSPORT PROBLEMS?

The evaluation of transport projects has become increasingly complex. Different aspects have to be taken into account and the consequences of the problems are usually far reaching and the different policy alternatives are numerous and difficult to predict. Several pressure or action groups have also emerged causing an even more complex decision making process. The use of multi criteria analysis for the evaluation of transport projects has increased due to this increasing complexity of the problem situation. At the same time, the importance of stakeholders within this evaluation process should have been recognized. Researches on transport projects are generally carried out to provide information to policymakers that have to operate within restrictive parameters (political, economical, social, etc…). Researchers should therefore take greater account of the different priorities of stakeholders such as policymakers, private enterprises and households. These stakeholders should be incorporated explicitly in the evaluation process. The Analytic Hierarchy Process is one of the Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision Making methods. It can be applied in a very broad range of applications of decision problems. Logistics, urban planning, public politics, marketing, finance, education, economics are a part of this wide application area. In transport subjects it can be used for the evaluation of transport policy measures or decision making problems. Due to its wide range application area, it has been an exciting research subject for many different field researchers. The aim of this paper is to introduce AHP method and to offer how to benefit it for the preference of urban planners in transport problems. This paper is composed of two main parts. First part consists of the literature survey regarding with the AHP and its application areas. The advantage of methods had been mentioned. Second part focuses on a sample application of AHP technique. The study uses AHP technique to determine the selection criteria in the transhipment port selection decision-making process. Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, Multi criteria analysis, Transshipment port selection.

Evaluation of e-learning web sites using fuzzy axiomatic design based approach

High quality web site has been generally recognized as a critical enabler to conduct online business. Numerous studies exist in the literature to measure the business performance in relation to web site quality. In this paper, an axiomatic design based approach for fuzzy group decision making is adopted to evaluate the quality of e-learning web sites. Another multi-criteria decision making technique, namely fuzzy TOPSIS, is applied in order to validate the outcome. The methodology proposed in this paper has the advantage of incorporating requirements and enabling reductions in the problem size, as compared to fuzzy TOPSIS. A case study focusing on Turkish e-learning websites is presented, and based on the empirical findings, managerial implications and recommendations for future research are offered

Enhance maintenance problem recognition techniques and its application to palm oil mills

This paper discusses the application of enhanced maintenance problem recognition techniques. The main contribution of this study is the proposed combined techniques, namely snapshot model, failure mode, effect and criticality analysis (FMECA), Pareto analysis, and decision analysis by using information technology (IT). The snapshot model is part of the maintenance modelling technique while FMECA, Pareto analysis, and decision analysis are part of maintenance reliability techniques. Each of the techniques and the proposed combined techniques is explained. The case study used for this enhanced technique was the palm oil mills maintenance problem. The result and possible further enhancement is also discussed

Enhanced maintenance problem recognition techniques and its application to palm oil mills

This paper discusses the application of enhanced maintenance problem recognition techniques. The main contribution of this study is the proposed combined techniques, namely snapshot model, failure mode, effect and criticality analysis (FMECA),Pareto analysis, and decision analysis by using information technology (IT). The snapshot model is part of the maintenance modelling technique while FMECA, Pareto analysis, and decision analysis are part of maintenance reliability techniques.Each of the techniques and the proposed combined techniques is explained. The case study used for this enhanced technique was the palm oil mills maintenance problem. The result and possible further enhancement is also discussed

EU rural policy: proposal and application of an agricultural sustainability index

In this paper I propose an Agricultural Sustainability Index (ASI) starting from a ‘political’ perspective: European legislation in the rural sector. I try to answer these questions. How can we measure sustainability in agriculture? How do we measure the enhancement (if any) of the European policy for sustainability in agriculture? Why do some geographical areas perform better than others? Considering these questions, the paper suggests a model for measuring sustainability in agriculture and an approach to compare performances among different geographical contexts. The model puts together different dimensions of sustainability in agriculture, combining Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis and Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA). Using eighteen agricultural indicators divided into three dimensions, social, economic and environmental, the model incorporates the following stages: (i) indicator specification and definition of the decisional framework; (ii) indicators' normalisation by means of transformation functions based on the fuzzy logic approach; (iii) indicators weighted by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques; (iv) indicators aggregated to obtain the ASI. The model is tested on a specific area: Alta Val d’Agri, a rural area in the southern Basilicata Region. Final results show that ASI consistently synthesises the evolution of thirty years of rural development policy.Agricultural sustainability, Indicators, GIS-MCA

Intelligent synthesis mechanism for deriving streaming priorities of multimedia content

We address the problem of integrating user preferences with network Quality of Service parameters for the streaming of media content, and suggest protocol stack configurations that satisfy user and technical requirements to the best available degree. Our approach is able to handle inconsistencies between user and networking considerations, formulating the problem of construction of tailor-made protocols as a prioritization problem, solvable using fuzzy programming