Construction of interval-valued fuzzy preference relations from ignorance functions and fuzzy preference relations. Application to decision making

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Information Technology and Quantitative Management (ITQM 2017): An alternative calculation of the consensus degree in group decision making problems

In a problem of group decision-making it is desirable to obtain a solution with the highest possible degree of agreement – consensus- among the participants. For this aim, it is necessary to have tools that facilitate the calculation of the degree of consensus in a reliable way. This study proposes a consensus index based on a statistical measure of variability of the preferences expressed by the experts in a group decision-making process and performs a specific comparative study between this index and several known consensus measures. The analysis shows that in this specific situation the proposed measure behaves in a similar way to the previous ones and it could play their role in a process of decision making in group.The authors would like to acknowledge FEDER financial support from the Project TIN2016-75850-R

OWA-based fuzzy m-ary adjacency relations in Social Network Analysis.

In this paper we propose an approach to Social Network Analysis (SNA) based on fuzzy m-ary adjacency relations. In particular, we show that the dimension of the analysis can naturally be increased and interesting results can be derived. Therefore, fuzzy m-ary adjacency relations can be computed starting from fuzzy binary relations and introducing OWA-based aggregations. The behavioral assumptions derived from the measure and the exam of individual propensity to connect with other suggest that OWA operators can be considered particularly suitable in characterizing such relationships.reciprocal relation; fuzzy preference relation; priority vector; normalization

A Variance-Based Consensus Degree in Group Decision Making Problems

The variance is a well-known statistical measure and is frequently used for the calculation of variability. This concept can be used to obtain the degree of agreement in groups that have to make decisions. In this study, we propose the use of a variance derivative as an alternative for the calculation of the degree of consensus for Group Decision Making problems with fuzzy preference relations. As revealed by a subsequent comparative study, the values obtained by this new method are comparable to the values obtained by means of frequently used methods that employ distance functions and aggregation operators, while it turns out to be a simpler application method

A new decision making model based on Rank Centrality for GDM with fuzzy preference relations

The work of Enrique Herrera Viedma was supported by the Spanish State Research Agency under Project PID2019-103880RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Preference aggregation in Group Decision Making (GDM) is a substantial problem that has received a lot of research attention. Decision problems involving fuzzy preference relations constitute an important class within GDM. Legacy approaches dealing with the latter type of problems can be classified into indirect approaches, which involve deriving a group preference matrix as an intermediate step, and direct approaches, which deduce a group preference ranking based on individual preference rankings. Although the work on indirect approaches has been extensive in the literature, there is still a scarcity of research dealing with the direct approaches. In this paper we present a direct approach towards aggregating several fuzzy preference relations on a set of alternatives into a single weighted ranking of the alternatives. By mapping the pairwise preferences into transitions probabilities, we are able to derive a preference ranking from the stationary distribution of a stochastic matrix. Interestingly, the ranking of the alternatives obtained with our method corresponds to the optimizer of the Maximum Likelihood Estimation of a particular Bradley-Terry-Luce model. Furthermore, we perform a theoretical sensitivity analysis of the proposed method supported by experimental results and illustrate our approach towards GDM with a concrete numerical example. This work opens avenues for solving GDM problems using elements of probability theory, and thus, provides a sound theoretical fundament as well as plausible statistical interpretation for the aggregation of expert opinions in GDM.Spanish State Research Agency PID2019-103880RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/50110001103

An alternative calculation of the consensus degree in group decision making problems

In a problem of group decision-making it is desirable to obtain a solution with the highest possible degree of agreement – consensus- among the participants. For this aim, it is necessary to have tools that facilitate the calculation of the degree of consensus in a reliable way. This study proposes a consensus index based on a statistical measure of variability of the preferences expressed by the experts in a group decision-making process and performs a specific comparative study between this index and several known consensus measures. The analysis shows that in this specific situation the proposed measure behaves in a similar way to the previous ones and it could play their role in a process of decision making in group.European Commission TIN2016-75850-

Trust Based Consensus Model for Social Network in an Incomplete Linguistic Information Context

A theoretical framework to consensus building within a networked social group is put forward. This article investigates a trust based estimation and aggregation methods as part of a visual consensus model for multiple criteria group decision making with incomplete linguistic information. A novel trust propagation method is proposed to derive trust relationship from an incomplete connected trust network and the trust score induced order weighted averaging operator is presented to aggregate the orthopairs of trust/distrust values obtained from different trust paths. Then, the concept of relative trust score is defined, whose use is twofold: (1) to estimate the unknown preference values and (2) as a reliable source to determine experts' weights. A visual feedback process is developed to provide experts with graphical representations of their consensus status within the group as well as to identify the alternatives and preference values that should be reconsidered for changing in the subsequent consensus round. The feedback process also includes a recommendation mechanism to provide advice to those experts that are identified as contributing less to consensus on how to change their identified preference values. It is proved that the implementation of the visual feedback mechanism guarantees the convergence of the consensus reaching process

Consistency test and weight generation for additive interval fuzzy preference relations

Some simple yet pragmatic methods of consistency test are developed to check whether an interval fuzzy preference relation is consistent. Based on the definition of additive consistent fuzzy preference relations proposed by Tanino (Fuzzy Sets Syst 12:117–131, 1984), a study is carried out to examine the correspondence between the element and weight vector of a fuzzy preference relation. Then, a revised approach is proposed to obtain priority weights from a fuzzy preference relation. A revised definition is put forward for additive consistent interval fuzzy preference relations. Subsequently, linear programming models are established to generate interval priority weights for additive interval fuzzy preference relations. A practical procedure is proposed to solve group decision problems with additive interval fuzzy preference relations. Theoretic analysis and numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed methods are more accurate than those in Xu and Chen (Eur J Oper Res 184:266–280, 2008b)

Choice degrees in decision-making: A comparison between intuitionistic and fuzzy preference relations approaches

Preference modelling based on Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy sets are gaining increasing relevance in the field of group decision making as they provide experts with a flexible and simple tool to express their preferences on a set of alternative options, while allowing, at the same time, to accommodate experts’ preference uncertainty, which is inherent to all decision making processes. A key issue within this framework is the provision of efficient methods to rank alternatives, from best to worse, taking into account the peculiarities that this type of preference representation format presents. In this contribution we analyse the relationships between the main method proposed and used by researchers to rank alternatives using intuitionistic fuzzy sets, the score degree function, and the well known choice degree based on Orlovsky’s non-dominance concept for the case when the preferences are expressed by means of fuzzy preference relations. This relationship study will provide the necessary theoretical results to support the implementation of Orlovsky’s non-dominance concept to define the fuzzy quantifier guided non-dominance choice degree for intuitionistic fuzzy preference relations

A variance-based consensus degree in group decision making problems

The variance is a well-known statistical measure and is frequently used for the calculation of variability. This concept can be used to obtain the degree of agreement in groups that have to make decisions. In this study, we propose the use of a variance derivative as an alternative for the calculation of the degree of consensus for Group Decision Making problems with fuzzy preference relations. As revealed by a subsequent comparative study, the values obtained by this new method are comparable to the values obtained by means of frequently used methods that employ distance functions and aggregation operators, while it turns out to be a simpler application method