A multi-criteria fuzzy method for selecting the location of a solid waste disposal facility

Facility location is a multicriteria decision process that has important operational and economic impacts and that typically involves uncertainty and vagueness of evaluations. A fuzzy-based method supporting preliminary decision-making about siting solid waste incinerators is proposed building on a structured classification of criteria for location selection developed from the existing literature. The application to a case study revealed the advantages of the methodology. The work intends to provide a general and comprehensive taxonomy of decision criteria that may be adapted to various facility location problems together with a fuzzy inference process that is useful for companies and public administration institutions looking for rigorous but relatively simple decision-making tools in uncertain environments. Future research will compare the developed method with the most common tools for making location decisions. The approach will be then extended to different kinds of facilitie

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

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.

Locating Post Offices Using Fuzzy Goal Programming and Geographical Information System (GIS)

This paper deals with the problem of locating new post offices in a megacity. To do so, a combination of geographicalinformation system (GIS) and fuzzy goal programming (FGP) is used. In order to locate new offices, first six types of servicefacilities with high levels of interactions with post offices are defined. Then, aspiration level of proximity for each servicefacility is determined. Based on these values, a fuzzy goal programming model is constructed to find potential locations offacilities. In order to determine the optimal locations among potential facilities, a maximal covering location problem(MCLP) is solved and results are reported. Results show that although the current state is near-optimal, for future expansionsof the network, the government should spend money on central and southern parts of this megacity

A Hybrid Multi-Criteria Analysis Model for Solving the Facility Location–Allocation Problem: a Case Study of Infectious Waste Disposal

Choosing locations for infectious waste disposal (IWD) is one of the most significant issues in hazardous waste management due to the risk imposed on the environment and human life. This risk can be the result of an undesirable location of IWD facilities. In this study a hybrid multi-criteria analysis (Hybrid MCA) model for solving the facility location–allocation (FLA) problem for IWD was developed by combining two objectives: total cost minimization and weight maximization. Based on an actual case of forty-seven hospitals and three candidate municipalities in the northeastern region of Thailand, first, the Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS techniques were integrated to determine the closeness of the coefficient weights of each candidate municipality. After that, these weights were converted to weighting factors and then these factors were taken into the objective function of the FLA model. The results showed that the Hybrid MCA model can help decision makers to locate disposal centers, hospitals and incinerator size simultaneously. Besides that the model can be extended by incorporating additional selection criteria/objectives. Therefore, it is believed that it can also be useful for addressing other complex problems

Using the hybrid fuzzy goal programming model and hybrid genetic algorithm to solve a multi-objective location routing problem for infectious waste disposal

Purpose: Disposal of infectious waste remains one of the most serious problems in the social and environmental domains of almost every nation. Selection of new suitable locations and finding the optimal set of transport routes to transport infectious waste, namely location routing problem for infectious waste disposal, is one of the major problems in hazardous waste management. Design/methodology/approach: Due to the complexity of this problem, location routing problem for a case study, forty hospitals and three candidate municipalities in sub-Northeastern Thailand, was divided into two phases. The first phase is to choose suitable municipalities using hybrid fuzzy goal programming model which hybridizes the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy goal programming. The second phase is to find the optimal routes for each selected municipality using hybrid genetic algorithm which hybridizes the genetic algorithm and local searches including 2-Opt-move, Insertion-move and ?-interchange-move. Findings: The results indicate that the hybrid fuzzy goal programming model can guide the selection of new suitable municipalities, and the hybrid genetic algorithm can provide the optimal routes for a fleet of vehicles effectively. Originality/value: The novelty of the proposed methodologies, hybrid fuzzy goal programming model, is the simultaneous combination of both intangible and tangible factors in order to choose new suitable locations, and the hybrid genetic algorithm can be used to determine the optimal routes which provide a minimum number of vehicles and minimum transportation cost under the actual situation, efficiently.Peer Reviewe

Emergency response network design for hazardous materials transportation with uncertain demand

Transportation of hazardous materials play an essential role on keeping a friendly environment. Every day, a substantial amount of hazardous materials (hazmats), such as flammable liquids and poisonous gases, need to be transferred prior to consumption or disposal. Such transportation may result in unsuitable events for people and environment. Emergency response network is designed for this reason where specialist responding teams resolve any issue as quickly as possible. This study proposes a new multi-objective model to locate emergency response centers for transporting the hazardous materials. Since many real-world applications are faced with uncertainty in input parameters, the proposed model of this paper also assumes that reference and demand to such centre is subject to uncertainty, where demand is fuzzy random. The resulted problem formulation is modelled as nonlinear non-convex mixed integer programming and we used NSGAII method to solve the resulted problem. The performance of the proposed model is examined with several examples using various probability distribution and they are compared with the performance of other existing method

Selection of biogas, solar, and wind power plants’ locations: An MCDA approach

This study discusses a multi-criteria approach to locating biogas, solar and wind power plants that significantly addresses the challenge of global warming caused by power generation. Because the utility of locations to build renewable energy power plants depends on economic, social and environmental dimensions, after reviewing literature, the sustainable frameworks of criteria affecting the location of biogas, solar and wind power plants were examined in this paper. The offered frameworks are applied to determining the site of biogas, solar, and wind power plants in Iran. The provinces of Iran are assessed as alternatives in this paper. To compute the weight of criteria in the offered framework, data from a sample of experts in Iran are used via an online survey form designed based on the best-worst method (BWM). Using the results of the BWM and the performance data, the overall score are calculated for the various provinces of Iran. The results of this study indicate that energy saving, effect on resources and natural reserves and wind flow, respectively, are the most effective factors for determining the place of biogas, solar and wind power plants, and South Khorasan, Khuzestan, and Khuzestan show the best result for establishing biogas, solar, and wind power plants in Iran respectively

AN INTEGRATED MULTI-MODEL OPTIMIZATION AND FUZZY AHP FOR SHELTER SITE SELECTION AND EVACUATION PLANNING

Due to an increasing severity of recent disasters, shelter site selection and evacuation planning have become an essential function for the purpose of helping at-risk persons to avoid or recover from the effect of a disaster. Therefore, this study aims to propose an integrated mathematical optimization and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process for shelter site selection and evacuation planning. The mathematical models are formulated under different constraints and model types, in which the objective of each mathematical model is to minimize the total travel distance. The mathematical models are coded and run in optimizer tool for creating plans. Then, Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is applied to choose the appropriate plan under uncertainty and vagueness of the expert\u27s opinion. A numerical example with a real case study of a Banta municipality in Thailand is given to demonstrate the application of our conceptual model. This study will be great significance in helping decision makers consider placement of emergency shelters and evacuation planning with respect to both qualitative and quantitative measurement. Moreover, our study can be a guide of the methodology to be implemented to other problems as well

Fuzzy multi-criteria decision making for carbon dioxide geological storage in Turkey

The problem of choosing the best location for CO2 storage is a crucial and challenging multi-criteria decision problem for some companies. This study compares the performance of three fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods, including Fuzzy TOPSIS, Fuzzy ELECTRE I and Fuzzy VIKOR for solving the carbon dioxide geological storage location selection problem in Turkey. The results show that MCDM approach is a useful tool for decision makers in the selection of potential sites for CO2 geological storage