Multicriteria sustainability evaluation of transport networks for selected European countries

As an essential economic activity, transportation has complex interactions with the environment and society. Since the concept of sustainable development has become one of the top priorities for nations, there has been a growing interest in evaluating the performance of transport systems with respect to sustainability issues. The main purpose of this study is to introduce a decision making framework to assess the sustainability of the transport networks in a multidimensional setting and a technique to identify non-compromise alternatives. We also propose an elucidation technique to identify according to which criteria a system needs to be improved and how much improvement is required to attain a certain level of sustainability. The proposed methods are applied to a set of selected European countries within a case study

Multi crteria decision making and its applications : a literature review

This paper presents current techniques used in Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and their applications. Two basic approaches for MCDM, namely Artificial Intelligence MCDM (AIMCDM) and Classical MCDM (CMCDM) are discussed and investigated. Recent articles from international journals related to MCDM are collected and analyzed to find which approach is more common than the other in MCDM. Also, which area these techniques are applied to. Those articles are appearing in journals for the year 2008 only. This paper provides evidence that currently, both AIMCDM and CMCDM are equally common in MCDM

A framework for the selection of the right nuclear power plant

Civil nuclear reactors are used for the production of electrical energy. In the nuclear industry vendors propose several nuclear reactor designs with a size from 35–45 MWe up to 1600–1700 MWe. The choice of the right design is a multidimensional problem since a utility has to include not only financial factors as levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) and internal rate of return (IRR), but also the so called “external factors” like the required spinning reserve, the impact on local industry and the social acceptability. Therefore it is necessary to balance advantages and disadvantages of each design during the entire life cycle of the plant, usually 40–60 years. In the scientific literature there are several techniques for solving this multidimensional problem. Unfortunately it does not seem possible to apply these methodologies as they are, since the problem is too complex and it is difficult to provide consistent and trustworthy expert judgments. This paper fills the gap, proposing a two-step framework to choosing the best nuclear reactor at the pre-feasibility study phase. The paper shows in detail how to use the methodology, comparing the choice of a small-medium reactor (SMR) with a large reactor (LR), characterised, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (2006), by an electrical output respectively lower and higher than 700 MWe

A review of application of multi-criteria decision making methods in construction

Construction is an area of study wherein making decisions adequately can mean the difference between success and failure. Moreover, most of the activities belonging to this sector involve taking into account a large number of conflicting aspects, which hinders their management as a whole. Multi-criteria decision making analysis arose to model complex problems like these. This paper reviews the application of 22 different methods belonging to this discipline in various areas of the construction industry clustered in 11 categories. The most significant methods are briefly discussed, pointing out their principal strengths and limitations. Furthermore, the data gathered while performing the paper are statistically analysed to identify different trends concerning the use of these techniques. The review shows their usefulness in characterizing very different decision making environments, highlighting the reliability acquired by the most pragmatic and widespread methods and the emergent tendency to use some of them in combination