Evaluation of the business environment of participating countries of the Belt and Road Initiative

As an important indicator for measuring the quality of business environment of different countries, ease of doing business (EDB) issued by the World Bank (WB) provides an important reference for investors in making decisions on transnational investment. The calculation method for EDB issued by the WB is improved using a technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method based on Mahalanobis distance. Based on various indicator data in 2019, business environments in 121 countries participating in “the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)” were empirically analysed and compared through such models. The result showed that TOPSIS method based on Mahalanobis distance can more fully utilise information and take the effect of negative ideal points into account. Therefore, compared with ranking method by the WB, TOPSIS method based on Mahalanobis distance is more applicable for ranking BRI countries. The ranking results indicated significant geographical characteristics. The EDB rankings obtained through the WB overestimate the business environments of countries in Central and Eastern Europe while underestimate those in Southeast Asia, Africa, etc. First published online 22 September 202

The contribution of MCDM to SUMP: the case of spanish cities during 2006–2021

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) are increasingly popular planning tools in cities with environmental issues where numerous actions are usually proposed to reduce pollution from urban transport. However, the diagnosis and implementation of these processes requires broad consensus from all stakeholders and the ability to fit them into urban planning in such a way that it allows the proposals to become realistic actions. In this study, a review of the sustainable urban mobility plans of 47 cities in Spain during the last 15 years has been carried out, analyzing both the diagnosis and proposal of solutions and their subsequent implementation. From the results obtained, a new framework based on a structured hybrid methodology is proposed to aid decisionmaking for the evaluation of alternatives in the implementation of proposals in SUMP. This hybrid methodology considers experts’ and stakeholders’ opinion and applies two different multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods in different phases to present two rankings of best alternatives. From that experience, an analysis based on the MCDM methods called ‘Sequential Interactive Modelling for Urban Systems (SIMUS)’ and weighted sum method (WSM) was applied to a case study of the city of Cartagena, a southeastern middle-size city in Spain. This analytic proposal has been transferred to the practical field in the SUMP of Cartagena, the first instrument of this nature developed after COVID-19 in Spain for a relevant city. The results show how this framework, based on a hybrid methodology, allows the development of complex decision mapping processes using these instruments without obviating the need to generate planning tools that can be transferred from the theoretical framework of urban reality.Authors acknowledge the data and institutional support given by the local authorities of the city of Cartagena to carry out this research

Provide a Model for Improving Work Safety Value Using Fuzzy Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Small Scale Power Plant

Today, occupational accidents, like one of the substantial agents in the damage of efficient human resources, money and time, are considered a menace to the extension and improvement of each state. These accidents have a massive stroke on the productivity of the laborer of different industries and eventually in the economy of society. The purpose of this study is to provide a model to improve safety value, according to productivity indicators in manufacturing industries. In most studies, the cost of each damage has often been used for the calculation of the safety-related costs in the workplace, and this important issue is still neglected despite the high impact of job productivity loss due to occupational accidents. hence, on the present etude, the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method has been used to present a model to improve the safety value according to the proposed solutions. The results showed that among the studied criteria, capital productivity had the most impact and holding classes and training courses for the workforce, according to the studied criteria was identified as the most appropriate solution to improve the value of safet

Enablers of post-COVID-19 customer demand resilience: Evidence from fast-fashion MSMEs

This study aims to analyse the resilience of customer demand management in post-coronavirus disease (COVID) 2019, using fast fashion as an example. The paper provides insights for potential applications to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Based on the qualitative analysis and an integrated PDCA-DEMATEL-fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) methodology of fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making, we explored and prioritised the enablers of resilience management for fast-fashion MSMEs. The results reveal that the highest priority enabler is maintaining customer loyalty. Other enablers are associated with e-commerce endorsement, a customer-focused assortment of items, and flexible store operations. The study findings will enable fast-fashion MSMEs to develop effective actions and priorities in operations efforts to promote post-pandemic recovery. Despite the importance of the resilience project and the changing fast-fashion customer patterns, only a handful of studies have explored how resilience can be managed in this field. Thus, the findings can contribute to closing this gap in the context of operations resilience research as well as MSME operations

An analytical multicriteria model based on graph theory for reliability enhancement in distribution electrical networks

The electrical distribution network is a critical and complex system in terms of safety and reliability, because it is composed of different components (switches, reclosers, etc.). The improvement of its reliability is therefore one of the most important tasks through the good management of remote-controlled switches and reclosers in this network. This paper presents an analytical model based on graph theory to evaluate SAIDI and SAIFI indices based on the network architecture and the location of remote-controlled reclosers and switches. These indicators have been used to formalize a multi-objective mathematical model that respects the real operation constraints of equipments in smart grid. The applied model, in this article, was evaluated on an IEEE 13 bus network using the TOPSIS method to determine the optimal location of the switches and reclosers and to improve the overall reliability of the distribution network

Sustainability as a Multi-criteria Concept

Sustainability is a fairly old concept, born in the 18th century in the field of forestry, within a mono-functionality perspective. The concept has considerably evolved in the last few years towards a multi-functionality context, with applications reported in practically all areas of economic interest. On the other hand, modern sustainability is a complex problem, for two reasons: a) The multiplicity of functions of a very different nature involved in the process and b) The manner in which different segments of the society or stakeholders perceive the relative importance of these functions. For the above reasons, a realistic approach for dealing with the sustainability issue requires taking into consideration multiple criteria of different nature (economic, environmental and social), and in many cases within a participatory decision making framework. This book presents a collection of papers, dealing with different theoretical and applied issues of sustainability, with the help of a modern multi-criteria decision-making theory, with a single as well as several stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. Hopefully, this material will encourage academics and practitioners to alter their research in this hot and vital topic. After all, the sustainable management of the environment and its embedded resources is one of the most important, if not the major challenge of the 21st century

Engineering and water governance interactions in smallholder irrigation schemes for improved water management.

Masters Degree, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Smallholder Irrigation Schemes (SISs) in South Africa have reported below expectation performance, despite massive investments. A diagnosis of the SISs poor performance indicates prevalence of infrastructural deficiencies, as well as poor institutional setup. The government’s Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) initiative compounds the problem. IMT placed irrigators in self-governance, which inadvertently made irrigators carry the burden of scheme Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs. This study sought to investigate and evaluate how technical design principles i.e., technical aspect of irrigation design, interact with irrigation water governance for SISs in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The study hypothesized that the existing current water control infrastructure does relate to the water governance frameworks in the selected study sites. The study was carried out in Tugela Ferry Irrigation Scheme (TFIS) and Mooi-River Irrigation Scheme (MRIS). An infrastructure condition assessment was carried out followed by a root cause analysis. Questionnaires were then administered to relevant stakeholders to rate the degree of identified causal factors. Key informants ranked how water governance and infrastructure aspects are related. The data was processed using a fuzzy theory approach. Finally, structured questionnaires were administered to irrigators to establish how water governance impacted on water adequacy for crop production. A binary logit regression model was employed to process the data. Assessments revealed the poor condition of the infrastructure, such as deep cracks in canals and missing latches on hydrants. The study revealed that TFIS had a strong institutional setups according to the Closeness Coefficients( = 0.18), and clearly defined goals and objectives for the scheme operation. However, other governance aspects such as procedures ( = 0.17, = 0.16) were not strong. MRIS ( = 0.20) had a good standing on rules and regulations as compared to TFIS ( = 0.14). Eight water governance related statistically significant variables that influenced water adequacy were identified. The eight variables were irrigation scheme ( = 0.000), location of plot within the scheme ( = 0.008), training in water management ( = 0.012), satisfaction with irrigation schedule ( = 0.000), irrigation training ( = 0.085), farmer knowledge of governments aims in SIS ( = 0.012), availability of water licenses ( = 0.002), and water fees ( = 0.022). A descriptive analysis showed that 24% and 86% of the farmers in MRIS and TFIS respectively, had adequate water. The study concluded that the SISs lacked an O&M plan and the farmers were not willing to opt for collective action and iii cooperate in Water Users Association (WUAs) and Irrigation Management Committees (IMCs). Some of the water governance aspects were discordant with infrastructure characteristics and requirements, consequently, impacting on the water adequacy for the irrigators. Overall, the study proved the hypothesis that the water control infrastructure does not relate with the water governance framework. This study recommends that the stakeholders involved in SISs, i.e., government, extension workers, NGOs, should aid the irrigators in policy articulation. In addition, the WUA and IMCs should provide incentives to motivate farmers to actively participate in scheme O&M

Prioritizing stakeholder interactions in disaster management: a TOPSIS-based decision support tool for enhancing community resilience

The escalating impact of disasters underscores the urgency of building resilient communities. Interactions among community stakeholders play a pivotal role in fostering resilience but improving such interactions is often hindered by competing priorities and resource limitations. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a decision support tool aimed at prioritizing context-specific interventions that enhance stakeholder interactions in disaster management. The tool includes two phases: (1) impact-based prioritization, identifying the most significant factors influencing interactions by evaluating the relative importance of each factor based on their direct and indirect influence; and (2) feasibility-based prioritization, assessing the practicality of interventions designed to improve the significant factors identified in phase 1. We surveyed Spanish emergency experts to gather data on the interaction factors and their evaluations against the decision-making criteria. We applied the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to analyze data. The results indicate that initiatives focusing on enhancing the leadership skills of emergency managers emerge as the most feasible and impactful interventions in our case study, followed by initiatives for facilitating community participation in the decision-making process and disaster response activities. On the other hand, initiatives for improving emergency response functionality, and disaster risk management plans are less feasible to implement. Additionally, we evaluated the usability and practicality of the tool together with emergency experts from different sectors. The tool received an overall positive evaluation from the experts, highlighting the significance of human factors such as status quo bias and structuring human judgment in decision-support tools while acknowledging potential resistance from users in utilizing such tools due to lack of education and training. The tool empowers policymakers and practitioners to effectively build resilient communities by offering them a systematic approach to prioritize context-specific interventions that enhance community resilience

Product design concept evaluation by using analytical hierarchy and analytical network processes

The aim of this study is to improve the success and efficiency of the design concept evaluation and selection activity in industrial design by adapting two specialized evaluation-selection methods to the design process and comparatively demonstrating their use. The methods are called the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Analytic Network Process (ANP). In their application, first the main design objective is decided upon and the evaluation criteria are determined accordingly, followed by the listing of the design concept alternatives. Then the criteria's importance values as well as relations between them are investigated and evaluation of the alternatives is done according to the criteria by using the tools provided by the methods. The application presented in the article evaluates seven hand cart designs by using the two methods. First the tasks that are common in both methods, then the tasks specific to each method are explained. The general criteria to be used in the evaluation are identified and the effects of these criteria on the evaluation process are determined through interviews with designers and users participating in the study. Then the relative performance rankings of the available seven hand cart alternatives are calculated by using both methods. Numerical results are listed in a descending order to show the success levels of the design concepts, pointing to the one that received the highest overall performance. The findings obtained from two methods are comparatively interpreted