A contribution to consensus modeling in decision-making by means of linguistic assessments

Decision-making is an active field of research. Specifically, in recent times, a lot of contributions have been presented on decision-making under linguistic assessments. To tackle this kind of processes, hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets have been introduced to grasp the uncertainty inherent in human reasoning when expressing preferences. This thesis introduces an extension of the set of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets to capture differences between non-compatible assessments. Based on this extension, a distance between linguistic assessments is defined to quantify differences between several opinions. This distance is used in turn to present a representative opinion from a group in a decision-making process. In addition, different consensus measures are introduced to determine the level of agreement or disagreement within a decision-making group and are used to define a decision maker’s profile to keep track of their dissension with respect to the group as well as their level of hesitancy. Furthermore, with the aim of allowing decision makers to choose the linguistic terms that they feel more comfortable with, the concept of free double hierarchy hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set is developed in this thesis. Finally, a new approach of the TOPSIS methodology for processes in which the assessments are given by means of free double hierarchy hesitant fuzzy information is presented to rank alternatives under these circumstances.Postprint (published version

Fuzzy Techniques for Decision Making 2018

Zadeh's fuzzy set theory incorporates the impreciseness of data and evaluations, by imputting the degrees by which each object belongs to a set. Its success fostered theories that codify the subjectivity, uncertainty, imprecision, or roughness of the evaluations. Their rationale is to produce new flexible methodologies in order to model a variety of concrete decision problems more realistically. This Special Issue garners contributions addressing novel tools, techniques and methodologies for decision making (inclusive of both individual and group, single- or multi-criteria decision making) in the context of these theories. It contains 38 research articles that contribute to a variety of setups that combine fuzziness, hesitancy, roughness, covering sets, and linguistic approaches. Their ranges vary from fundamental or technical to applied approaches

The generalized dice similarity measures for multiple attribute decision making with hesitant fuzzy linguistic information

In this paper, we shall present some novel Dice similarity measures of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets and the generalized Dice similarity measures of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets and indicate that the Dice similarity measures and asymmetric measures (projection measures) are the special cases of the generalized Dice similarity measures in some parameter values. Then, we propose the generalized Dice similarity measures-based multiple attribute decision making models with hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets. Finally, a practical example concerning the evaluation of the quality of movies is given to illustrate the applicability and advantage of the proposed generalized Dice similarity measure

The generalized dice similarity measures for multiple attribute decision making with hesitant fuzzy linguistic information

In this paper, we shall present some novel Dice similarity measures of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets and the generalized Dice similarity measures of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets and indicate that the Dice similarity measures and asymmetric measures (projection measures) are the special cases of the generalized Dice similarity measures in some parameter values. Then, we propose the generalized Dice similarity measures-based multiple attribute decision making models with hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets. Finally, a practical example concerning the evaluation of the quality of movies is given to illustrate the applicability and advantage of the proposed generalized Dice similarity measure

Multiple-Attribute Decision-Making Method Using Similarity Measures of Hesitant Linguistic Neutrosophic Numbers Regarding Least Common Multiple Cardinality

Linguistic neutrosophic numbers (LNNs) are a powerful tool for describing fuzzy information with three independent linguistic variables (LVs), which express the degrees of truth, uncertainty, and falsity, respectively. However, existing LNNs cannot depict the hesitancy of the decision-maker (DM). To solve this issue, this paper first defines a hesitant linguistic neutrosophic number (HLNN), which consists of a few LNNs regarding an evaluated object due to DMs’ hesitancy to represent their hesitant and uncertain information in the decision-making process. Then, based on the least common multiple cardinality (LCMC), we present generalized distance and similarity measures of HLNNs, and then develop a similarity measure-based multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) method to handle the MADM problem in the HLNN setting. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed approach is verified by an investment decision case

Pairwise Comparison and Distance Measure of Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Term Sets

A hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS), allowing experts using several possible linguistic terms to assess a qualitative linguistic variable, is very useful to express people’s hesitancy in practical decision-making problems. Up to now, a little research has been done on the comparison and distance measure of HFLTSs. In this paper, we present a comparison method for HFLTSs based on pairwise comparisons of each linguistic term in the two HFLTSs. Then, a distance measure method based on the pairwise comparison matrix of HFLTSs is proposed, and we prove that this distance is equal to the distance of the average values of HFLTSs, which makes the distance measure much more simple. Finally, the pairwise comparison and distance measure methods are utilized to develop two multicriteria decision-making approaches under hesitant fuzzy linguistic environments. The results analysis shows that our methods in this paper are more reasonable

Consensus, dissension and precision in group decision making by means of an algebraic extension of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets

Present measures of the degree of agreement in group decision-making using hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets allow consensus or agreement measurement when decision makers’ assessments involve hesitance. Yet they do not discriminate with different degrees of consensus among situations with discordant or polarized assessments. The visualization of differences among groups for which there is no agreement but different possible levels of disagreement is an important issue in collective decision-making situations. In this paper, we propose new collective and individual consensus measures that explicitly consider the hesitance of the decision makers’ hesitance in giving an opinion and also the gap between non-overlapping assessments, thus allowing the measurement of the polarization present within the group's opinions. In addition, an expert's profile is defined by considering the expert's behavior in previous assessments in group decision-making processes in terms of precision and dissension.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Underground Mining Method Selection With the Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Gained and Lost Dominance Score Method

Underground mining method selection is a critical decision problem for available underground ore deposits in exploitation design. As many comprehensive factors, such as physical parameters, economic benefits, and environmental effects, are claimed to be established and a group of experts are involved in the issue, the underground mining method selection is deemed as a multiple experts multiple criteria decision making problem. Classical mining method assessment exists some gaps due to the way of representing opinions. To address this matter, a hesitant fuzzy linguistic gained and lost dominance score method is investigated in this paper. To enhance the flexibility and gain more information, mining planning engineers are allowed to convey their knowledge using hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets in the underground mining method selection process. A novel score function of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set is introduced to compare any hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets. Then, based on the score function, a weight determining function is proposed to calculate the weights of criteria, which can magnify the ‘‘importance’’ and ‘‘unimportance’’ of criteria. To select the mining method, the hesitant fuzzy linguistic gained and dominance score method is developed. A case study concerning selecting a extraction method for a real mine in Yunnan province of China is presented to illustrate the applicability of the proposed method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is finally verified by comparing with other ranking methodsNational Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 71501135 and Grant 717711562019 Sichuan Planning Project of Social Science under Grant SC18A0072018 Key Project of the Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences in Sichuan Province under Grant Xq18A01 and Grant LYC18-02Electronic Commerce and Modern Logistics Research Center Program, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Science, Sichuan Provincial Education Department, under Grant DSWL18-2Spark Project of Innovation, Sichuan University, under Grant 2018hhs-43Scientific Research Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars, Sichuan University, under Grant 2016SCU04A23

Consensus-based clustering under hesitant qualitative assessments

Producción CientíficaIn this paper, we consider that agents judge the feasible alternatives through linguistic terms – when they are confident in their opinions – or linguistic expressions formed by several consecutive linguistic terms – when they hesitate. In this context, we propose an agglomerative hierarchical clustering process where the clusters of agents are generated by using a distance-based consensus measure.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (ECO2012-32178)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación – Ref. VA066U13