Connectionist techniques to approach sustainability modelling

When defining a context of sustainability, capturing the complexity of data and extracting as much information as possible are fundamental challenges. Normally, quantitative and qualitative indicators are defined. While the definition and calculation of the former is direct, the latter are difficult to manage. This document provides tools based on connectionist techniques for managing complex information combining the use of imprecise and qualitative variables. The application of these tools to evaluate non-numerical sustainability indicators is presented. The results obtained in some first approaches are briefly presented to illustrate the connectionist paradigm

On fuzzy-qualitative descriptions and entropy

This paper models the assessments of a group of experts when evaluating different magnitudes, features or objects by using linguistic descriptions. A new general representation of linguistic descriptions is provided by unifying ordinal and fuzzy perspectives. Fuzzy qualitative labels are proposed as a generalization of the concept of qualitative labels over a well-ordered set. A lattice structure is established in the set of fuzzy-qualitative labels to enable the introduction of fuzzy-qualitative descriptions as L-fuzzy sets. A theorem is given that characterizes finite fuzzy partitions using fuzzy-qualitative labels, the cores and supports of which are qualitative labels. This theorem leads to a mathematical justification for commonly-used fuzzy partitions of real intervals via trapezoidal fuzzy sets. The information of a fuzzy-qualitative label is defined using a measure of specificity, in order to introduce the entropy of fuzzy-qualitative descriptions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Multi-criteria decision making with linguistic labels: a comparison of two methodologies applied to energy planning

This paper compares two multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches based on linguistic label assessment. The first approach consists of a modified fuzzy TOPSIS methodology introduced by Kaya and Kahraman in 2011. The second approach, introduced by Agell et al. in 2012, is based on qualitative reasoning techniques for ranking multi-attribute alternatives in group decision-making with linguistic labels. Both approaches are applied to a case of assessment and selection of the most suitable types of energy in a geographical area.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A qualitative approach for aggregating people's perceptions

The concept of perceptual map is introduced in this paper to capture the semantics of linguistic assessments of an individual in a qualitative reasoning scenario, concretely in hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets. In addition, the projected perceptual map is considered to provide a space to aggregate different perceptual maps. Qualitative distances and measures of centrality and agreement or consensus are revised based on this projected perceptual map.This research has been partially supported by the PERCEPTIONS R. P. (PID2020-114247GB-I00), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Information Technology.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

SVM-based learning method for improving colour adjustement in automotive basecoat manufacturing

new iterative method based on Support Vector Machines to perform automated colour adjustment processing in the automotive industry is proposed in this paper. The iterative methodology relies on a SVM trained with patterns provided by expert colourists and an actions’ generator module. The SVM algorithm enables selecting the most adequate action in each step of an iterated feed-forward loop until the final state satisfies colourimetric bounding conditions. Both encouraging results obtained and the significant reduction of non-conformance costs, justify further industrial efforts to develop an automated software tool in this and similar industrial processes.Postprint (published version

Mesures de qualitat de vida i satisfacció ciutadana: noves tendències, subjectivitat i canvi d'escala

La modelització i mesura de la qualitat de vida s’ha convertit en una àrea de recerca activa a partir del reconeixement de la marcada essència qualitativa d’aquest indicador. Hi ha estudis recents a escala nacional que insisteixen en la necessitat d’incloure mesures subjectives de satisfacció de vida per valorar correctament la qualitat de vida, anant més enllà de la pura quantificació d’índexs econòmics o socials. Aquesta ponència presenta una primera aproximació a la conceptualització dels indicadors implicats en la modelització de la qualitat de vida a escala de comunitat local. La nostra proposta es basa en els resultats del nostre treball previ en la modelització del ‘grau de satisfacció dels ciutadans amb la seva localitat’ usant xarxes neuronals del tipus RBF i en les idees exposades en recents treballs de R. Costanza, referenciats més avall.Peer Reviewe

A recommender system based on group consensus

This paper presents the foundation for a new methodology for a collaborative recommender system (RS). This methodology is based on the degree of consensus of a group of users stating their preferences via qualitative orders-of-magnitude. The structure of distributive lattice is considered in defining the distance between users and the RSs new users. This proposed methodology incorporates incomplete or partial knowledge into the recommendation process using qualitative reasoning techniques to obtain consensus of its users for recommendations.Postprint (published version

Using qualitative reasoning in modelling consensus in group decision-making

Ordinal scales are commonly used in rating and evaluation processes. These processes usually involve group decision making by means of an experts’ committee. In this paper a mathematical framework based on the qualitative model of the absolute orders of magnitude is considered. The entropy of a qualitatively described system is defined in this framework. On the one hand, this enables us to measure the amount of information provided by each evaluator and, on the other hand, the coherence of the evaluation committee. The new approach is capable of managing situations where the assessment given by experts involves different levels of precision. The use of the proposed measures within an automatic system for group decision making will contribute towards avoiding the potential subjectivity caused by conflicts of interests of the evaluators in the group.Postprint (published version

Understanding location decisions of energy multinational enterprises within the European smart cities’ context: An integrated AHP and extended fuzzy linguistic TOPSIS method

Becoming a smart city is one of the top priorities in the urban agenda of many European cities. Among the various strategies in the transition path, local governments seek to bring innovation to their cities by encouraging multinational enterprises to deploy their green energy services and products in their municipalities. Knowing how to attract these enterprises implies that political leaders understand the multi-criteria decision problem that the energy sector enterprises face when deciding whether to expand to one city or another. To this end, the purpose of this study is to design a new manageable and controllable framework oriented to European cities’ public managers, based on the assessment of criteria and sub-criteria governing the strategic location decision made by these enterprises. A decision support framework is developed based on the AHP technique combined with an extended version of the hesitant fuzzy linguistic TOPSIS method. The main results indicate the higher relative importance of government policies, such as degree of transparency or bureaucracy level, as compared to market conditions or economic aspects of the city’s host country. These results can be great assets to current European leaders, they show the feasibility of the method and open up the possibility to replicate the proposed framework to other sectors or geographical areas.The authors acknowledge the support from the European Union “Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme” under the grant agreements No 731297. Also, this research has been partially supported by the INVITE Research Project (TIN2016-80049-C2-1-R and TIN2016-80049-C2-2-R (AEI/FEDER, UE)), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Information Technology.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Creativity Support System for cake design

In this paper, a new formulation of Creativity is presented in the context of Creativity Support Systems. This formulation is based on the central ideas of the theory of Boden. It redefines some concepts such as appropriateness and relevance in order to allow the implementation of a support system for creative people. The approach is based on the conceptual space proposed by Boden and formalized by other authors. The presented formulation is applied to a real case in which a new chocolate cake with fruit is design. Data collected from a Spanish chocolate chef has been used to validate the proposed system. Experimental results show that the formulation presented is not only useful for understanding how the creative mechanisms of design works, but also facilitates its implementation in real cases to support creativity processes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version