Fit between humanitarian professionals and project requirements: hybrid group decision procedure to reduce uncertainty in decision-making

Choosing the right professional that has to meet indeterminate requirements is a critical aspect in humanitarian development and implementation projects. This paper proposes a hybrid evaluation methodology for some non-governmental organizations enabling them to select the most competent expert who can properly and adequately develop and implement humanitarian projects. This methodology accommodates various stakeholders’ perspectives in satisfying the unique requirements of humanitarian projects that are capable of handling a range of uncertain issues from both stakeholders and project requirements. The criteria weights are calculated using a two-step multi-criteria decision-making method: (1) Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process for the evaluation of the decision maker weights coupled with (2) Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to rank the alternatives which provide the ability to take into account both quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Sensitivity analysis have been developed and discussed by means of a real case of expert selection problem for a non-profit organisation. The results show that the approach allows a decrease in the uncertainty associated with decision-making, which proves that the approach provides robust solutions in terms of sensitivity analysis

The rank reversal problem in multi-criteria decision making : a literature review

Despite the importance of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques for constructing effective decision models, there are many criticisms due to the occurrence of a problem called rank reversal. Nevertheless, there is a lack of a systematic literature review on this important subject which involves different methods. This study reviews the pertinent literature on rank reversal, based on 130 related articles published from 1980 to 2015 in international journals, which were gathered and analyzed according to the following perspectives: multicriteria technique, year and journal in which the papers were published, co-authorship network, rank reversal types, and research goal. Thus our survey provides recommendations for future research, besides useful information and knowledge regarding rank reversal in the MCDM field

Molecular basis of USP7 inhibition by selective small-molecule inhibitors

Ubiquitination controls the stability of most cellular proteins, and its deregulation contributes to human diseases including cancer. Deubiquitinases remove ubiquitin from proteins, and their inhibition can induce the degradation of selected proteins, potentially including otherwise 'undruggable' targets. For example, the inhibition of ubiquitin-specific protease 7 (USP7) results in the degradation of the oncogenic E3 ligase MDM2, and leads to re-activation of the tumour suppressor p53 in various cancers. Here we report that two compounds, FT671 and FT827, inhibit USP7 with high affinity and specificity in vitro and within human cells. Co-crystal structures reveal that both compounds target a dynamic pocket near the catalytic centre of the auto-inhibited apo form of USP7, which differs from other USP deubiquitinases. Consistent with USP7 target engagement in cells, FT671 destabilizes USP7 substrates including MDM2, increases levels of p53, and results in the transcription of p53 target genes, induction of the tumour suppressor p21, and inhibition of tumour growth in mice

A bounded data envelopment analysis model in a fuzzy environment with an application to safety in the semiconductor industry

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a mathematical programming approach for evaluating the relative efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) in organizations. The conventional DEA methods require accurate measurement of both the inputs and outputs. However, the observed values of the input and output data in real-world problems are often imprecise or vague. Fuzzy set theory is widely used to quantify imprecise and vague data in DEA models. In this paper, we propose a four-step bounded fuzzy DEA model, where the inputs and outputs are assumed to be fuzzy numbers. In the first step, we create a hypothetical fuzzy anti-ideal DMU and calculate its best fuzzy relative efficiency. In the second step, we propose a pair of fuzzy DEA models to obtain the upper- and the lower-bounds of the fuzzy efficiency, where the lower-bound is at least equal to the fuzzy efficiency of the anti-ideal DMU, and the upper-bound is at most equal to one. In step three, we use multi-objective programming to solve the proposed fuzzy programs. In the fourth step, we propose a new method for ranking the bounded fuzzy efficiency scores. We also present a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and the efficacy of the procedures and algorithms in measuring the safety performance of eight semiconductor facilities

Bilateral responses of trapezius muscle to transcranial magnetic stimulation in normal subjects

Introduction: Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) can be elicited in trapezius and other axial musclesby ipsilateral transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).The purpose of this study is to compare therelative amplitudes and latencies of ipsilateral versus contralateral responses to TMS from trapeziusmuscle of normal subjects.Materials and Methods: MEPs were bilaterally recorded during complete relaxation and voluntarycontraction from upper trapezius muscle in 40 healthy right handed subjects by TMS in right and lefthemispheres. Base-to-peak amplitude and latency of MEP were measured for each muscle on bothsides.Results: At rest, a contralateral response was obtained in 45 trapezius muscles. Ipsilateralresponses were observed in 11 muscles (latency contra-lateral and ipsilateral 9.8ms and 15.5 ms,respectively, P <0.001). During contraction ipsilateral MEPs could be evoked in 37 muscles.Contralateral MEPs were obtained in 76 experiments on 40 subjects (latency contralateral andipsilateral 8.5ms and 12.6 ms, respectively, P <0.001).Conclusion: MEPs can be readily evoked by TMS over the ipsilateral motor cortex in a variety ofproximal muscles, such as trapezius. Ipsilateral MEPs have a later onset and lower amplitude thancontralateral responses. It is considered that oligosynaptic connections may be a common feature ofaxial muscles, such as trapezius. These patterns of connections are discussed in relation to thecontrasting bilateral functional roles of this muscle

A common-weights DEA model for centralized resource reduction and target setting

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a powerful tool for measuring the relative efficiency for a set of Decision Making Units (DMUs) that transform multiple inputs into multiple outputs. In centralized decision-making systems, management normally imposes common resource constraints to maximize operating revenues and minimize operating expenses. In this study, we propose an alternative DEA model for centrally imposed resource or output reduction across the reference set. We determine the amount of input and output reduction needed for each DMU to increase the efficiency score of all the DMUs. The contribution of the proposed model is fourfold: (1) we take into consideration the performance evaluation of the centralized budgeting in hierarchical organizations; (2) we use a Common Set of Weights (CSW) method based on the Goal Programming (GP) concept to control the total weight flexibility in the conventional DEA models; (3) we propose a comprehensive approach for optimizing the inputs and/or outputs contractions and improving the final efficiencies of the DMUs while reducing the computational complexities; (4) we compare the proposed method with an approach in the literature; and (5) we demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method and exhibit the efficacy of the procedure with a numerical example