Minimum cost lexicographic evacuation flow finding in intuitionistic fuzzy networks

Nowadays, various emergencies that are human-made or natural occur widely and threaten people’ lives and health. One of the most important evacuation tasks is the minimum cost lexicographic flow modelling task, which allows aggrieved to be transported to safe areas along the optimal transportation routes, taking into account the priority of shelters. It is inevitable that when modelling an evacuation scenario, an expert will encounter difficulties in setting network parameters due to the inherent uncertainty of a network, the rapid change in the nature of the movement, etc. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets allow simulating doubts and uncertainty of a decision-maker when choosing a membership function. Due to the increasing complexity of the decision-making problems, experts cannot assess all the network parameters correctly because much specific knowledge is required, and each expert cannot be familiar with all attributes equally. Therefore, different decision-makers should have different values for various attributes. The algorithm proposed incorporates the search for the order of reliable shelters according to the modified TOPSIS method and the minimum cost paths in intuitionistic fuzzy conditions based on the non-standard subtraction operation. A case study is conducted to verify the proposed algorithm.

TOPSIS and Modified TOPSIS: A Comparative Analysis

Selection of an appropriate Multiple Attribute Decision Making (MADM) method for providing a solution to a given MADM problem is always challenging endeavour. The challenge is even greater for situations where for a specific MADM problem there exist multiple MADM methods with similar degree of suitability. The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and its dominant variant the Modified TOPSIS methods are two very similar methods applicable to the same type of MADM problems. This study provides extensive simulation-based comparisons and mathematical analysis of these two popular methods in order to clarify the confusion regarding their selection for solving MADM problems.

Study on performance evaluation of the production process - fuzzy MCDM approach

Improvement of the production process presents a very important management task for both researchers and practitioners and enables a better market position of the enterprise. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the production process can provide useful information on the current state of the ongoing process. In this paper, the relative importance of KPIs and their values at the enterprise level were assessed by the experts and decision-makers. Their estimates are described by the linguistic variables which were modeled by intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. The weights vector of KPIs at the level of the considered enterprise is given by the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchical Process (FAHP) with Triangular Intuitionistic Fuzzy Numbers (TIFNs). The rank of enterprises with respect to KPIs’ values and their weights was calculated using the modified TOPSIS with TIFNs. The developed model was tested on 30 enterprises from Serbia, belonging to the sector of small and medium-sized (SME) production enterprises. The improvement strategies of KPIs should be proposed at the level of each enterprise, separately, respecting the KPIs’ values of the first-ranked enterprise.

Means to Classify the R&D Projects on the Criticality Dimensions

The evaluation of the complexity of research and development (R&D) projects is critical for the successful management of projects. In Defence, R&D projects could be classified as mission mode (MM) projects, technology development (TD) projects, science and technology (S&T) projects, infrastructure facilities (IF) projects, and product support (PS) projects. This study is focused on the assessment of the complexity in the five categories of the R&D projects, and it is based on the survey (with about 179 respondents) undertaken by considering about 40 attributes. The purpose of this exercise is to rank the five types of projects based on their complexity. A series of algorithms such as K-means clustering, analytic hierarchy process, modified TOPSIS method, and Henry Garrett ranking technique were applied to arrive at the results. Thus, a scenario analysis framework in terms of different methods is portrayed to select the appropriate ranking of the critical project.

APPLICATION OF THE TOPSIS PROCEDURE FOR EVALUATION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST POMERANIAN VOIVODESHIP DISTRICTS IN YEARS 2004-2017

The article presents the problem of local socio-economic development. An illustration of theoretical considerations is an empirical study on evaluation of the West Pomeranian Voivodship districts' development since Poland's accession to the European Union. In the research, a taxonomic measure of development was used to assess the level and rate of districts' development. The empirical study was carried out in four main stages: collection of initial characteristics, reduction of the initial set of diagnostic features (to ensure their highest diagnostic value), calculations of synthetic measures using the modified TOPSIS procedure and construction of rankings of districts on that basis, creation of typological groups of districts characterized by a similar level and the pace of development. The study showed the existence of large diversification of economic development of the surveyed districts. The highest level of socio-economic development in both: 2004 and 2017 was characteristic for the Kamieński district and the lowest level of development in 2004 was observed in the Wałecki district and in 2017 in the Gryficki district. The highest pace of changes in the level of socio-economic development between 2004 and 2017 was recorded for the Białogardzki district, while the lowest for the Świdwiński district.