A Multi-criteria Approach to Formulating International Project-financing Strategies

Despite their commercial feasibility, many international projects have failed primarily because of poor financial planning. When formulating a project-financing strategy, financial managers of multinational corporations must consider a variety of conflicting objectives. The existence of conflicting goals makes the design of international project-financing strategies very difficult. A goal programming model is presented as an aid to financial managers for analysing trade-offs among conflicting financing goals and identifying the best multi-source financing package for major international projects.     

Multi-criteria optimisation of the vibro-isolation properties

The paper deals with a methodology of shaping the vibro-isolation properties of suspensions applied in automotive systems. The developed optimisation procedure allows to find the Pareto-optimal system configuration for the conflicted vibro-isolating criteria. The correctness of proposed methodology is evaluated using the semi active and active systems with optimal controller settings. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Adapting product kernels to curves in the plane

We study the L^p–boundedness properties of convolution operators whose convolution kernels are obtained by adapting product kernels to curves in the plane.in final form: 17 November 2003     

多指标综合评价方法的改进

由决策方案在理想方案上的投影及其到理想方案的距离还不能完全确定决策方案的优劣,应该综合考虑决策方案与理想方案的相似系数及其到理想方案的距离.     

Adapting the task-taxon-task methodology to model the impact of chemical protective gear

The Task-Taxon-Task method (Anno et al. DNA-TR-95-115, 1996) is a statistical modeling approach to predict performance decrements on behavioral tasks in response to various stressors. We describe the basics of the T3 method and our approach to adapting it to handle more acute stressors, which can require decomposition into task networks via logical or empirical analysis. We provide an illustrative example showing how the method can be used to account for performance decrements in manual tasks associated with wearing protective gloves. This illustration provides a substantive application in which the current T3 method can be augmented to account for performance decrements in a new sub-domain, while additionally providing lessons for extending the method to new stressors, performance domains, and behavior modeling systems.     

Adapting the Hill estimator to distributed inference: dealing with the bias

Extremes - The distributed Hill estimator is a divide-and-conquer algorithm for estimating the extreme value index when data are stored in multiple machines. In applications, estimates based on the...     

Multi-criteria decision analysis as an aid to the strategic planning of Energy R&D

This paper demonstrates the use of multi-criteria decision analysis to assist an advisory council in selecting areas of interest for government-financed Energy R&D, subject to a budget constraint. The benefits of Energy R&D may be difficult to value in monetary terms. A different way of comparing the anticipated impacts of Energy R&D in various technological areas based on the opinions of the council members given a number of judgment criteria is described, followed by maximizing the overall impact of an Energy R&D programme for a given level of expenditure. Since the council members have different backgrounds, their opinions may diverge and so may the solutions to the optimization problem. The decision model can be used as a discussion model highlighting the points of agreement and disagreement amongst them, so that they can concentrate on the latter in order to reach a vindicated compromise.     

Multi-criteria approximation schemes for the resource constrained shortest path problem

In the resource constrained shortest path problem we are given a directed graph along with a source node and a destination node, and each arc has a cost and a vector of weights specifying its requirements from a set of resources with finite budget limits. A minimum cost source-destination path is sought such that the total consumption of the arcs from each resource does not exceed its budget limit. In the case of constant number of weight functions we give a fully polynomial time multi-criteria approximation scheme for the problem which returns a source-destination path of cost at most the optimum, however, the path may slightly violate the budget limits. On the negative side, we show that there does not exist a polynomial time multi-criteria approximation scheme for the problem if the number of weight functions is not a constant. The latter result applies to a broad class of problems as well, including the multi-dimensional knapsack, the multi-budgeted spanning tree, the multi-budgeted matroid basis and the multi-budgeted bipartite perfect matching problems.     

Proximal Point Algorithms for Convex Multi-criteria Optimization with Applications to Supply Chain Risk Management

We study a class of convex multi-criteria optimization problems with convex objective functions under linear constraints. We use a non-scalarization method—namely, two implementable proximal point algorithms—to obtain the Pareto optimum under multi-criteria optimization. We show that the algorithms are globally convergent. We apply the algorithms to a supply chain risk management problem under multi-criteria considerations.     

Adapting the ng-path relaxation for bike balancing problems

This paper deals with a static bike relocation problem that deploys a fleet of vehicles to redistribute shared bicycles. To solve the problem to optimality, we present a branch-price-and-cut algorithm. In particular, a new path relaxation for the pricing problem is introduced that relaxes the constraints on the maximum number of bikes to move at each station in a similar fashion as elementary can be relaxed in vehicle routing problems. Computational results show that our algorithm outperforms the former state-of-the-art.     

基于准则间关系的多准则语言决策方法

在多准则语言决策问题中,准则间的关系一般有三种:相互独立、相互影响、优先关系.基于这三种关系,结合比例二元组语义信息提出了一种新的多准则语言决策方法.介绍了比例二元组优先加权平均(P2TPWA)算子,并讨论了有关P2TPWA算子的相关性质.另外,将Choquet积分拓展到了比例二元组语言环境,并将P2TPWA算子和比例二元组语言Choquet积分用于实际的决策问题中.     

Social Limits to Planning

Professor Ackoff's planning paradigm of participation, continuity and holism is reviewed in terms of the practical problems of attempting to implement these ideal principles. His proposal of using the paradigm to design ideal-seeking systems is compared with the market-based approaches advocated by Professor Friedman. That comparison draws on Professor Hirsch's critique of the efficiency and moral content of the market and uses that critique on Professor Ackoff's suggested alternatives.     

不完全语言信息下的多准则群决策方法研究

针对决策者所给的自然语言信息缺失判断矩阵,提出了一种基于群体满意度最大的不完全语言信息多准则群决策规划模型.首先分析决策者所给的多准则语言评价信息矩阵,进而通过三角模糊数将多准则语言评价信息矩阵转化为三角模糊数矩阵;其次根据满意度函数构建不完全语言信息多准则群决策规划模型;最后通过实例验证本方法的可行性及有效性.实例表明该方法计算简单,易操作.     

Adapting Some Ideas from Stochastic Control Theory to Studying the Heat Equation in Closed Smooth Domains

Sufficient conditions on bounded domains D ² R ^d={(t,x)} of class C⁴ are given under which solutions of the heat equation u_t=j u+f in D have continuous second-order derivatives with respect to (t,x) in D^- . The equation is supplemented with C⁴ boundary data and it is assumed that f] C² .     

Multi-criteria decision aid for the formulation of sustainable technological energy priorities using linguistic variables

Implementation of new and innovative energy technologies is a key mean towards a sustainable energy system. Currently, governments have to decide from an increasingly diverse mix of them, the ones which warrant support, including funding and other incentives for private sector efforts. However, appraising energy technologies in terms of their sustainability is a really complex task, considering the series of uncertainties and implications that have to be encountered so as to obtain realistic and transparent results. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to present a direct and flexible multi-criteria decision making approach, using linguistic variables, to assist policy makers in formulating sustainable technological energy priorities. Furthermore, its software realization will be applied to a number of technologies, in the context of the Greek Technology Foresight Programme, and the results will be presented and discussed.     

Multi-criteria analysis and the resolution of sustainable development dilemmas: A stakeholder management approach

We demonstrate that stakeholder-oriented multi-criteria analysis (MCA) can adequately address a variety of sustainable development dilemmas in decision-making, especially when applied to complex project evaluations involving multiple objectives and multiple stakeholder groups. Such evaluations are typically geared towards satisfying simultaneously private economic goals, broader social objectives and environmental targets. We show that, under specific conditions, a variety of stakeholder-oriented MCA approaches may be able to contribute substantively to the resolution or improved governance of societal conflicts and the pursuit of the public good in the form of sustainable development. We contrast the potential usefulness of these stakeholder-oriented approaches – in terms of their ability to contribute to sustainable development – with more conventional MCA approaches and social cost–benefit analysis.