Social media addiction: Applying the DEMATEL approach

Gratification and its associations with problematic internet use: A systematic review and meta-analysis using Use and Gratification theory

Problematic Internet Use (PIU) has been a growing issue for two decades, and many researchers have sought to explain its occurrence. Use and Gratification Theory (UGT) has guided empirical studies investigating the associations between gratification and PIU. However, their results appear equivocal. This study aimed to synthesize research findings applying UGT and pinpoint the associations between different gratifications and PIU. Effect sizes were pooled to obtain an overall effect size. Gratifications were then classified into four types (i.e., content, social, self-presentation, and process) according to the suggestions of previous studies and the measurement of included studies. Based on 216 effect sizes from 57 samples with 38,492 participants (mean age = 24.3; 55.1 % female), random effect model analyses yielded a medium effect size (r = 0.303, p <.001, 95 % CI [0.263, 0.343]), indicating a positive association between general gratification and PIU. Subgroup analyses revealed that all four gratifications were positively associated with PIU; self-presentation showed the largest effect size, followed by process gratification.This study enhances the conceptual relevance of UGT in understanding PIU and highlights the importance of process and self-presentation gratification as predictors for PIU in certain contexts, such as among university students and in Asian countries.

Beyond the basics: Exploring the impact of social media marketing enablers on business success

In today's fast-paced world, social media marketing is crucial for businesses. However, many Saudi Arabian organizations need more skills and resources to use this strategy effectively. This article outlines organizations' top issues when adopting social media marketing and provides valuable insights into how to overcome them. After conducting an extensive literature review and consulting with experts from various sectors, 19 critical issues hindering social media marketing adoption in Saudi Arabian organizations were identified. The study employed the DEMATEL approach to analyze these issues and determine their impact level and cause-effect relationships. The study found that customer support, platform trust, secure data sharing, and perceived value significantly impact a business's social media marketing success. By addressing challenges like customer support, platform trust, and perceived value, businesses can enhance their social media marketing success and promote themselves globally by attracting and retaining customers through their social media presence. The insights gained from this research offer valuable guidance for Saudi Arabian organizations looking to refine their social media marketing strategies. To overcome the challenges hindering the adoption of social media marketing, businesses must address the "cause" and "effect" category issues. By adopting a formal and pragmatic approach, Saudi Arabian organizations can achieve sustainable growth and promote themselves to a global audience.

How social media usage affects psychological and subjective well-being: testing a moderated mediation model

BACKGROUND

A growing body of literature demonstrates that social media usage has witnessed a rapid increase in higher education and is almost ubiquitous among young people. The underlying mechanisms as to how social media usage by university students affects their well-being are unclear. Moreover, current research has produced conflicting evidence concerning the potential effects of social media on individuals' overall well-being with some reporting negative outcomes while others revealing beneficial results.

METHODS

To address the research gap, the present research made an attempt to investigate the crucial role of social media in affecting students' psychological (PWB) and subjective well-being (SWB) by testing the mediating role of self-esteem and online social support and the moderation effect of cyberbullying. The data in the study were obtained from a sample of 1,004 college students (483 females and 521 males, Mage = 23.78, SD = 4.06) enrolled at 135 Chinese universities. AMOS 26.0 and SPSS 26.0 as well as the Process macro were utilized for analyzing data and testing the moderated mediation model.

RESULTS

Findings revealed that social media usage by university students was positively associated with their PWB and SWB through self-esteem and online social support, and cyberbullying played a moderating role in the first phase of the mediation process such that the indirect associations were weak with cyberbullying reaching high levels.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the importance of discerning the mechanisms moderating the mediated paths linking social media usage by young adults to their PWB and SWB. The results also underline the importance of implementing measures and interventions to alleviate the detrimental impacts of cyberbullying on young adults' PWB and SWB.

Problematic Smartphone Use and Social Media Fatigue: The Mediating Role of Self-Control

Background

Excessive social media consumption leads to addiction and affects mental health. It is a phenomenon that is difficult to avoid. Previous research on the effects of excessive Internet use shows that people who engage in social media (SM) without restraint experience over-involvement, over-disclosure, technostress, and social media fatigue (SMF). SMF, conceptualized as an emotional and cognitive feeling of being overwhelmed, manifests itself in mindless browsing of content, limiting the amount of time spent on SM, or quitting SM altogether. Self-control, although present in the technology addiction literature and psychology research, has been rarely described in relation to both excessive SM use and SMF. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to verify whether there is a direct relationship between problematic smartphone use and SMF, and whether this association is mediated by self-control.

Methods

The study included 210 respondents (M = 25.85, SD = 9.84) living in different Polish cities. The survey was conducted online, and the respondents consented to participate in the study. They completed the following measures: the Mobile Phone Problematic Use, the Self-Control Scale, the Social Media Fatigue Scale, and a brief questionnaire with socio-demographic data.

Results

Statistical analysis was performed to verify the relationship between problematic mobile phone use, level of self-control, and SMF. The outcomes indicate that there are significant interrelationships between the three studied variables. The association between problematic smartphone use and SMF is mediated by self-control.

Conclusion

A lack of impulse-inhibition skills, such as compulsive checking of notifications, can be a significant factor in SM exhaustion, fatigue, or frustration. SMF can also be understood as a natural defensive response, triggered in situations where individuals are overwhelmed, when the self-control is insufficient to stop the compulsion to use SM, and the use of a smartphone for this purpose is excessively engaging.

Analysis of social barriers to sustainable innovation and digitisation in supply chain

Organisations are consistently becoming more and more conscious about sustainability issues that are being raised on various platforms by regulatory bodies and other social activists. Digitisation of supply chains and other technologies like recycling has emerged as one solution that helps achieve sustainability goals by bringing more transparency into the system regarding emissions. Adopting these sustainability and digitisation-related technologies in the supply chain is a major issue, and there are many social issues related to their implementation and adoption. This study aims to identify social barriers to sustainable innovations and digitisation in the supply chain. A total of eight barriers are identified and analysed using BWM and DEMATEL methodologies. The results indicate that work-related circumstances and employment disruptions are the most prominent social barriers, which also influence other barriers. Organisations need to hire and train manpower in skills related to sustainable and digitisation technologies to secure their jobs and facilitate the adoption of these technologies in the supply chain.

Artificial intelligence and change management in small and medium-sized enterprises: an analysis of dynamics within adaptation initiatives

Given the increasingly significant role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the global economy and the ever more competitive markets in which these companies operate, SMEs' ability to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is of utmost importance. Due to constantly evolving social, environmental, and technological scenarios, the managers of these firms must increasingly focus on incorporating new tools such as AI into SME operations in order to enjoy their benefits. However, the subjectivity and complexity of this adaptation process makes integrated analyses of key factors challenging. The present study sought to develop a multi-criteria decision-support system that applies cognitive mapping and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique in a neutrosophic context. The main objective is to overcome the limitations of previous studies and models by structuring the decision problem and identifying and understanding which factors should be central to adaptation initiative analyses. A panel of experts in AI were recruited to facilitate the construction of an analysis system that takes into account indeterminacy in decision-making processes. The results were validated by both the panel members and project managers at COTEC Portugal-a leading think-and-action network that seeks to advance technology diffusion and business innovation cooperation. The proposed system's practical implications and benefits are also analyzed.

Applying DEMATEL-ANP approach to explore the intention to hold roadside wedding banquets in Penghu: A consumers' perspective

Most people associate Penghu with the roadside banquet, an iconic banquet in the area. Nevertheless, market demand for these banquets has lately fallen drastically, causing a severe impact on the industry. In this study, the critical factors influencing the choice to conduct roadside wedding banquets were investigated from the consumer's standpoint. Initially, on the basis of expert screening and literature study, 14 criteria covering five dimensions were developed. Subsequently, causal connections and impact weights were determined using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and DANP (DEMATEL-based analytic network process) models. The findings indicate that customers prioritise service quality in improvement initiatives. Dish quality, hygiene, and marketing are the most appreciated dimensions. Overall, customers place the highest significance on pricing. The industry is recommended to create online marketing platforms, raise the standard of wedding banquet services, combine the value chains of wedding services, and support the sustainable growth of the industry. The method used enriches existing theoretical approaches concerning roadside wedding banquets and is applicable in assisting wedding banquet providers' management in holding roadside weddings.

Social Media Addiction and Fear of War in Germany

Individuals with an excessive use of social media may be frequently exposed to stimuli, such as (fake) news or images of violence, which might lead to a higher fear of war. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the association between a social media addiction and fear of war (conventional war and nuclear war) in Germany. Data were taken from a nationally representative survey with n = 3091 participants (18 to 74 years; data collection in mid-March 2022). Social media addiction was quantified using the validated Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. Moreover, established items were used to quantify a fear of war. Medium differences (in terms of Cohen’s d) were identified regarding the fear of war between individuals without a social media addiction and individuals with a social media addiction. Adjusting for several covariates, the regressions revealed that individuals with a social media addiction had a higher fear of war compared to individuals without a social media addiction (fear of a conventional war: β = 0.44, p < 0.01; fear of a nuclear war: β = 0.61, p < 0.001). In conclusion, our study demonstrated an association between a social media addiction and fear of war.

Comparing the prevalence of nomophobia and smartphone addiction among university students pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to: (a) explore differences in the prevalence of nomophobia and smartphone addiction (SA) from pre- to during COVID-19; (b) identify students' self-reported changes in smartphone reliance and screen time during COVID-19; and (c) examine whether self-perceived changes in smartphone usage predicted nomophobia and SA scores.

METHODS

Scores on the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Smartphone Addiction Scale between two surveys administered at two timepoints were compared: Sample 1 (September 2019-January 2020; N = 878) and Sample 2 (May-June 2020; N = 258).

RESULTS

No significant differences were found between samples on nomophobia or SA. Nearly all of Sample 2 reported using some type of app more, using their smartphone a little more, and about the same perceived smartphone reliance during COVID-19. Increased screen time, smartphone reliance, and social media significantly predicted nomophobia and SA.

CONCLUSION

COVID-19 does not appear to have exacerbated the prevalence of nomophobia or SA.

Analysis of Factors Influencing Miners' Unsafe Behaviors in Intelligent Mines using a Novel Hybrid MCDM Model

Coal mine accidents seriously affect people’s safety and social development, and intelligent mines have improved the production safety environment. However, safety management and miners’ work in intelligent mines face new changes and higher requirements, and the safety situation remains challenging. Therefore, exploring the key influencing factors of miners’ unsafe behaviors in intelligent mines is important. Our work focuses on (1) investigating the relationship and hierarchy of 20 factors, (2) using fuzzy theory to improve the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method and introducing the maximum mean de-entropy (MMDE) method to determine the unique threshold scientifically, and (3) developing a novel multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to provide theoretical basis and methods for managers. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the influence degree of government regulation, leadership attention, safety input level, safety system standardization, and dynamic supervision intensity exert the most significant influence on the others; (2) the causality of government regulation, which is the deep factor, is the highest, and self-efficacy displays the smallest causality, and it is the most sensitive compared to various other factors; (3) knowledge accumulation ability, man–machine compatibility, emergency management capability, and organizational safety culture has the highest centrality among the individual factors, device factors, management factors, and environmental factors, respectively. Thus, corresponding management measures are proposed to improve coal mine safety and miners’ occupational health.

Analysis of factors affecting environmental audit (EA) implementation with DEMATEL method

Purpose

Increasing environmental pollution and destruction have damaged sustainability in polluting societies and organizations. For this reason, various environmental management programs have recently been developed by governments and the environmental protection agencies (EPAs) to control and reduce environmental pollution. One of these programs is environmental audit (EA), which has not been fully implemented yet in developing countries and it has many disadvantages. It seems that one of the reasons for the lack of perfect implementation of EA in these countries is the lack of adequate review of the factors affecting its implementation. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting EA implementation and then analysis of causal relationships between them.

Design/methodology/approach

Decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique was used to identify causal relationships of factors affecting EA implementation. Based on the literature review and interviewing nine experts in EA, 17 factors were identified to influence EA implementation. Six experts were selected for the evaluation using snowball sampling method. Using the DEMATEL approach, a cause and effect relationship diagram was generated through which the effect of factors was analyzed.

Findings

Seventeen factors were categorized in terms of cause and effect, and the interrelationships of factors were also analyzed. “Reducing environmental impacts and improving environmental performance,” “obtaining environmental management system certificates” and “contributing to the environmental goals of investment projects” are the most prominent factors on the basis of their prominent score.

Research limitations/implications

Analysis in the research is highly dependent on expert judgments and opinions may be biased. However, the initial matrix obtained from the experts is hindered by the ambiguity about some relationships. But this can be improved by using fuzzy and gray set theories. The factors used for the analysis may not be comprehensive and other researchers may find other factors.

Practical implications

Identifying the factors affecting EA implementation and analyzing causal relationships between them can be a guide and help governments to improve the implementation of EA or even develop this policy by being aware of the effect of the factors analyzed.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no comprehensive study of factors affecting EA implementation has been undertaken; this study is the first to identify these factors and analyze them using DEMATEL. Therefore, it is suggested that governments and EPAs in the policies focus on the significant factors.

Barriers to the implementation of the UNIDO’s program for export consortia: a case study of the Iranian handmade carpet industry

Purpose

This paper aims to identify and analyze the barriers to the implementation of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s programxk for export consortia in the Iranian handmade carpet industry.

Design/methodology/approach

To accomplish its objectives, the study relied on a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) research method. Primarily, unstructured interviews were conducted to identify the effective barriers. Then, the validity of the barriers identified was evaluated through content validity ratio analysis. Finally, the interrelationships between the barriers were determined using the rough decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique (DEMATEL).

Findings

Results revealed that “a lack of leadership,” “a traditional business environment” and “a lack of awareness of consortium benefits” were the most significant causal barriers. Meanwhile, the most important effect barriers were “a lack of long-term vision,” “a lack of business ethics” and “a lack of motivation.”

Practical implications

The findings and results could help the stakeholders of the handmade carpet industry in Iran to improve existing export consortium programs, increasing the country’s share in the global markets in this industry.

Originality/value

This investigation seeks to fill an existing gap in the literature on export consortium formation in the handmade carpet industry by providing a network of barriers for the first time.

Analyzing causes of urban blight using cognitive mapping and DEMATEL

Blight is a concept not commonly discussed. However, blight is a problem that exists in the lives of many people, especially if they reside in urban areas. Blight originates whenever properties are neglected, contributing to both a functional and social depreciation process and ultimately leading to uninhabitable dwellings. Despite being blighted, these properties and surrounding neighborhoods often are occupied by families who fail to have sufficient income to afford residences that meet minimum standards or to live in neighborhoods free from drug trafficking and prostitution or other forms of crime. Blight may spread rapidly, thus, experts must, in a timely manner, analyze its causes, which are essential to preventing and mitigating blight problems. The purpose of this study is to seek an understanding of blight and identify its causal factors. The generic methods commonly applied in previous blight research present limitations that this study aims to overcome by using cognitive mapping and the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique. This dual methodology provides a more transparent and less restrictive approach for analyzing and complying with the dynamics of cause-and-effect relationships among variables. Group debate involving a panel of specialists in this field identified six causation clusters based on the experts' experience and knowledge. The resulting framework and its application were validated both by these specialists and the head of the Territorial and Environmental Assessment and Monitoring Division of Cascais City Council Strategic Planning Department, Portugal.

Problematic Smartphone Use and Problematic Social Media Use: The Predictive Role of Self-Construal and the Mediating Effect of Fear Missing Out

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) and problematic social media use (PSMU) are two interrelated constructs which have received significant research attention over the past decade. The present study investigated the relationship between self-construal (distinguished as independent and interdependent), PSU and PSMU with Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) as a mediating variable. The sample comprised 405 Italian students who completed standardized psychometric scales assessing the variables of the study. Bivariate correlations analysis showed that FoMO and independent self-construal was significantly and negatively associated. On the contrary, interdependent self-construal was significantly and positively associated with FoMO, PSU, and PSMU. Mediation analysis showed that FoMO mediated the relationship between self-construal and both PSMU and PSU, but at different levels. The results demonstrated that FoMO full mediated the relationships between interdependent self and PSU, whereas only partial mediation was found between interdependent self and PSMU. Therefore, taking these personality characteristics into account may help reduce dysfunctional behaviour associated with problematic technology use and promote psychological well-being among students. However, it is recommended that further studies replicate the proposed model by including other psychological constructs.

A sociotechnical approach to vaccine manufacturer selection as part of a global immunization strategy against epidemics and pandemics

These are unprecedented times while the world weathers the highly infectious respiratory pandemic caused by coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Humanity has experienced other cataclysmic events, but something as novel as this pandemic cannot be easily described. A safe COVID-19 vaccine is often hailed as the only effective public health method to prevent the further spread of this virus. New vaccines' cost has increased even as policymakers struggle with limited resources and budget constraints. Thus, more decision-support tools are needed to facilitate the selection of vaccine manufacturers as part of a global immunization strategy against COVID-19 or other epidemics and pandemics. This study sought to address this issue by combining three well-established operational research methods (i.e., cognitive mapping, decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory, and the Choquet integral). Based on the insights provided by a panel of experts on vaccination and infectious diseases, a vaccine manufacturer selection mechanism was developed that incorporates the World Health Organization's guidelines. This approach facilitated the identification of multiple selection criteria regarding vaccine manufacturers, their allocation into six major clusters (i.e., soundness of scientific approach and technology used; speed of delivery; cost; liability and risk sharing; ability to supply sufficient quantities through production capacity development; and global solidarity), and subsequent analysis of the respective cause-and-effect relationships. The results of a real-life application of the proposed selection system were further consolidated by a member of Saint Francisco Xavier Hospital Infectious Diseases Unit in Lisbon, Portugal. The mechanism's advantages and limitations are also discussed.

Evaluation of Factors to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic Using DEMATEL and Fuzzy Rule-Based Techniques

Since social and environmental conditions have changed dramatically in recent years, the spectrum of diseases caused by infections is also evolving rapidly. The outspread of COVID-19 has resulted in an emergency situation across the globe with significant effects on the population’s lives, families, and societies, leading to concerns the World Health Organization. Accordingly, the virus has substantially threatened the Malaysians’ public health and contributed considerably to increased healthcare expenses. Since the novel coronavirus was found in China, Malaysia’s government has started its actions according to the World Health Organization procedures and concentrated on addressing and preventing the spread of the infection. The present paper aims to find and evaluate the factors to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia, limiting the outspread of the disease in this country. This study used the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Fuzzy Rule-Based techniques to evaluate the factors through a set of questionnaires completed by the health care professionals. According to the data analysis results, movement control order, international travel restrictions, and the mass gathering cancellations were of most importance in the prevention of COVID-19 infections transmission.

The Key Success Factors for Attracting Foreign Investment in the Post-Epidemic Era

The global economy has been hit by the unexpected COVID-19 outbreak, and foreign investment has been seen as one of the most important tools to boost the economy. However, in the highly uncertain post-epidemic era, determining how to attract foreign investment is the key to revitalizing the economy. What are the important factors for governments to attract investment, and how to improve them? This will be an important decision in the post-epidemic era. Therefore, this study develops a novel decision-making model to explore the key factors in attracting foreign investment. The model first uses fuzzy Delphi to explore the key factors of attracting foreign investment in the post-epidemic era, and then uses DEMATEL to construct the causal relationships among these factors. To overcome the uncertainty of various information sources and inconsistent messages from decision-makers, this study combined neutrosophic set theory to conduct quantitative analysis. The results of the study show that the model is suitable for analyzing the key factors of investment attraction in the post-epidemic period. Based on the results of the study, we also propose strategies that will help the relevant policy-making departments to understand the root causes of the problem and to formulate appropriate investment strategies in advance. In addition, the model is also used for comparative analysis, which reveals that this novel approach can integrate more incomplete information and present expert opinions in a more objective way.

Assessing Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents by Parental Ratings: Development and Validation of the Social Media Disorder Scale for Parents (SMDS-P)

Background: The problematic use of social media (SM) is a rising phenomenon, especially in adolescents. It can be assessed by self-rating screeners such as the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS). However, young age or symptom denial might reduce adolescent assessment accuracy. Therefore, the development and validation of a parental scale (SMDS-P) is desirable. Method: A representative sample of 961 parents and corresponding frequently SM-using children aged 10 to 17 years participated in an online study. Factorial analyses were performed to determine item structure. Adolescents’ SMDS self-reports, SM usage time, emotional dysregulation, and academic performance were used to assess validity. The SMDS-P cut-off value was calculated by ROC-analysis. Results: A one-factorial structure of the SMDS-P could be confirmed. The internal consistency was good (Cronbach’s α = 0.85, McDonald’s ω = 0.88) and the accordance between parental and self-ratings moderate (kappa = 0.51). SMDS-P was positively associated with adolescents’ self-ratings (r = 0.68), SM usage time (r = 0.26) and frequency (ϱ = 0.16) as well as with emotional dysregulation (r = 0.35) in a highly significant manner. Conclusions: SMDS-P offers a promising new approach to assess problematic SM usage in adolescence. Further studies including clinical validations are required.

COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions and Online Media Consumption in Germany

The lockdown restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased stress levels and feelings of anxiety in the general population. Problematic usage of certain online applications is one frequent way to compensate for negative feelings and stress. The current study investigated changes of online media consumption during the lockdown in Germany. Gender and age specific differences in specific online activities were assessed. n = 3245 subjects participated in an online survey conducted between the 8th April and the 11th May 2020. Participants' age ranged between 18 and >55 years. A considerably high percentage (71.4%) of participants reported increased online media consumption during the lockdown. Male participants were more likely to increase their consumption of gaming and erotic platforms, while female participants reported a higher increase in the engagement in social networks, information research, and video streaming than males. The findings revealed an increased usage of all online applications during the lockdown. For the clarification whether the increase might present a risk for elevated Internet-use disorders or can be regarded as a functional and time-limited phenomenon, further studies, assessing changes in these online activities after the end of the pandemic, are needed.

Role of Emotion in Excessive Use of Twitter During COVID-19 Imposed Lockdown in India

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns to contain it are affecting the daily life of people around the world. People are now using digital technologies, including social media, more than ever before. The objectives of this study were to analyze the social media usage pattern of people during the COVID-19 imposed lockdown and to understand the effects of emotion on the same. We scraped messages posted on Twitter by users from India expressing their emotion or view on the pandemic during the first 40 days of the lockdown. We identified the users who posted frequently and analyzed their usage pattern and their overall emotion during the study period based on their tweets. It was observed that 222 users tweeted frequently during the study period. Out of them, 13.5% were found to be addicted to Twitter and posted 13.67 tweets daily on an average (SD: 4.89), while 3.2% were found to be highly addicted and posted 40.71 tweets daily on an average (SD: 9.90) during the study period. The overall emotion of 40.1% of the users was happiness throughout the study period. However, it was also observed that users who tweeted more frequently were typically angry, disgusted, or sad about the prevailing situation. We concluded that people with a negative sentiment are more susceptible to addictive use of social media.

A dynamic network-based decision architecture for performance evaluation and improvement

This study introduces a dynamic decision architecture that involves three steps for corporate performance forecasting as such bad performance has been widely recognized as the main trigger for a financial crisis. Step-1: performance evaluation and integration; Step-2: forecasting model construction; and Step-3: knowledge generation. First, the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is incorporated with balanced scorecards (BSC) to discover the complicated/intertwined relationships among BSC’s four perspectives. To overcome the problem of BSC that cannot yield a specific direction, the study then employs data envelopment analysis (DEA). Apart from previous studies that utilize an all embracing one-stage model, this set-up extends it to a two-stage model that calculates the performance scores for each BSC perspective. By doing so, users can realize a company’s weaknesses and strengths and identify possible paths toward efficiency. VIKOR is subsequently used to summarize all scores into a synthesized one. Second, the analyzed outcomes are then fed into random vector functional-link (RVFL) networks to establish the forecasting model. To handle the opaque nature of RVFL, the instance learning method is conducted to extract the implicit decision logics. Finally, the introduced architecture, tested by real cases, offers a promising alternative for performance evaluation and forecasting.

Decision-Making Tools to Manage the Microbiology of Drinking Water Distribution Systems

This paper uses a two-fold multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach applied for the first time to the field of microbial management of drinking water distribution systems (DWDS). Specifically, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) was applied removing the need for reliance on expert judgement, and analysed interdependencies among water quality parameters and microbiological characteristics of DWDS composed of different pipe materials. In addition, the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) ranked the most common bacteria identified during trials in a DWDS according to their relative abundance while managing vagueness affecting the measurements. The novel integrated approach presented and proven here for an initial real world data set provides new insights in the interdependence of environmental conditions and microbial populations. Specifically, the application shows as the bacteria having associated the most significant microbial impact may not be the most abundant. This offers the potential for integrated management strategies to promote favourable microbial conditions to help safeguard drinking water quality.

Optimal Placement of Pressure Sensors Using Fuzzy DEMATEL-Based Sensor Influence

Nowadays, optimal sensor placement (OSP) for leakage detection in water distribution networks is a lively field of research, and a challenge for water utilities in terms of network control, management, and maintenance. How many sensors to install and where to install them are crucial decisions to make for those utilities to reach a trade-off between efficiency and economy. In this paper, we address the where-to-install-them part of the OSP through the following elements: nodes’ sensitivity to leakage, uncertainty of information, and redundancy through conditional entropy maximisation. We evaluate relationships among candidate sensors in a network to get a picture of the mutual influence among the nodes. This analysis is performed within a multi-criteria decision-making approach: specifically, a herein proposed variant of DEMATEL, which uses fuzzy logic and builds comparison matrices derived from information obtained through leakage simulations of the network. We apply the proposal first to a toy example to show how the approach works, and then to a real-world case study.