An Extended Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) with Maximizing Deviation Method Based on Integrated Weight Measure for Single-Valued Neutrosophic Sets

A bi-direction performance evaluation model for water pollution treatment engineering under the intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic environment

As the increasingly serious water pollution problem affects the sustainable development of the ecological environment, the research of water pollution treatment engineering cannot be delayed. Among them, the performance evaluation of water pollution treatment engineering is a major focus. After reading the existing studies, it is found that most of the existing performance evaluation indicators of water pollution treatment engineering have qualitative indicators and there is an unbalanced preference representation. Intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic sets can be a good representation of the qualitative preference and non-preference of decision-makers in the context of decision-making containing unbalanced phenomena. Therefore, to better solve the problem of water pollution treatment engineering, this paper introduces intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic sets to the problem of water pollution treatment engineering and proposes an effective theory for it. First, considering the multiplicative nature of the intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic set, a new score function and accuracy function are defined, and on this basis, the priority rules of intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic set are given to prepare for the subsequent water pollution treatment engineering performance ranking. And the distance measure of intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic set is introduced and a CRITIC attribute weight determination model under intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic set is obtained on this basis. Secondly, the Choquet integral operator is applied to better represent the correlation between elements. However, the nature of membership degree and non-membership degree shows that it is not reasonable to aggregate the information of intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic sets with a single increasing and decreasing transformation. Therefore, in this paper, we propose the IMLS bi-direction exponent Choquet integral operator, which is inspired by the bi-direction Choquet integral. Lastly, we improve the original preference function of the classical PROMETHEE II method to obtain the bi-directional PROMETHEE II method in intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic information. Finally, a numerical case is also provided to illustrate the scientific and rational application of the bi-directional PROMETHEE II method in intuitionistic multiplicative linguistic information for the performance evaluation of water pollution treatment engineering.

A 2-dimensional uncertain linguistic MABAC method for multiattribute group decision-making problems

The 2-dimensional uncertain linguistic variable (2DULV) can depict decision-makers’ subjective assessments on the reliability of given evaluation results, which is a valid and practical tool to express decision information. In this study, we develop an improved MABAC method with 2DULVs to handle multiattribute group decision-making (MAGDM) problems where the weight information of attributes is unknown. First, some related theories of 2DULVs and the basic procedure of the MABAC method are briefly reviewed. Then, the maximum comprehensive evaluation value method is extended to 2DULVs to obtain combination weights of attributes, in which the subjective weights are determined according to the best–worst method (BWM) and the objective weights are calculated by the maximum deviation method. Besides, the generalized weighted average operator for 2DULVs (2DULGWA) is utilized to aggregate the evaluation information given by all experts. Finally, an improved MABAC for 2DULVs (2DUL-MABAC) is proposed, and an example is carried out to explain the validity of the proposed approach.

Multi-attribute decision-making method based on normal T-spherical fuzzy aggregation operator

T-spherical fuzzy numbers (FNs), which add an abstinence degree based on membership and non-membership degrees, can express neutral information conveniently and have a considerable large range of information expression. The normal FNs (NFNs) are very available to characterize normal distribution phenomenon widely existing in social life. In this paper, we first define the normal T-SFNs (NT-SFNs) which can combine the advantages of T-SFNs and NFNs. Then, we define their operational laws, score value, and accuracy value. By considering the interrelationship among multi-input parameters, we propose the Maclaurin symmetric mean operator with NT-SFNs (NT-SFMSM) and its weighted form (NT-SFWMSM). Furthermore, we study some characteristics and special cases of them. Based on the NT-SFWMSM operator, we put forward a novel multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) approach. Finally, some numerical examples are conducted to prove that the proposed approach is valid and superior to some other existing methods.

New similarity measures for single-valued neutrosophic sets with applications in pattern recognition and medical diagnosis problems

The single-valued neutrosophic set (SVNS) is a well-known model for handling uncertain and indeterminate information. Information measures such as distance measures, similarity measures and entropy measures are very useful tools to be used in many applications such as multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), medical diagnosis, pattern recognition and clustering problems. A lot of such information measures have been proposed for the SVNS model. However, many of these measures have inherent problems that prevent them from producing reasonable or consistent results to the decision makers. In this paper, we propose several new distance and similarity measures for the SVNS model. The proposed measures have been verified and proven to comply with the axiomatic definition of the distance and similarity measure for the SVNS model. A detailed and comprehensive comparative analysis between the proposed similarity measures and other well-known existing similarity measures has been done. Based on the comparison results, it is clearly proven that the proposed similarity measures are able to overcome the shortcomings that are inherent in existing similarity measures. Finally, an extensive set of numerical examples, related to pattern recognition and medical diagnosis, is given to demonstrate the practical applicability of the proposed similarity measures. In all numerical examples, it is proven that the proposed similarity measures are able to produce accurate and reasonable results. To further verify the superiority of the suggested similarity measures, the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient test is performed on the ranking results that were obtained from the numerical examples, and it was again proven that the proposed similarity measures produced the most consistent ranking results compared to other existing similarity measures.

A New Method Based on PROMETHEE and TODIM for Multi-Attribute Decision-Making with Single-Valued Neutrosophic Sets

Single-valued neutrosophic sets (SVNSs) can effectively describe the multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) problems which are characterized by incompleteness and uncertainty. Aiming at the MADM problem of SVNSs, a series of methods are proposed to solve the problem, such as the TODIM and PROMETHEE methods. The main idea of the TODIM method is to establish a relative superiority function of scheme relative to other schemes based on the value function of prospect theory, and the ranking of alternatives is determined according to the obtained superiority. In the PROMETHEE method, the decision maker selects the preference function for each attribute according to their preference, and then calculates the priority index, inflow, outflow and net flow according to the difference of the attribute values of scheme, so as to determine the ranking of alternatives. In this paper, a new method based on PROMETHEE and TODIM is proposed to solve the MADM problem under the single-valued neutrosophic environment. Based on the calculation formula of inflow and outflow in PROMETHEE method, and the calculation formula of overall dominance in the TODIM method, a new integrated formula is obtained.

AHP-TOPSIS Inspired Shopping Mall Site Selection Problem with Fuzzy Data

In the consumerist world, there is an ever-increasing demand for consumption in urban life. Thus, the demand for shopping malls is growing. For a developer, site selection is an important issue as the optimal selection involves several complex factors and sub-factors for a successful investment venture. Thus, these tangible and intangible factors can be best solved by the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) models. In this study, optimal site selection has been done out of multiple alternative locations in and around the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (FTOPSIS) has been applied for shopping mall site selection. The AHP is used to obtain the crispified weight of factors. Imprecise linguistic terms used by the decision-maker are converted to Triangular Fuzzy Numbers (TFNs). This research used integrated sub-factors fuzzy weights using FAHP to FTOPSIS for ranking of the alternatives. Hardly any research is done with the use of sub-factors. In this study, seven factors and seventeen sub-factors are considered, the authors collected data from different locations with the help of municipal authorities and architects. This work further provides useful guidelines for shopping mall selection in different states and countries.

New Framework for Quality Function Deployment Using Linguistic Z-Numbers

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a useful design quality control tool in service enterprises and manufacturing enterprises. However, there are several issues in extant QFD frameworks, that is, in three aspects: description of evaluation information, weight determination of expert team members (TMs), and weight identification of customer requirements (CRs). In order to address these issues, a novel QFD framework is first proposed utilizing linguistic Z-numbers (LZNs) with integrated subjective and objective weights of TMs and CRs. The LZNs can represent uncertain information and the reliability of information in a specific way while the fuzzy numbers cannot. Moreover, the order relation analysis (G1) method and improved maximum consensus (MC) method are developed to get the subjective and objective weights of TMs, respectively. Further, the step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) method and statistical distance (SD) method are studied to acquire combined weights of CRs. Next, the proposed QFD framework is applied to a case of logistics service provider, which illustrates the availability and utility of the framework. Then, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to prove the reliability of the framework. Finally, two comparative analyses are performed to declare the advantages of the framework. Results indicate the proposed QFD framework is better than existing models.

Multi-Attribute Multi-Perception Decision-Making Based on Generalized T-Spherical Fuzzy Weighted Aggregation Operators on Neutrosophic Sets

The framework of the T-spherical fuzzy set is a recent development in fuzzy set theory that can describe imprecise events using four types of membership grades with no restrictions. The purpose of this manuscript is to point out the limitations of the existing intuitionistic fuzzy Einstein averaging and geometric operators and to develop some improved Einstein aggregation operators. To do so, first some new operational laws were developed for T-spherical fuzzy sets and their properties were investigated. Based on these new operations, two types of Einstein aggregation operators are proposed namely the Einstein interactive averaging aggregation operators and the Einstein interactive geometric aggregation operators. The properties of the newly developed aggregation operators were then investigated and verified. The T-spherical fuzzy aggregation operators were then applied to a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problem related to the degree of pollution of five major cities in China. Actual datasets sourced from the UCI Machine Learning Repository were used for this purpose. A detailed study was done to determine the most and least polluted city for different perceptions for different situations. Several compliance tests were then outlined to test and verify the accuracy of the results obtained via our proposed decision-making algorithm. It was proved that the results obtained via our proposed decision-making algorithm was fully compliant with all the tests that were outlined, thereby confirming the accuracy of the results obtained via our proposed method.

Algebraic Structures of Neutrosophic Triplets, Neutrosophic Duplets, or Neutrosophic Multisets

Neutrosophy (1995) is a new branch of philosophy that studies triads of the form (<A>, <neutA>, <antiA>), where <A> is an entity (i.e. element, concept, idea, theory, logical proposition, etc.), <antiA> is the opposite of <A>, while <neutA> is the neutral (or indeterminate) between them, i.e., neither <A> nor <antiA> [...]

Fuzzy Attribute Expansion Method for Multiple Attribute Decision-Making with Partial Attribute Values and Weights Unknown and Its Applications

In the real world, there commonly exists types of multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) problems with partial attribute values and weights totally unknown. Symmetry among some attribute information that is already known and unknown, and symmetry between the pure attribute set and fuzzy attribute membership set can be a considerable way to solve this type of MADM problem. In this paper, a fuzzy attribute expansion method is proposed to solve this type of problem based on two key techniques: the spline interpolation technique and the attribute weight reconfiguration technique, which are respectively used for the determination of attribute values and the reconfiguration of attribute weights. The spline interpolation technique to expand attribute values can enhance the performance of some regression methods and clustering methods by the comparisons between the results of these methods dealing with practical cases with and without the application of the technique, which further illustrates the effectiveness of this technique. For MADM problems with partial attribute values and weights totally unknown, compared with traditional fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE), FCE with the application of fuzzy attribute expansion method can obtain results more similar with the ones when all attribute values and weights are known, which is proved by the practical power quality evaluation example.

Entropy, Measures of Distance and Similarity of Q-Neutrosophic Soft Sets and Some Applications

The idea of the Q-neutrosophic soft set emerges from the neutrosophic soft set by upgrading the membership functions to a two-dimensional entity which indicate uncertainty, indeterminacy and falsity. Hence, it is able to deal with two-dimensional inconsistent, imprecise, and indeterminate information appearing in real life situations. In this study, the tools that measure the similarity, distance and the degree of fuzziness of Q-neutrosophic soft sets are presented. The definitions of distance, similarity and measures of entropy are introduced. Some formulas for Q-neutrosophic soft entropy were presented. The known Hamming, Euclidean and their normalized distances are generalized to make them well matched with the idea of Q-neutrosophic soft set. The distance measure is subsequently used to define the measure of similarity. Lastly, we expound three applications of the measures of Q-neutrosophic soft sets by applying entropy and the similarity measure to a medical diagnosis and decision making problems.