Fuzzy Model Identification Using Monolithic and Structured Approaches in Decision Problems with Partially Incomplete Data

Comparative Analysis of Solar Panels with Determination of Local Significance Levels of Criteria Using the MCDM Methods Resistant to the Rank Reversal Phenomenon

This paper aims to present an innovative approach based on two newly developed Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods: COMET combined with TOPSIS and SPOTIS, which could be the basis for a decision support system (DSS) in the problem of selecting solar panels. Solar energy is one of the most promising and environmentally friendly energy sources because of the enormous potential of directly converting available solar radiation everywhere into electricity. Furthermore, ever-lower prices for photovoltaic systems make solar electricity more competitive with power from conventional energy sources, increasing interest in solar panels among companies and households. This fact generates the need for a user-friendly, objective, fully automated DSS to support the multi-criteria selection of solar panels. Both MCDM methods chosen for this purpose are rank-reversal-free and precise. First, the objective entropy weighting method was applied for determining criteria weights. Final rankings were compared by two ranking correlation coefficients: symmetrical rw and asymmetrical WS. Then the sensitivity analysis providing local weights of alternatives for decision criteria was performed. The obtained results prove the adequacy and practical usefulness of the presented approach in solving the problem of solar panels selection.

Methodical Aspects of MCDM Based E-Commerce Recommender System

The aim of this paper is to present the use of an innovative approach based on MCDM methods as the main component of a consumer Decision Support System (DSS) by recommending the most suitable products among a given set of alternatives. This system provides a reliable recommendation to the consumer in the form of a compromise ranking constructed from the five MCDM methods: the hybrid approach TOPSIS-COMET, COCOSO, EDAS, MAIRCA, and MABAC. Each of the methods used contributes significantly to the final compromise ranking built with the Copeland strategy. Chosen MCDM methods were combined with the objective CRITIC weighting method, and their performance was presented on the illustrative example of choosing the most suitable mobile phone. A sensitivity analysis involving the rw and WS correlation coefficients was performed to determine the match between the compromise ranking of the candidates and the rankings provided by each MCDM method. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that all investigated compromise candidate rankings show high convergence with the rankings provided by the particular MCDM methods. Thus, the performed study proved that the proposed approach shows high potential to be successfully used as a central component of DSS for recommending the most suitable product. Such DSS could be a universal and future-proof solution for e-commerce sites and websites, providing advanced product comparison capabilities in delivering a recommendation to the user as a final ranking of alternatives.

Explainable Ontology-Based Intelligent Decision Support System for Business Model Design and Sustainability

Background: Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is a problem-solving paradigm that uses knowledge of relevant past experiences (cases) to interpret or solve new problems. CBR systems allow generating explanations easily, as they typically organize and represent knowledge in a way that makes it possible to reason about and thereby generate explanations. An improvement of this paradigm is ontology-based CBR, an approach that combines, in the form of formal ontologies, case-specific knowledge with domain one in order to improve the effectiveness and explanation capability of the system. Intelligent systems make daily activities more easily, efficiently, and represent a real support for sustainable economic development. On the one hand, they improve efficiency, productivity, and quality, and, on the other hand, can reduce costs and cut waste. In this way, intelligent systems facilitate sustainable development, economic growth, societal progress, and improve efficiency. Aim: In this vision, the purpose of this paper is to propose a new generation of intelligent decision support systems for Business Model having the ability to provide explanations to increase confidence in proposed solutions. Findings/result: The performance results obtained show the benefits of the proposed solution with different requirements of an explanatory decision support system. Consequently, applying this paradigm for software tools of business model development will make a great promise for supporting business model design, sustainability, and innovation.

Modeling Renewable Energy Systems by a Self-Evolving Nonlinear Consequent Part Recurrent Type-2 Fuzzy System for Power Prediction

A novel Nonlinear Consequent Part Recurrent Type-2 Fuzzy System (NCPRT2FS) is presented for the modeling of renewable energy systems. Not only does this paper present a new architecture of the type-2 fuzzy system (T2FS) for identification and behavior prognostication of an experimental solar cell set and a wind turbine, but also, it introduces an exquisite technique to acquire an optimal number of membership functions (MFs) and their corresponding rules. Using nonlinear functions in the “Then” part of fuzzy rules, introducing a new mechanism in structure learning, using an adaptive learning rate and performing convergence analysis of the learning algorithm are the innovations of this paper. Another novel innovation is using optimization techniques (including pruning fuzzy rules, initial adjustment of MFs). Next, a solar photovoltaic cell and a wind turbine are deemed as case studies. The experimental data are exploited and the consequent yields emerge as convincing. The root-mean-square-error (RMSE) is less than 0.006 and the number of fuzzy rules is equal to or less than four rules, which indicates the very good performance of the presented fuzzy neural network. Finally, the obtained model is used for the first time for a geographical area to examine the feasibility of renewable energies.

Evaluation of Safety Degree at Railway Crossings in Order to Achieve Sustainable Traffic Management: A Novel Integrated Fuzzy MCDM Model

Sustainable traffic system management under conditions of uncertainty and inappropriate road infrastructure is a responsible and complex task. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), there is a large number of level crossings which represent potentially risky places in traffic. The current state of level crossings in BiH is a problem of the greatest interest for the railway and a generator of accidents. Accordingly, it is necessary to identify the places that are currently a priority for the adoption of measures and traffic control in order to achieve sustainability of the whole system. In this paper, the Šamac–Doboj railway section and passive level crossings have been considered. Fifteen different criteria were formed and divided into three main groups: safety criteria, road exploitation characteristics, and railway exploitation characteristics. A novel integrated fuzzy FUCOM (full consistency method)—fuzzy PIPRECIA (pivot pairwise relative criteria importance assessment) model was formed to determine the significance of the criteria. When calculating the weight values of the main criteria, the fuzzy Heronian mean operator was used for their averaging. The evaluation of level crossings was performed using fuzzy MARCOS (measurement of alternatives and ranking according to compromise solution). An original integrated fuzzy FUCOM–Fuzzy PIPRECIA–Fuzzy MARCOS model was created as the main contribution of the paper. The results showed that level crossings 42 + 690 (LC4) and LC8 (82 + 291) are the safest considering all 15 criteria. The verification of the results was performed through four phases of sensitivity analysis: resizing of an initial fuzzy matrix, comparative analysis with other fuzzy approaches, simulations of criterion weight values, and calculation of Spearman’s correlation coefficient (SCC). Finally, measures for the sustainable performance of the railway system were proposed.

Sustainable Configuration of the Tunisian Olive Oil Supply Chain Using a Fuzzy TOPSIS-Based Approach

Agricultural production of olive oil is a sector with high significance. The olive sector is a very important sector for several countries in the world, in particular, for Tunisia. In addition, the impacts of olive oil production and extraction on economic, environmental, and social issues are considerable. The main objective of this work is to propose a better configuration of the Tunisian olive oil supply chain (OOSC) from a sustainable development (SD) perspective. The proposed approach consists of applying a fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method as a multi-criteria approach. The proposed approach is applied twice. In the first application, the objective is to compare five possible scenarios for the olive agricultural phase. In the second application, the objective is to compare three possible scenarios for the olive oil transformation phase. The major findings of this research include the following: (1) The best scenario for the agricultural phase is the intensified organic system, which is based on biodynamic olive growing. (2) The best scenario for the transformation phase (oil extraction) is the continuous two-phase extraction system. Consequently, the efficient way for the by-products processing phase is the use of wet pomace for the preparation of biodynamic compost.

Identification of Relevant Criteria Set in the MCDA Process—Wind Farm Location Case Study

The paper undertakes the problem of proper structuring of multi-criteria decision support models. To achieve that, a methodological framework is proposed. The authors’ framework is the basis for the relevance analysis of individual criteria in any considered decision model. The formal foundations of the authors’ approach provide a reference set of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods (TOPSIS, VIKOR, COMET) along with their similarity coefficients (Spearman correlation coefficients and WS coefficient). In the empirical research, a practical MCDA-based wind farm location problem was studied. Reference rankings of the decision variants were obtained, followed by a set of rankings in which particular criteria were excluded. This was the basis for testing the similarity of the obtained solutions sets, as well as for recommendations in terms of both indicating the high significance and the possible elimination of individual criteria in the original model. When carrying out the analyzes, both the positions in the final rankings, as well as the corresponding values of utility functions of the decision variants were studied. As a result of the detailed analysis of the obtained results, recommendations were presented in the field of reference criteria set for the considered decision problem, thus demonstrating the practical usefulness of the authors’ proposed approach. It should be pointed out that the presented study of criteria relevance is an important factor for objectification of the multi-criteria decision support processes.

A Fuzzy Inference System for Players Evaluation in Multi-Player Sports: The Football Study Case

Decision support systems often involve taking into account many factors that influence the choice of existing options. Besides, given the expert’s uncertainty on how to express the relationships between the collected data, it is not easy to define how to choose optimal solutions. Such problems also arise in sport, where coaches or players have many variants to choose from when conducting training or selecting the composition of players for competitions. In this paper, an objective fuzzy inference system based on fuzzy logic to evaluate players in team sports is proposed on the example of football. Based on the Characteristic Objects Method (COMET), a multi-criteria model has been developed to evaluate players on the positions of forwards based on their match statistics. The study has shown that this method can be used effectively in assessing players based on their performance. The COMET method was chosen because of its unique properties. It is one of the few methods that allow identifying the model without giving weightings of decision criteria. Symmetrical and asymmetrical fuzzy triangular numbers were used in model identification. Using the calculated derivatives in the point, it turned out that the criteria weights change in the problem state space. This prevents the use of other multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods. However, we compare the obtained model with the Technique of Order Preference Similarity (TOPSIS) method in order to better show the advantage of the proposed approach. The results from the objectified COMET model were compared with subjective rankings such as Golden Ball and player value.

How to Apply Fuzzy MISO PID in the Industry? An Empirical Study Case on Simulation of Crane Relocating Containers

The proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm automatically adjusts the control output based on the difference between a set point and a measured process variable. The classical approach is broadly used in the majority of control systems. However, in complex problems, this approach is not efficient, especially when the exact mathematical formula is difficult to specify. Besides, it was already proven that highly nonlinear situations are also significantly limiting the usage of the PID algorithm, in contrast to the fuzzy algorithms, which often work correctly under such conditions. In the case of multidimensional objects, where many independently operating PID algorithms are currently used, it is worth considering the use of one fuzzy algorithm with many-input single-output (MISO) or many-input many-output (MIMO) structure. In this work, a MISO type chip is investigated in the study case on simulation of crane relocating container with the external distribution. It is an example of control objects that due to badly conditioned dynamic features (strong non-linearities) require the operator’s intervention in manual or semi-automatic mode. The possibility of fuzzy algorithm synthesis is analyzed with two linguistic variable inputs (distance from −100 to 500 mm and angle from −45° to 45°). The output signal is the speed which is modelled as a linguistic power variable (in the domain from −100% to 100%). Based on 36 fuzzy rules, we present the main contribution, the control system with external disturbance, to show the effectiveness of the identified fuzzy PID approach with different gain values. The fuzzy control system and PID control are implemented and compared concerning the time taken for the container to reach the set point. The results show that fuzzy MISO PID is more effective than the classical one because fuzzy set theory helps to deal with the environmental uncertainty. The container’s angle deviations are taken into consideration, as mitigating them and simultaneously maintaining the fastest speed possible is an essential factor of this challenge.

Sustainable Decision Making Using a Consensus Model for Consistent Hesitant Fuzzy Preference Relations—Water Allocation Management Case Study

This paper presents an improved consensus-based procedure to handle multi-person decision making (MPDM) using hesitant fuzzy preference relations (HFPRs) which are not in normal format. At the first level, we proposed a ukasiewicz transitivity (TL-transitivity) based scheme to get normalized hesitant fuzzy preference relations (NHFPRs), subject to which, a consensus-based model is established. Then, a transitive closure formula is defined to construct TL-consistent HFPRs and creates symmetrical matrices. Following this, consistency analysis is made to estimate the consistency degrees of the information provided by the decision-makers (DMs), and consequently, to assign the consistency weights to them. The final priority weights vector of DMs is calculated after the combination of consistency weights and predefined priority weights (if any). The consensus process concludes whether the aggregation of data and selection of the best alternative should be originated or not. The enhancement mechanism is indulged in improving the consensus measure among the DMs, after introducing an identifier used to locate the weak positions, in case of the poor consensus reached. In the end, a comparative example reflects the applicability and the efficiency of proposed scheme. The results show that the proposed method can offer useful comprehension into the MPDM process.