Large scale group decision making (LGDM) problems and social network analysis (SNA) methods are both attracting increasing attention, and SNA methods are useful for addressing LGDM problems. By ...considering social network information, a new interval type-2 fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) model is proposed to solve LGDM problems in complex and uncertain environments. First, a SNA community detection method is applied to reduce the complexity of large scale decision makers (DMs) according to the social connections among them. Then, interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2 FSs) and linguistic variables are employed to handle the uncertainties, and the TOPSIS method is improved using IT2 FSs to obtain an optimal alternative for a LGDM problem. Next, decision weights are computed based on the centrality of the SNA, and the decision information is aggregated by the interval type-2 fuzzy weighted average method. The procedure for solving LGDM problems is presented. Finally, an illustrative example is investigated to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed solution for LGDM problems, and the results are compared with those of an existing method to verify the validity of the new proposed method.
Language assessment has a crucial role in the clinical diagnosis of several neurodegenerative diseases. The analysis of extended speech production is a precious source of information encompassing the ...phonetic, phonological, lexico-semantic, morpho-syntactic, and pragmatic levels of language organization. The knowledge about the distinctive linguistic variables identifying language deficits associated to different neurodegenerative diseases has progressively improved in the last years. However, the heterogeneity of such variables and of the way they are measured and classified limits any generalization and makes the comparison among studies difficult. Here we present an exhaustive review of the studies focusing on the linguistic variables derived from the analysis of connected speech samples, with the aim of characterizing the language disorders of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, including primary progressive aphasia, Alzheimer's disease, movement disorders, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A total of 61 studies have been included, considering only those reporting group analysis and comparisons with a group of healthy persons. This review first analyzes the differences in the tasks used to elicit connected speech, namely picture description, story narration, and interview, considering the possible different contributions to the assessment of different linguistic domains. This is followed by an analysis of the terminologies and of the methods of measurements of the variables, indicating the need for harmonization and standardization. The final section reviews the linguistic domains affected by each different neurodegenerative disease, indicating the variables most consistently impaired at each level and suggesting the key variables helping in the differential diagnosis among diseases. While a large amount of valuable information is already available, the review highlights the need of further work, including the development of automated methods, to take advantage of the richness of connected speech analysis for both research and clinical purposes.
Practical decision situations are becoming increasingly complicated. It is common for a person to select or rank alternatives with respect to multiple attributes, and the TODIM (an acronym in ...Portuguese of interactive and multiple attribute decision making) method, which is one of the first multiple attribute decision making (MADM) methods based on prospect theory, has received more attention due to its great performance in considering the bounded rationality of decision makers (DMs). However, the classical TODIM method can only handle the MADM problems with crisp numbers. In this paper, considering that intuitionistic linguistic variables are convenient to describe uncertain or imprecise information, we propose the intuitionistic linguistic TODIM (IL-TODIM) method and intuitionistic uncertain linguistic TODIM (IUL-TODIM) method to solve uncertain MADM problems with IL and IUL variables, respectively. Additionally, a novel distance measure for IUL numbers is developed, based on which we can obtain the corresponding dominance degree of one alternative over another. Finally, examples are provided to show the validity of the proposed methods, and we also conduct a comparison of the results between the IL-TODIM method and the existing intuitionistic fuzzy MADM methods to illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods.
•We are presenting a modification of a bio-inspired algorithm based on the bee behavior for optimizing fuzzy controllers.•A modification of the method is presented by adding fuzzy logic to ...dynamically change the main parameters.•The algorithm with the fuzzy approach is used to optimize benchmark control problems.•Comparison of results shows that the proposed fuzzy BCO method outperforms the traditional BCO.
In this paper we are presenting a modification of a bio-inspired algorithm based on the bee behavior (BCO, bee colony optimization) for optimizing fuzzy controllers. BCO is a metaheuristic technique inspired by the behavior presented by bees in nature, which can be used for solving optimization problems. First, the traditional BCO is tested with the optimization of fuzzy controllers. Second, a modification of the original method is presented by including fuzzy logic to dynamically change the main parameter values of the algorithm during execution. Third, the proposed modification of the BCO algorithm with the fuzzy approach is used to optimize benchmark control problems. The comparison of results show that the proposed fuzzy BCO method outperforms the traditional BCO in the optimal design of fuzzy controllers.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are recognized as one of the most promising technologies worldwide to address the fossil fuel energy resource crisis and environmental pollution. As the initial work of EV ...charging station (EVCS) construction, site selection plays a vital role in its whole life cycle, which, however, is a complicated multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem involving many conflicting criteria. Therefore, this work aims to propose a novel integrated MCDM approach by a grey decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and uncertain linguistic multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis plus full multiplicative form (UL-MULTIMOORA) for determining the most suitable EVCS site in terms of multiple interrelated criteria. Specifically, the grey DEMATEL method is used to determine criteria weights and the UL-MULTIMOORA model is employed to evaluate and select the optimal site. Finally, an empirical example in Shanghai, China, is presented to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach. The results show that the proposed approach is a useful, practical, and effective way to find the optimal location of EVCSs.
This study aims to identify the intensifiers used in Ammani Arabic (henceforth AA) and to explore whether or not their use is socially constrained by age, gender, and education. Furthermore, the ...study attempts to find whether the use of intensifiers throughout this dialect is internally constrained through the examination of the effects of a set of linguistic factors (i.e., the semantic class of adjectives, the function of adjectives attributive vs. predicative, the position of intensifiers (after the adjective or before it), the polarity of adjectives, and emotionality of adjectives) on the distribution of the intensifiers under investigation. To this end, the study draws on the variationist approach proposed by Labov (1972) as a theoretical construct which focuses on sociolinguistic variations in dialects and investigates how variations can be structured. The corpus is based on just over 15 h of digitized recordings obtained from 32 speakers stratified by age, gender, and education. Then, all tokens including the intensifier (ʔikθi:r) and its variants ʔikθi::r, ʔikθi:r ʔikθi:r, and dʒidan are extracted and coded. The coded data are afterwards analysed using Goldvarb X, so as to obtain the distribution of the variants, their frequencies and significance regarding their variable use. The results show that the most used intensifier among AA speakers is the intensifier ʔikθi:r, the social factors (age, gender, and education) have no significant effect on the use of intensifiers in AA, and the intensifier ʔikθi:r is found to significantly correlate with the semantic class of adjectives of ‘human propensity’ and to occur more often predicatively in the sentence.
The two‐dimensional uncertain linguistic variables (2DULVs) add a self‐evaluation on the reliability of the assessment results given by decision makers (DMs), so they can better describe some ...uncertain information, and the partition Bonferroni mean (PBM) operator has the advantages, which assumes that all aggregated arguments are partitioned into several subparts, and members in the same subpart are interrelated and members in different subparts are no interrelationships. However, the traditional PBM can only deal with the crisp numbers and cannot aggregate the 2DULVs. In this paper, we extend the PBM operator to deal with the 2DULVs and propose some PBM operators for 2DULVs. First, we introduce the concepts, properties, operational laws, and comparison methods of 2DULVs, and then we propose the PBM operator for 2DULVs (2DULPBM), the weighted PBM operator for 2DULVs (2DULWPBM), the partitioned geometric Boferroni mean (PGBM) operator for 2DULVs (2DULPGBM), and weighted PGBM operator for 2DULVs (2DULWPGBM). Further, we develop a method to solve multiattribute group decision‐making (MAGDM) problems with the 2DULVs. Finally, we give an example to verify that the method based on the proposed operators is effective and influential.
•Development of concept model for transport sustainability evaluation.•Application of fuzzy logic for transport sustainability performance evaluation.•Fuzzy Transport Sustainability Index is computed ...as (5.05, 6.62, 8.12).•Performance importance index of transport sustainability attributes were computed.•Actions were initiated for transport sustainability performance improvement.
Sustainability has become an overarching concern for transportation policy and planning around the world. This article presents an approach for urban transport sustainability performance evaluation using fuzzy logic. This article presents a model for transport sustainability performance evaluation. Appropriate transport sustainability indicators were identified based on literature. The model addresses all major dimensions of transport sustainability such as Economic Sustainability, Social Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability and Transportation System Effectiveness. Transport sustainability index has been computed as (5.05, 6.62, 8.12) and weaker transport sustainability attributes were found. Transport sustainability index highlights the question how far toward becoming transport sustainable is an enterprise or region? While, weaker transport sustainability attributes reveals that how can an enterprise or region improve its transport sustainability effectively? Appropriate actions were initiated to improve urban transport sustainability performance. The results indicate that the model is capable of effectively assessing transport sustainability and has practical relevance. An example is also used to illustrate the approach developed. The results obtained using fuzzy approach has been validated with conventional crisp approach. 20 transport sustainability attributes out of 60 are found to be weaker and appropriate actions were derived to improve the weaker attributes.
•A new fuzzy simple additive weighting technique (FSAW) based on ordered fuzzy numbers is presented.•A new fuzzy TOPSIS (FTOPSIS) based on ordered fuzzy numbers is presented.•The fuzzy SAW and fuzzy ...TOPSIS methods effectively handles the lack of precision in the available information and gives better results.•The fuzzy SAW and fuzzy TOPSIS methods can deal with the representation of the information in a more direct and adequate way when we are unable to express it precisely by a score from an ordinal scale.•The fuzzy SAW and fuzzy TOPSIS are rational and understandable and operates on linguistic values which are sometimes more adequate in decision making.
In this paper, two new techniques, linguistic fuzzy simple additive weighting (FSAW) and linguistic fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution (FTOPSIS) based on ordered fuzzy numbers (OFN) are presented. Although the linguistic fuzzy approach is discussed in the literature, there is no research on the applications of OFN to fuzzy multi-criteria decision making problems. The proposed methods extend the FSAW and FTOPSIS techniques. Since decision data are often vague and imprecise, linguistic variables represented by ordered fuzzy numbers are used to rate the alternatives with respect to each criterion. We have provided the theoretical foundations of this approach as well as numerical examples to illustrate its applications. The evaluations of alternatives are given by linguistic expressions, in which linguistic terms have to be quantified on the previously determined scale of values. In particular, we focus on the problem of extending the scale of values used in evaluating the criteria to take into account intermediate values, such as: “more than2” or “less than3”, together with “2” and “3”.
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