Sharif Digital Repository

In the real world, there are complex decision-making problems in which a variety of intertwined factors and hierarchical structures exist, and it is difficult or impossible to solve these problems using classical methods. The prioritization of circular economy (CE) adoption barriers is one such complex problem that cannot be solved using current classical methods. Hence, in this paper, for the first time, a new method, namely, FBWDS, is developed. FBWDS derives from the combination of fuzzy best–worst method (BWM), fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and Supermatrix structure. This proposed method establishes weights of the intertwined factors in hierarchical... 

Localization of sensor nodes has become a fundamental requirement for many applications over Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In this paper, we propose a range-free approach based on the Received Signal Strength (RSS) changes. A discrete and probabilistic localization method is offered to localize a moving beacon relative to sensor nodes. In this method we came to a more reliable and accurate result without increasing the number of sectors. We achieved a considerable improvement in localization reliability by defining the primary and secondary sectors and utilizing a Kalman approach for making decisions. The decision making process is based on the allocated probabilities given to each of... 

This paper presents a mathematical model describing how the physicians actually make a diagnostic decision. Next to a description of diagnostic decision making as done by the physicians, this paper shows that how can we design and develop a new approach to medical diagnosis based on the human principles of decision making. The model was challenged to diagnose a series of actual patients. Real clinical data was entered into the model and the system produced a ranked list of possible diagnoses for each case. The results indicated good performance when compared with internist's diagnosis. The proposed method is effective and can be applied to describe medical reasoning as done by the... 

How does society work? How do groups emerge within society? What are the effects of emotions and memory on our everyday actions? George Homans, like us, had a perspective on what society is, except that he was a sociologist. Homans theory, which is an exchange theory, is based on a few propositions about the fundamental actions of individuals, and how values, memory, and expectations affect their behavior. In this paper, as Homans predicted, our main interest and purpose are to find out whether these propositions lead to the emergence of groups. To do so, computationally, Based on Homans’ prepositions, we provide the opportunity for each agent to exchange with other agents. That is, each... 

In this paper we study the effectiveness of using multiple classifier combination for EEG signal classification aiming to obtain more accurate results than it possible from each of the constituent classifiers. The developed system employs two linear classifiers (SVM,LDA) fused at the abstract and measurement levels for integrating information to reach a collective decision. For making decision, the majority voting scheme has been used. While at the measurement level, two types of combination methods have been investigated: one used fixed combination rules that don't require prior training and a trainable combination method. For the second type, the fuzzy integral method was used. The... 

Context-awareness is an essential requirement of modern access control models. Organization-Based Access Control (OrBAC) model is a powerful context-aware access control model defined by first-order logic. However, due to the monotonicity nature of the first-order logic, OrBAC suffers from the incapability of making decision based on incomplete context information as well as the definition of default and exception policy rules. This paper proposes augmenting non-monotonicity features to OrBAC using MKNF+ logic, which is a combination of Description Logic (DL) and Answer Set Programming (ASP). Along with the use of DL to define ontology for main entities and context information in OrBAC;... 

When natural disasters happen, relief logistic centers (RLCs) and the quality of their services become absolutely important. In other words, choosing proper locations for RLCs has a direct impact on operating costs and timeliness of responses to the rising demands. This paper aims at proposing a decision support system for prioritizing RLC's locations to facilitate providing emergency helps when natural disasters occur. The present study, focuses on considering availability, risk, technical issues, cost and coverage in locating RLCs. It is assumed that applying analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can facilitate the problem of locating these centers. The most important step in this process is... 

In a medium term planning horizon, a retailer should determine its forward contracting and pool participating strategies as well as the selling price to be offered to the customers. Considering a competitive retail electricity market, the number of clients being supplied by any retailer is a function of the selling prices and some other characteristics of all the retailers. This paper presents an equilibrium problem formulation to model the retailer's medium term decision making problem considering the strategy of other retailers. Decision making of any single retailer is formulated as a risk constraint stochastic programming problem. Uncertainty of pool prices and clients' demands is... 

In software systems development lifecycle making use of software architecture, especially by taking advantage of architecture styles and patterns, is an essential part which increases product's quality. Nowadays, in order to cover complexity of systems, combination of different architecture styles should be used; therefore ambiguous behaviors might occur. Hence, due to the critical need for toolsets capable of selecting suitable styles and patterns, an environment is proposed in this paper which can perfectly cover different aspects of the implementation of decision support system (DSS). The designed environment obviates data implementation concepts and security considerations. Moreover, it... 

Various urban, industrial, and agricultural pollutions discharge more than river self-purification potential damages river ecosystem and increases water treatment costs. As different decision-makers and stakeholders are involved in the water quality management in river systems, a new bankruptcy form of the game theory is used to resolve the existing conflict of interests related to waste load allocation in downstream river. The river restoration potential can allocate to the conflicting parties with respect to their claims, by using bankruptcy solution methods. In this research, dischargeable pollution loads to Karun River are determined by pollution sources in various scenarios using... 

Applications in pervasive computing environment exploit information about the context of use, such as the location, tasks and preferences of the user, in order to adapt their behavior in response to changing operating environments and user requirements. Utilizing context with aid of ontology in data and model, decision support systems can provide better and more desirable support to their users. The effects and advantages of exploiting ontology in user modeling and DSS is discussed. We propose a framework of a Ontology-based Decision Support System (O2DSS), including ontology in model base, database and their advantages. © 2008 IEEE  

Due to the enlargement and complexity of software systems and the need for maintenance and update, success of systems depends strongly on their architecture. Software architecture has been a key element in software development process in two past decades. Therefore, choosing the correct architecture is a critical issue in software engineering domain, with respect to the extremely extension of architecturedriven designs. Moreover, software architecture selection is a multi-criteria decision-making problem in which different goals and objectives should be considered. In this paper, a Decision Support System (DSS) has been designed which provides software architects with more precise and... 

In this paper a strategic planning framework is proposed for generation expansion planning of grid-connected micro-power systems. The proposed framework is composed of two different decision making techniques that results a robust planning approach compared to previous techniques to identify the feasible and efficient plans according to attributes and uncertain parameters considered in planning environment. The framework considers the robustness and risk exposure of different configurations according to uncertain parameters in the planning environment to select the plans which meet the objectives more efficiently with least risk exposure. The proposed methodology is implemented for... 

This paper aims to propose a framework by which decision-makers can evaluate and compare alternatives for sustainable island-based tourism development. The uncertainties and risks involved in information and judgment within the evaluation process were taken into account by using a hybrid approach, which combined the Delphi method, fuzzy set theory, and a discrete multi-criteria method based on prospect theory called TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of interactive and multiple-criteria decision making). The decision making model examined 3 different techniques for aggregating the viewpoints of different decision-makers and explored how the aggregation technique would affect the ranking of the... 

Due to population growth and industrial development, Iran is facing the challenge of energy supply in various industrial, power plant, agricultural, and residential sectors. While most of Iran's energy supply comes from fossil fuels, these fuels have devastating environmental impacts. Therefore, Iran has to invest more in its renewable energy sources. Given that many locations of Iran have significant wind, solar, and geothermal potential, this study used a combination of SWOT, multicriteria decision-making approaches, and game theory to identify the best renewable energy development plans for the country. The Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) technique was applied to weight... 

Due to population growth and industrial development, Iran is facing the challenge of energy supply in various industrial, power plant, agricultural, and residential sectors. While most of Iran's energy supply comes from fossil fuels, these fuels have devastating environmental impacts. Therefore, Iran has to invest more in its renewable energy sources. Given that many locations of Iran have significant wind, solar, and geothermal potential, this study used a combination of SWOT, multicriteria decision-making approaches, and game theory to identify the best renewable energy development plans for the country. The Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) technique was applied to weight... 

Earthquakes can cause significant damage to vulnerable residential buildings and cause irreversible adverse economic, social, and socioeconomic consequences. Implementing hazard mitigation policies can enhance homeowners' willingness to adopt hazard mitigation measures such as seismic retrofits or insurance. Several past studies have proposed models that aimed to explain individuals' hazard mitigation behavior. Despite their advantages, these decision-making models are subject to limitations. This manuscript proposes a new decision-making model that addresses the shortcomings of previous models. The proposed decision-making model is then incorporated at the core of an agent-based model to... 

This study is dedicated to order penetration point (OPP) strategic decision making which is the boundary between make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS) policies. A multiproduct multiechelon production supply chain is considered where the first production stage manufactures semifinished products based on an MTS policy to supply the second production stage which operates on the MTO policy. The producer desires to find the optimal fraction of processing time fulfilled by supplier and optimal semifinished products buffer capacity in OPP. To calculate system performance indexes, the matrix geometric method is employed. Afterward, optimal solutions are obtained by enumeration and direct... 

Purpose - This paper aims to conduct a comprehensive fault tree analysis (FTA) on the critical components of industrial robots. This analysis is integrated with the reliability block diagram (RBD) approach to investigate the robot system reliability. Design/methodology/approach - For practical implementation, a particular autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) system was first modeled. Then, FTA was adopted to model the causes of failures, enabling the probability of success to be determined. In addition, RBD was used to simplify the complex system of the AGV for reliability evaluation purpose. Findings - Hazard decision tree (HDT) was configured to compute the hazards of each component and the... 

This study proposes a novel socio-hydrological modeling framework for assessing the performance of complex water resources systems. It employs and integrates agent-based modeling (ABM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) into the socio-hydrological modeling framework to account for agents’ behaviors. Due to farmers’ major role in anthropogenic droughts, this paper mainly focuses on farmers’ behavior. The TPB framework and the agents’ behavioral rules in ABM are structured based on the data obtained from field questionnaires and interviews by the farmers in the Zarrineh River Basin as the main river feeding the Urmia Lake. The proposed modeling framework, including the TPB and ABM...