Informatica

The PC software AMCE is proposing building actors (owner, project authors$\dots$) a Multiple Criteria Decision Aid procedure (MCDA) to optimise the building envelope about cost and energy performances, during the sketch design.

A rich georeferenced data base on a flood event in the north west of Italy and the knowledge of experts from the different involved disciplines have been used as the basis for the application of an outranking method, ELECTRE III, oriented to the structuring and validation of consistent multicriteria models for hazard evaluation. The models were developed with the aim of explaining the multidimensional nature of slope instability and erosion phenomena in the study area and to help in the definition of a hazard map using criteria which synthesize different interpretations of these phenomena. The integrated use of multicriteria modeling and data analysis, in a GIS analysis context, resulted in a deeper insight into these natural phenomena and could be the proposal of a more ‘flexible’ information system oriented towards decision aiding.

The analysis of the method for multiple criteria optimization problems applying a computer network has been presented in the paper. The essence of the proposed method is the distribution of the concrete optimization problem into the network rather than the parallelization of some optimization method. The aim of the authors is to design and investigate the interactive strategies to solve complex multiple criteria problems by applying a computer network. The optimized objective function is the weight sum of the criteria. The multiple criteria problem is iterated by selecting interactively different weight coefficients of the criteria. Therefore, the process is organized by designating the computers as the master (that coordinates the process of other computers) and the slaves (that execute different tasks). In the beginning of the process the researcher allocates a certain number of optimization problems to the network. The objective function optimization problems differ only in weight coefficients of the criteria. As soon as the task of a slave has been executed, the result is sent to the master. Every computer of the network behaves in analogous way. Whenever the researcher receives an immediate result from one of the computers, he gives a decision taking into consideration the latter and all the previous results, i.e., he selects new weight coefficients for the criteria and assigns a new task to the network. Likewise the multiple criteria problem is solved until the result is acceptable for the researcher. The application of the proposed method is illustrated on the basis of the problem for the selection of the optimal nutritive value. Message Passing Interface (MPI) software has been used. The trials have been carried out with the network of computers under the operation system Windows NT.

Multicriteria sequencing problems with criteria ordered according to their importance are considered. Additional precedence and group technology constraints are imposed. We introduce a notion of a priority-generating vector function and suggest general techniques that form a base for the construction of polynomial time algorithms for numerous sequencing problems including all known polynomially solvable problems. A comprehensive survey of results for sequencing problems with ordered criteria is given as well.

The new method for the construction of partial order on the set of multicriteria alternatives is presented. This method belongs to the family of Verbal Decision Analysis methods and gives a more efficient means of problem solution. The method is based on psychologically valid operations for information elicitation from a decision maker: comparisons of two distances between the evaluations on the ordinal scales of two criteria. The information received from a decision maker is used for the construction of a binary relation between a pair of alternatives which yields preference, indifference and incomparability relations. The notion of a method decisive power is introduced. The illustrative example is given.

This paper considers some aspects of using a cascade-correlation network in the investment task in which it is required to determine the most suitable project to invest money. This task is one of the most often met economical tasks. In various bibliographical sources on economics there are described different methods of choosing investment projects. However, they all use either one or a few criteria, i.e., out of the set of criteria there are chosen most valuable ones. With this, a lot of information contained in other choice criteria is omitted. A neural network enables one to avoid information losses. It accumulates information and helps to gain better results when choosing an investment project in comparison with classical methods. The cascade-correlation network architecture that is used in this paper has been developed by Scott E. Fahlman and Cristian Lebiere at Carnegie Mellon University.

This paper considers the technique to construct the general decision rule for the contradictory expert classification of objects which are described with many qualitative attributes. This approach is based on the theory of multiset metric spaces, and allows to classify a collection of multi-attribute objects and define the classification rule which approximates the set of individual sorting rules.

Ex ante decision analysis has other problems than ex post analysis. One of the problems is the nature of the value system of the deciding person. Mostly, it will contain different values (criteria, points of view) which are not reducible to one measure. These cases of incommensurability are one reason for the incomparability of the decision options. There are other reasons why it seems highly unrealistic that we may assume the comparability of options as a general case for a rational decision maker.

The aim of the work is to chose the best heating system for a museum building. The paper presents the criteria describing this problem. The three technically acceptable heating systems have been identified. The method allowing for the multi-criterion analysis has been selected with the assumption that the final result will be a final ranking of all alternatives. The ELECTRE III method has been chosen. This method helped to solve the problem of pointing at the best heating system.

In this paper it is outlined the methodology of the model MIREM (Multicriteria Industrial and Regional Economic Model) as the empirical framework for the implementation of an industrial policy in the CEECs countries aspiring to enter the European Union. Its epistemological foundations are taken from M. Porter Theory of Competitive Advantage and B. Balassa Theory of Economic Integration and focus mainly on the competitiveness concept.