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Decision-making Problems (decision-making + problem)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Engineering	33%

Selected Abstracts

Diagnostic expert systems: a method for engineering knowledge used in sequential diagnosis

EXPERT SYSTEMS, Issue 4 2000
Silvano Mussi
The paper presents a method for helping knowledge engineers in modelling the knowledge involved in sequential diagnosis. In particular, we consider sequential diagnosis as a process which occurs in the following type of scenario: (1) there exist some candidate hypotheses which are to be pursued; (2) for each hypothesis there are some alternative tests which might be executed to pursue it; (3) the available knowledge about the world precludes projecting into the future (in other words, the available knowledge about the world does not afford the information needed for planning sequences of tests, i.e. for projecting the consequences of possible sequences of actions and picking the best sequence); (4) the choice of the next test (or tests) is made on the basis of the current state of knowledge; (5) the outcome of a test execution is affected by uncertainty. The suggested method addresses the problem of engineering the knowledge experts use for making decisions under uncertainty. A practical example of the method is also presented: at any time of the diagnostic process the expert is provided with a dynamically updated list of suggested tests in order to support him or her in the decision-making problem about which test to execute next. [source]

Executive Selection,What's Right , and What's Wrong

INDUSTRIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
GEORGE P. HOLLENBECK
Although recent reviews of executive selection have catalogued much that we as industrial,organizational (I,O) psychologists are doing right in our research and practice, we are confronted with the facts that executive selection decisions are often, if not usually, wrong and that I,O psychologists seldom have a place at the table when these decisions are made. This article suggests that in our thinking we have failed to differentiate executive selection from selection at lower levels and that we have applied the wrong models. Our hope for the future lies not in job analyses, developing new tests, meta-analyses, or seeking psychometric validity, but in viewing executive selection as a judgment and decision-making problem. With the right focus, applying our considerable methodological skills should enable us to contribute toward making better judgments. When we have a better mousetrap, organizations (if not the world) will beat a path to our door. [source]

Operative Platform Applied to Building Automation

COMPUTER-AIDED CIVIL AND INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING, Issue 1 2009
João Figueiredo
This structure is composed by three interrelated levels: the Operational level,where the field equipment is controlled, the Inter-Active level,where inhabitants communicate the building their preferences regarding control variables (lights, temperature, etc.), and the higher-level control, the Overall Building Well-Being Model, which manages the global building, taking into account the optimization of the inhabitants preferences, constrained by the available resources. At this third level, the inter-building communication is available. Each building has the capability to communicate with its neighbors, informing about fires, floods, security problems, power consumption expectations, and so on. This article implements one of the three above-referred interrelated control levels: the Operational-level control. This operative platform is structured over a cascade hierarchical control architecture where inner loops are performed by local PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers), and the outer loop is managed by a centralized SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) that interacts with the entire PLC network. The lower-level control loop assures high processing velocity tasks, the upper-level control loop updates the local references, knowing the complete system state. This operative model is tested on two prototypes, where all instrumentation in place is controlled by the industrial PLC network. Both prototypes worked perfectly showing the huge potential of communication systems between distributed processes. These communication systems allow intelligent centralized algorithms to manage decision-making problems in real-time environments. The system presented in this article combines several technologies (local PLCs, SCADA systems, and network communications) to reach the goal of efficient management of intelligent buildings. [source]

A majority model in group decision making using QMA,OWA operators

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 2 2006
J.I. Peláez
Group decision-making problems are situations where a number of experts work in a decision process to obtain a final value that is representative of the global opinion. One of the main problems in this context is to design aggregation operators that take into account the individual opinions of the decision makers. One of the most important operators used for synthesizing the individual opinions in a representative value of majority in the OWA operator, where the majority concept used aggregation processes, is modeled using fuzzy logic and linguistic quantifiers. In this work the semantic of majority used in OWA operators is analyzed, and it is shown how its application in group decision-making problems does not produce representative results of the concept expressed by the quantifier. To solve this type of problem, two aggregation operators, QMA,OWA, are proposed that use two quantification strategies and a quantified normalization process to model the semantic of the linguistic quantifiers in the group decision-making process. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 193,208, 2006. [source]

Parameterized fuzzy operators in fuzzy decision making

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 9 2003
Qian Song
The basic operations of fuzzy sets, such as negation, intersection, and union, usually are computed by applying the one-complement, minimum, and maximum operators to the membership functions of fuzzy sets. However, different decision agents may have different perceptions for these fuzzy operations. In this article, the concept of parameterized fuzzy operators will be introduced. A parameter , will be used to represent the degree of softness. The variance of , captures the differences of decision agents' subjective attitudes and characteristics, which result in their differing perceptions. The defined parameterized fuzzy operators also should satisfy the axiomatic requirements for the traditional fuzzy operators. A learning algorithm will be proposed to obtain the parameter , given a set of training data for each agent. In this article, the proposed parameterized fuzzy operators will be used in individual decision-making problems. An example is given to show the concept and application of the parameterized fuzzy operators. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

Model and interactive algorithm of bi-level multi-objective decision-making with multiple interconnected decision makers

JOURNAL OF MULTI CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS, Issue 1 2001
Xinping Shi
Abstract Furthering a prior research on two-person bi-level multi-objective decision-making problems of the leader-follower Stackelberg game, we present an extended model of bi-level multi-objective decision-making with multiple interconnected decision makers at the lower level. In the model, the upper level decision maker acts as a leader and the lower level decision makers behave as the followers, and inter-connections and interactions exist among these followers in decision-making scenarios. Following the rules of leader-follower Stackelberg game, we develop an interactive algorithm of the model for solving multi-objective decision-making problems and reflecting the interactive natures among the decision makers. Finally, the authors exemplify the model and algorithm, and draw a conclusion on points of contributions and the significance of this study in decision-making and support. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]