Search results for "Fuzzy sets"
showing 10 items of 43 documents
Project Selection by Constrained Fuzzy AHP
2004
The selection of a project among a set of possible alternatives is a difficult task decision makers have to face. Difficulties in selecting a project arise because of the different goals involved and because of the large number of attributes to consider. Our approach is based upon a fuzzy extension of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). This paper focuses on the constraints that have to be considered within fuzzy AHP in order to take in account all the available information. This study demonstrates that by considering all the information deriving from the constraints better results in terms of certainty and reliability can be achieved.
Fuzzy ServPerf model combined with ELECTRE III to comparatively evaluate service quality of international airports in Sicily
2015
In this paper a new approach was proposed so as to comparatively evaluate the quality of service alternatives. In particular, a fuzzy extension of the ServPerf service conceptual model was considered to estimate quality scores of fundamental service criteria, whereas the non-compensative multi-criteria decision-making ELECTRE III method was employed to point out the quality ranking of service alternatives on the basis of which the comparative service quality analysis was performed. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an empirical study concerning service quality evaluation of the three international airports in Sicily (Italy) was conducted with detailed proposals fo…
The Webbed Emergence of Fuzzy Sets and Computer Science Education from Electrical Engineering
2013
Historically, Computer science emerged from electrical engineering and from mathematics in the 1960s. From the content of some unpublished documents and also some rather less-well-known papers by Lotfi A. Zadeh it is argued that the emergences of Computer science and Fuzzy Set Theory have been interlinked. Zadeh’s task as Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department in Berkeley in the 1960s, his activities in Education of Engineering and his creation of the theory of Fuzzy sets generated his view on the scientific discipline of Com- puter science as a fuzzy set. This view could establish a new approach to history and philosophy of science.
On the Evaluation of Images Complexity: A Fuzzy Approach (revised and expanded)
2006
The inherently multidimensional problem of evaluating the complexity of an image is of a certain relevance in both computer sci- ence and cognitive psychology. Computer scientists usually analyze spa- tial dimensions, to deal with automatic vision problems, such as feature- extraction. Psychologists seem more interested in the temporal dimension of complexity, to explore attentional models. Is it possible, by merging both approaches, to define an more general index of visual complexity? We have defined a fuzzy mathematical model of visual complexity, using a specific entropy function; results obtained by applying this model to pictorial images have a strong correlation with ones from an exp…
Some reflections on Fuzzy Set Theory as an Experimental Science
2014
The aim of this paper is to open a critical discussion on the claim, recently presented in the community and especially heralded by Enric Trillas, that fuzzy logic should be seen as an “experimental science”. The first interesting aspect of such remark is whether and in which way such position has consequences on the real development of the research, or if it is simply a (different) way of looking at the same phenomenon. As a consequence, we investigate the possible connection to Zadeh’s distiction between Fuzzy logic in a restricted sense and in a general sense. We shall argue that Trillas’s claim not only strongly supports the necessity for such a distinction, but provides a path of inves…
A Combined Fuzzy-SEM Evaluation Approach to Identify the Key Drivers of the Academic Library Service Quality in the Digital Technology Era: An Empiri…
2017
A conceptual model of the Academic Library (AL) service quality is hypothesized in the present article, and then validated and analyzed by a novel evaluation approach. Specifically, the conceptual model integrates the fundamental attributes of the canonical AL service together with those more relevant of the new and widely considered AL Electronic Service (e-services). As concerns the evaluation approach, it incorporates the Fuzzy Sets Theory (FST) so as to deal with the students’ uncertainty over their own judgments on the AL service quality and a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to validate the conceptual model and to determine the key drivers of the AL service quality. The effectiveness o…
F.A.L.C.A.D.E.: a fuzzy software for the energy and environmental balances of products
2004
Abstract It is generally well known that the reliability of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) studies depends upon exact, complete and sharp input data that, unfortunately, are not always available. Furthermore, when available, the input data are affected by uncertainty whose importance is not always adequately taken into consideration. This paper describes the software F.A.L.C.A.D.E. (Fuzzy Approach to Life Cycle Analysis and Decision Environment): a tool designed for the calculation of the eco-profile of products, based on a fuzzy logic approach. The originality of the method already treated in other papers is to use the fuzzy representation to manage the complex relationships that arise in compi…
Critical Path Analysis with Imprecise Activities Times
2018
The aim of the paper is to present the conceptual framework related to critical path analysis with imprecise activity duration times. This article is motivated by the fact that most approaches to project planning are deterministic. In reality, the problem is accompanied by uncertainty and risk associated with dealing with imprecise data. Taking this uncertainty into account when performing analyses and calculations not only helps to better project planning, but also to expand the applicability of project scheduling methods under real-life or uncertain conditions. The major contribution of this paper is the development of a novel approach to critical path analysis in the presence of uncertai…
Thriving Rough Sets: 10th Anniversary - Honoring Professor Zdzisław Pawlak's Life and Legacy & 35 Years of Rough Sets
2017
This special book is dedicated to the memory of Professor Zdzisław Pawlak, the father of rough set theory, in order to commemorate both the 10th anniversary of his passing and 35 years of rough set theory. The book consists of 20 chapters distributed into four sections, which focus in turn on a historical review of Professor Zdzisław Pawlak and rough set theory; a review of the theory of rough sets; the state of the art of rough set theory; and major developments in rough set based data mining approaches. Apart from Professor Pawlak’s contributions to rough set theory, other areas he was interested in are also included. Moreover, recent theoretical studies and advances in applications are a…
Fuzzy Methods and Approximate Reasoning in Geographical Information Systems
2014
This issue has been dedicated to the usage of fuzzy logic in the context of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and were receveid the following papers whose contents are described below: - in the paper of A. Hofmann, S. Hoskova-Mayerova, and V. Talhofer, the authors use a GIS tool which is useful to study the influence of geographic and climatic factors on the terrain passability of armed forces and the Integrated Rescue System. - In the first paper of S. Sessa and F. Di Martino, the authors propose the usage of the well known Extended Gustafson-Kessel clustering method, encapsulated in a GIS tool, for detecting hotspots in spatial analysis. The data consist of geo-referenced patterns co…