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No / This paper presents Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) characteristics through comparison with conventional manufacturing systems in order to address a design strategy towards a RMS. The strategy is considered as apart of a RMS design loop to achieve a reconfigurable strategy over its implementation period. As another part of the design loop, a reconfiguration link between market and manufacturing is presented in order to group products into families (reconfiguring products) and then assign them to the required manufacturing processes over configuration stages. In particular, the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) is employed for structuring the decision making process for the selection of a manufacturing system among feasible alternatives based on the RMS study. Manufacturing responsiveness is considered as the ability of using existing resources to reflect new environmental and technological changes quickly. The AHP model highlights manufacturing responsiveness as a new economic objective along with classical objectives such as low cost and high quality. The forward-backward process is then proposed to direct and control the design strategy under uncertain conditions during its implementation period. The proposed hierarchy is generic in structure and could be applicable to many firms by means of restructuring the criteria. This work is based on a case study in a manufacturing environment. Expert Choice software (Expert Choice 1999) is applied to examine the structure of the proposed model and achieve synthesise/ graphical results considering inconsistency ratios. The results are examined by monitoring sensitivity analysis while changing the criteria priorities. Finally, to allocate available resources to the alternative solutions, a (0-1) knapsack formulation algorithm is represented.

A nation-wide survey of hardwood sawmills was conducted in the fall of 1999. The objectives of the survey were to determine the differences between adopters and non-adopters of scanning and optimizing technology, identify the company expectations of scanning and optimizing technology, and model the adoption decision process for future scanning and optimizing technology. These objectives were chosen because timely information was not available on the hardwood sawmill industry, and even less was known about the overall state of technology with the industry. The survey consisted of a mail questionnaire which was sent to over 2000 hardwood sawmills. The questionnaire was used to collect demographic, equipment, and preference scale information on the hardwood sawmill industry. The second part of this project used the Analytic Hierarchy Process to model the adoption decision process for future scanning and optimizing technology in hardwood sawmills. Data was collected through personal interviews with two hardwood sawmill groups including adopters and non-adopters of advanced scanning and optimizing technology. The interviewee rated the importance of the decision factors in the adoption decision process. They also rated the influence of four sawmill departments on the adoption decision process. The results from the mail survey found that the average yearly lumber production was 7.6 million board feet per sawmill. The most common type of scanning and optimizing technology, headrig optimization, was only in use by 27 percent of the responding mills. Advanced scanning and optimizing technology such as edger-optimizers and trimmer-optimizers were only in use by 10 percent and 5 percent of the respondents respectively. Adoption decision factors for scanning and optimizing technology were rated. Improved raw material recovery and increased lumber revenues were the two most highly rated factors. Accuracy of grading was the most highly rated factor for automated grading systems. The adoption decision model found that production related issues were most important in the decision process and that the production department was the most influential of the sawmill departments. Overall, scanning and optimizing technology adoption within the hardwood sawmill industry is low. For those that have adopted advanced scanning and optimizing technology, production issues were the driving factors. / Ph. D.

As the growth of rapid prototyping techniques shortens the development life cycle of software and electronic products, usability inquiry methods can play a more significant role during the development life cycle, diagnosing usability problems and providing metrics for making comparative decisions. A need has been realized for questionnaires tailored to the evaluation of electronic mobile products, wherein usability is dependent on both hardware and software as well as the emotional appeal and aesthetic integrity of the design. This research followed a systematic approach to develop a new questionnaire tailored to measure the usability of electronic mobile products. The Mobile Phone Usability Questionnaire (MPUQ) developed throughout this series of studies evaluates the usability of mobile phones for the purpose of making decisions among competing variations in the end-user market, alternatives of prototypes during the development process, and evolving versions during an iterative design process. In addition, the questionnaire can serve as a tool for identifying diagnostic information to improve specific usability dimensions and related interface elements. Employing the refined MPUQ, decision making models were developed using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and linear regression analysis. Next, a new group of representative mobile users was employed to develop a hierarchical model representing the usability dimensions incorporated in the questionnaire and to assign priorities to each node in the hierarchy. Employing the AHP and regression models, important usability dimensions and questionnaire items for mobile products were identified. Finally, a case study of comparative usability evaluations was performed to validate the MPUQ and models. A computerized support tool was developed to perform redundancy and relevancy analyses for the selection of appropriate questionnaire items. The weighted geometric mean was used to combine multiple numbers of matrices from pairwise comparison based on decision makers' consistency ratio values for AHP. The AHP and regression models provided important usability dimensions so that mobile device usability practitioners can simply focus on the interface elements related to the decisive usability dimensions in order to improve the usability of mobile products. The AHP model could predict the users' decision based on a descriptive model of purchasing the best product slightly but not significantly better than other evaluation methods. Except for memorability, the MPUQ embraced the dimensions included in the other well-known usability definitions and almost all criteria covered by the existing usability questionnaires. In addition, MPUQ incorporated new criteria, such as pleasurability and specific tasks performance. / Ph. D.

Yes / Smart city development is gaining considerable recognition in the systematic literature and international policies throughout the world. The study aims to identify the key barriers of smart cities from a review of existing literature and views of experts in this area. This work further makes an attempt on the prioritisation of barriers to recognise the most important barrier category and ranking of specific barriers within the categories to the development of smart cities in India. Through the existing literature, this work explored 31 barriers of smart cities development and divided them into six categories. This research work employed fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to prioritise the selected barriers. Findings reveal that ‘Governance’ is documented as the most significant category of barriers for smart city development followed by ‘Economic; ‘Technology’; ‘Social’; ‘Environmental’ and ‘Legal and Ethical’. In this work, authors also performed sensitivity analysis to validate the findings of study. This research is useful to the government and policymakers for eradicating the potential interferences in smart city development initiatives in developing countries like India.

<p>U radu je razvijen složeni model vrednovanja i rangiranja varijanti re&scaron;enja koridora infrastrukturnih linijskih objekata. Model karakteri&scaron;e vi&scaron;eakterski i vi&scaron;ekriterijumski pristup. Model je baziran na kriterijumima vrednovanja koji su razvrstani u pravilnu hijerarhiju i čija je relevantnost verifikovana naučnim metodama. Metoda vrednovanja odabrana je inteligentnim pristupom uz pomoć drveta odlučivanja. Model predviđa i analizu osetljivosti odabranog optimalnog re&scaron;enja na promenu težina pojedinih (ili svih) kriterijuma vrednovanja. Naučni doprinos istraživanja ogleda se u primeni AHP metode koja je u Srbiji po prvi put primenjena kao podr&scaron;ka odabiru optimalnog re&scaron;enja koridora infrastrukturnih objekata kao i prikazanoj integraciji sa drugim metodama (stakeholder analiza, anketa, deskriptivna statistika, faktorska analiza).</p> / <p>In this paper a complex model evaluation and ranking of alternative solutions of linear infrastructure corridor structure characterized multi-actor and multi-criteria approach, which is based on the evaluation criteria whose relevance was verified by scientific methods and are sorted in the correct hierarchy. Valuation method chosen is an intelligent approach using the tree decision. The model predicts, and a sensitivity analysis of the selected optimal solution to weight change some (or all) of evaluation criteria. The scientific contribution of the research is the application of AHP method that is in Serbia for the first time applied to support the selection of the optimal solutions corridor infrastructure as shown integration with other methods (stakeholder analysis, survey, descriptive statistics, factor analysis)</p>

Folk tenderar att flytta till urbana områden för att studera, hitta jobb och få bättre möjligheter. Befolkningen i stora städer har ökat mycket och det kommer även att öka ännu mer. Därför är stadsplanering eller samhällsplanering viktigt och ett av de viktigaste områdena är avfallshantering där avfall från hushåll hanteras. För att bygga avfallshanteringsanläggning som återvinningscentraler behöver man planera noga och miljötänkande är viktigt. För att kunna lokalisera optimala ställen behöver man GIS-teknik. Med hjälp av den tekniken finns det möjlighet att göra analys och även skapa kartor som kan till exempel ingå i översiktsplanen och detaljplanen. Platsbestäm-ningen är det viktigaste att ta fram i planeringsstadiet innan man kan börja med andra processer därför att felplacering kan orsaka problem som miljö, säkerhetspro-blem för invånare och ekonomisk förlust för myndigheten eller staten för justeringar och omplaceringar. I dagsläget finns det inte så mycket tekniska lösningar som skulle underlätta för platsbestämningen.I utvecklingsländer saknas fungerande avfallshantering och många slänger skräp över-allt. Därför har studien mest fokus på utvecklingsländer där återvinningscentraler behöver byggas. Syfte med arbetet är att hitta optimala platser för en återvinnings-central med GIS- lösningar.I studien utfördes fjärranalys och multikriterieanalys för att hitta de optimala plat-serna för återvinningscentraler. Övervakad klassificering användes för extrahering av klasser. Data från Open Street Map hämtades för komplettering av data för saknade faktorer. AHP-metoden utfördes för att vikta faktorerna. Metoden weighted linear combination användes för beräkning av slutresultat. Arbetet gav positivt resultat och lösningen kommer att vara användbar för framtagande av detaljplan och översikts-plan för en återvinningscentral. Metoden kommer att vara användbart vilket är må-let för det här arbetet dock behövs bättre data och mer analys av faktorer. / People tend to move to urban areas to study, find jobs, and get better opportunities. The population of big cities has increased, and it will also increase even more. Therefore, urban planning or community planning is important and one of the most important areas is waste management where waste from households is managed. In order to build waste management facilities as recycling centers, one needs to plan carefully, and environmental thinking is important. In order to locate optimal places, you need GIS technology. With the help of this technique, it is possible to make analysis and create maps that can, for example, be included in the master plan and the detail plan. The site provision is the most important thing in developing of planning stage before one can start with other processes because misplacement can cause problems like environment issues, security problems for the inhabitants and financial loss for the authority or the state for adjustments and relocations. At pre-sent, there are not many technical solutions that would facilitate location determina-tion.In poor countries, there is a lack of functioning waste management and many throw trashes everywhere. The study therefore has focus in developing countries where re-cycling centers need to be built. The purpose of the work is to find optimal places for recycling centers with GIS solutions.In the study, remote sensing and multi-criteria analysis were performed to find the optimal places for recycling centers. Supervised classification was used to extract classes. Data from Open Street Map was retrieved to supplement data for missing factors. The AHP method was performed to weight the factors. The weighted linear combination method was used to calculate the result. The work gave positive results and the solution will be useful for developing a detailed plan and overview plan for recycling centers. The method will be useful, which is the goal of this work, but im-proved data and more analysis of factors are needed.

The history of the advancement of the agricultural frontier in Brazil has been closely related to environmental losses. Although environmental losses are sometimes inevitable in the context of agricultural expansion, they should always be minimized. This study seeks to avoid the past pattern of development by proposing a more sustainable way of expanding agriculture. The research tests whether it is possible to expand the cultivation of food and fuel crops in Brazil without compromising natural ecosystems. Brazil has a great agricultural potential considering the significant amount of lands that is suitable for agriculture with a favorable climate and topography. To supply the domestic agricultural market and for Brazil to take on a global food and biofuel export leadership position, actions should be taken to plan for this potential sustainable expansion. This planning would be an alternative means of advancing the agricultural frontier, as opposed to the deforestation previously practiced. A way to accomplish a sustainable pattern of agricultural development could be by the identification of suitable areas to support the expansion without further loss of forestlands. Pasture is a type of land use that occupies large areas in Brazil, and pastures are considered strategic resources for the effectiveness of the proposed expansion, given that they represent areas that have already been deforested and offer some type of existing infrastructure. In addition, from the current biophysical potential production - pasture based beef cattle - may be underused. The goal of this dissertation is to develop a spatial allocation model based on a multicriteria decision making and geographic information systems (GIS) using land suitability analysis to support decision makers with geospatial information about where potential areas for sugarcane and soybean expansion are located in Brazil. The multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) consists of physical land suitability, infrastructure and socioeconomic data integration to identify suitable pasturelands for crop allocation. To enhance the reliability of the model, a team of specialists in the agricultural crops was selected to establish the criteria priorities in the model for the analysis process. The combination of their judgments gives an overall priority that feeds the multicriteria model. \"What if\" scenarios were also built to show how changes in the criteria priority weights would modify the spatial distribution of suitability classes in relation to the main model. The results yield maps that represent the distribution of suitability classes for sugarcane and soybean expansion. Pasturelands become more or less suitable for sugarcane or soybean allocation according to shifts in the influence of each criterion in the model. The designed models show results that may assist policymakers with geospatial information about priority areas where investments and efforts should be directed for sustainable agricultural expansion in Brazil. / A história do avanço da fronteira agrícola no Brasil tem sido intrinsecamente relacionada ao desmatamento. Embora perdas ambientais sejam, por vezes, inevitáveis no contexto de uma expansão agrícola, elas devem ser reduzidas sempre que possível. Tentando não seguir um padrão de desenvolvimento feito à custa de desmatamentos, e pensando numa forma mais sustentável de expansão da agricultura, nós avaliamos nesse estudo a possibilidade de expansão agrícola, para produção de alimentos e de biocombustíveis, sem o comprometimento do ecossistema natural existente no país. O Brasil tem um grande potencial agrícola atribuído à significativa quantidade de solos aptos para agricultura com clima e topografia favoráveis. Para abastecer o mercado agrícola nacional e assumir uma posição de liderança global na exportação de alimentos e biocombustíveis, ações devem ser tomadas pelo Brasil para o planejamento desse potencial de expansão. Esse planejamento seria um modelo alternativo para o avanço da fronteira agrícola, oposto aos padrões de avanço anteriores diretamente relacionados ao desmatamento. Uma forma de conseguir um padrão de desenvolvimento sustentável poderia ser pela identificação de terras agrícolas aptas à essa expansão sem estimular maiores perdas de florestas. As pastagens ocupam grandes áreas no Brasil e são consideradas recursos estratégicos para a eficácia dessa expansão, uma vez que representam áreas que já foram desmatadas e oferecem algum tipo de infraestrutura. Dado o atual potencial biofísico de produção, estima-se que as áreas de pastagem destinadas à pecuária bovina podem estar sendo subutilizadas. O objetivo desse trabalho é desenvolver um modelo de alocação espacial fundamentado numa análise de decisão multicritério e SIG com base na aptidão agrícola das terras, de forma a fornecer informações geoespaciais estratégicas aos tomadores de decisão sobre a localização das áreas potenciais para a expansão da cana-de-açúcar e soja no Brasil. A análise de decisão multicritério (MCDA) consiste na integração de dados edafoclimáticos, de infraestrutura e socioeconômicos para a identificação das áreas de pastagens aptas para a alocação dessas culturas. Para aumentar a confiabilidade do modelo, uma equipe de especialistas em cana-deaçúcar e soja foi selecionada para julgar a prioridade das variáveis no processo de análise. A combinação dos julgamentos fornece uma prioridade geral das variáveis, as quais alimentam o modelo. \"E se\" cenários foram também elaborados para mostrar como as mudanças nos pesos dos critérios modificariam a distribuição espacial das classes de aptidão com relação ao modelo principal. Os resultados são exibidos através de mapas que representam a distribuição das classes de aptidão agrícola para a alocação dos cultivos da cana-de-açúcar e soja. As pastagens tornam-se tanto mais adequadas para a alocação da cana ou soja de acordo com as mudanças na influência de cada critério no modelo. Os modelos projetados mostram resultados favoráveis que podem ajudar os tomadores de decisão com informações geoespaciais que identificam áreas prioritárias onde investimentos e esforços deveriam ser direcionados para estimular a expansão agrícola sustentável no Brasil.

A seleção de fornecedores é uma decisão-chave nos processos de aquisição e de compra. Tanto a escolha de critérios como a avaliação das possíveis alternativas são etapas fundamentais neste processo de decisão. Nas últimas décadas, as instituições de ensino superior privado do Brasil vêm sofrendo grandes desafios na tentativa de institucionalizar práticas administrativas aplicadas no mercado empresarial com o objetivo principal de aperfeiçoar seus processos de trabalho e reduzir riscos e custos operacionais, aumentando assim sua produtividade e qualidade dos serviços prestados. Estas iniciativas visam manter as instituições autossustentáveis e competitivas em um mercado agressivo em constante expansão. Desta forma, um olhar crítico e profissionalizado para seus processos de negócios tem sido uma das soluções encontradas a fim de atingirem suas metas organizacionais. Neste contexto, este trabalho propõe a formalização do processo decisório na seleção de fornecedores através de sua sistematização utilizando os mapas cognitivos para estruturação e identificação de critérios que efetivamente apresentam valor na seleção de parceiros para o tomador de decisão dos departamentos de Controladoria e Suprimentos e Administração do Patrimônio. O trabalho também propõe a posterior priorização destes critérios para a seleção de potenciais fornecedores através da utilização do método multicritério Analytic Hierarchy Process. / Supplier selection is a key decision in the procurement and purchasing processes. Both the choice of criteria and the evaluation of possible alternatives are critical steps in this decision-making. One of the great challenges of private higher education institutions (PHEI) in Brazil in recent decades has been the attempt to institutionalize administrative practices applied in the business market with the primary goal of optimizing their business processes and achieve reduced risks and operational costs, thereby increasing their productivity and the quality of services. These initiatives aim to maintain self-sustaining and competitive institutions in an aggressive market which is constantly expanding. Therefore, a critical and professionalized look at their business processes has been one of the solutions in order for them to achieve their organizational goals. In this context, this paper proposes to formalize the decision-making process in the selection of suppliers through their systematization using cognitive maps to structure and identify the criteria that effectively present value during the partner selection of the decision-maker\'s procurement and purchasing department. The paper also proposes the subsequent prioritization of these criteria for evaluation and selection of potential suppliers through the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process multi-criteria method.

Em um mundo tecnológico e globalmente interconectado, em que indivíduos e organizações executam transações na web com frequência, a questão da segurança de software é imprescindível, ela é necessária em diversos nichos: segurança das redes de computadores, dos computadores e dos softwares. A implantação de um sistema de segurança que abrange todos os aspectos é extensa e complexa, ao mesmo tempo em que a exploração de vulnerabilidades e ataques é exponencialmente crescente. Por causa da natureza do software e de sua disponibilidade na web, a garantia de segurança nunca será total, porém é possível planejar, implementar, medir e avaliar o sistema de segurança e finalmente melhorá-la. Atualmente, o conhecimento específico em segurança é detalhado e fragmentado em seus diversos nichos, a visão entre os especialistas de segurança é sempre muito ligada ao ambiente interno da computação. A medição de atributos de segurança é um meio de conhecer e acompanhar o estado da segurança de um software. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo apresentar uma abordagem top-down para medição da segurança de acesso de aplicações web. A partir de um conjunto de propriedades de segurança reconhecidas mundialmente, porém propriedades estas intangíveis, é proposta uma metodologia de medição e priorização de atributos de segurança para conhecer o nível de segurança de aplicações web e tomar as ações necessárias para sua melhoria. Define-se um modelo de referência para segurança de acesso e o método processo de análise hierárquica apoia a obtenção de atributos mensuráveis e visualização do estado da segurança de acesso de uma aplicação web. / In a technological world and globally interconnected, in which individuals and organizations perform transactions on the web often, the issue of software security is essential, it is needed in several niches: security of computer networks, computers and software. The implementation of a security system that covers all aspects is extensive and complex, while the exploitation of vulnerabilities and attacks are increasing exponentially. Because of the nature of software and its availability on the web, ensure security will never be complete, but it is possible to plan, implement, measure and evaluate the security system and ultimately improve it. Currently, the specific knowledge in security is detailed and fragmented into its various niches; the view among security experts is always connected to the internal environment of computing. The measurement of security attributes is a way to know and monitor the state of software security. This research aims to present a top-down approach for measuring the access security of web applications. From a set of security properties globally recognized, however these intangible properties, I propose a measurement methodology and prioritization of security attributes to meet the security level of web applications and take necessary actions for improvement. It is defined a reference model for access security and a method of analytic hierarchy process to support the achievement of measurable attributes and status of the access security of a web application.