This thesis studies the use of a collaborative spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis tool in site evaluation with multiple participants. The approach is situated within the context of three concepts of space, choice and participation, and is informed by fields as diverse as Decision-Making, Participatory Planning, Geographical Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Voting, and Group Collaboration. A collaborative spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis software tool called MapChoice was designed for this thesis, built upon open source components and featuring easy-to-use decision support functionality in both single-user and collaborative modes. MapChoice was then evaluated in a real-world site selection situation with a case study on the location of much-needed affordable housing in the Town of Collingwood, Ontario. Based on previous discussions and workshops on the project, a workshop was held with a group of community housing advocates to compare a set of possible sites for an affordable housing project according to a set of spatial and aspatial criteria. The study indicates that a collaborative spatial MCA approach can be used in dealing with complex planning problems, and that it has the potential to contribute to improved consensus between participants.

The municipality of Sandviken is in a state of strong growth. This affects the need for more hotel rooms in Sandviken, in a way that it’s profitable to invest in a new hotel. Sandvikens largest company, the steal industry Sandvik AB, grows just like Sandviken, and have great influence on the need of more hotel rooms. Today there are three hotels placed in Sandviken, and these hotels aren’t enough when the pressure of hotel guests is at its top. The purpose with the project was to analyse the criteria’s that are important for localization of a new hotel in the Sandviken, and to clarify what kind of hotel Sandviken is in need of. The need of hotel rooms in Sandviken where to be challenged during the investigation. To find the most appropriate locations, a multi-criteria analysis was used that was based on the weighting of criteria from a questionnaire study. The questionnaire study contained two parts. The first part where selecting which criteria’s the multi-criteria analysis would include. The other part was weighting the selected criteria’s to be able to input them in the multi-criteria analysis. The weighting where made by selected persons, chosen due to their skills in the particular area. The selected criteria’s in the multi-criteria analysis where: traffic noise, proximity to sports arena, proximity to park area, proximity to travel centre, proximity to restaurants, proximity to Sandbacka park and proximity to Sandvik AB. When the multi-criteria analysis was done, it presented which areas that had the highest values. The mean value for all the selected weightings gave the results of high values in the central parts of Sandviken. This analysis where then complimented with a visual stock-taking of selected areas around Sandviken that where considered free space for building new hotel. The investigation shows that there is a need for more hotel rooms in Sandviken at the moment. This need for hotel rooms will probably grow cause of the recruitment of new personnel by Sandvik AB, and the fact that three new sports arenas is planned to be built in Sandviken. The questionnaire studies shows that the category of hotels with the most need in Sandviken, is especially business hotels. The reason for this is mostly due to Sandvik AB. The areas that are most appropriate for hotel establishment in Sandviken, are located in the central parts of Sandviken. / Sandvikens kommun befinner sig i ett starkt växande tillstånd, det påverkar behovet av fler hotellrum på så sätt att ny etablering av hotell är aktuellt. Sandvikens största företag, stålindustrin Sandvik AB, växer precis som Sandviken, och det har stor påverkan på behovet av fler hotellrum. I Sandvikens tätort finns idag tre hotell, som inte klarar behovet av hotellgäster när antalet gäster är som mest. Dessa är Alséns hotell, Stadshotellet Princess och Högbo Brukshotell. Syftet med arbetet var att analysera vilka kriterier som är viktiga för lokalisering av ett nytt hotell i Sandvikens tätort, samt att klargöra vilken kategori av hotell Sandviken är i behov av. Behovet av fler hotellrum i Sandvikens tätort ifrågasattes även under utredning. För att hitta de platser som är lämpligast, användes en multikriterieanalys som grundade sig på viktade kriterier från en enkätundersökning. Enkätundersökningen bestod utav två delar. Den ena delen valde ut vilka kriterier som skulle ingå i multikriterieanalysen. Den andra delen viktade de utvalda kriterierna för att sedan matas in i multikriterieanalysen, viktningen skedde med hjälp utav utvalda personer som ansågs kunniga på området. De utvalda kriterierna till multikriterieanalysen var: närhet till större idrottsanläggning, buller (hur viktigt det är med låg nivå av buller), närhet till handel, närhet till parkområde, närhet till resecentrum, närhet till restauranger, närhet till Sandbacka park och närhet till Sandvik AB. Multikriterieanalysen visade sedan vilka områden som gav de högsta värdena. Medelvärdet för alla de utvaldas viktningar gav ett resultat av höga värden vid centrala delarna av Sandvikens tätort. Denna analys kompletterades sedan med en visuell inventering av utvalda områden som ansågs lediga platser för hotellbygge. Utredningen visar att det i dagsläget finns behov av fler hotellrum i Sandvikens tätort. Detta behov kommer med all sannolikhet att öka på grund av att Sandvik AB anställer ny personal, samt att tre nya idrottsarenor byggs i Sandvikens tätort. Enkätundersökningarna visar att den kategori av hotell som det finns störst behov av i Sandvikens tätort är framförallt företagshotell. Detta beror framförallt på storföretaget Sandvik AB. De områden som är lämpligast för etablering av hotell i Sandvikens tätort, enligt den multikriterieanalys som gjorts, är de centrala delarna av Sandvikens tätort.

Fire plays an important role in forest ecosystem management depending on the dual character of it. It should be managed and supervised effectively. In this particular study, the study area was located in the north part of Gävleborg County in Sweden, which is in a high- latitude region. Seven factors, divided into natural factors and human caused factors, were extracted from digital elevation model (DEM), classified land use map and feature shape files provided by National Land Survey of Sweden (Lantmäteriet). Two different weighting schemes for the factors were determined by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. With the help of ArcGIS 9.3 and Erdas 9.3, two classified result maps were obtained, where forest fire risk ranks were shown as five classes, very low, low, moderate, high and very high. The 43 fire incidents in the year 2007 and 2008 recorded by Global Fire Management System were used to evaluate the results. The results show that the higher rank the region is, the larger is the probability for forest fire risk and higher the risk to spread the fire. Furthermore, according to the occurrence time of the fire incidents, the period of time from end of May to beginning of June was generalized as a dangerous period for forest fire risk in this study area. After analyzing and discussing, even if there might be some uncertainties caused by variable selection, resolution problem and weighting schemes, the results were generally reliable.

Nowadays, GIS techniques have been widely used in every walk of life. Owing to the rapid urban growth, it is of importance to plan and develop the cities in a reasonable and scientific way. As a result, optimum sites of different constructions should be considered to make full use of land resources and optimize urban structure. Although the traditional field-survey method is important, GIS-based multi-criteria analysis (MCA) provides a more reasonable and scientific way in site selection issue. Weihai, our study area, is one of the fastest developing coastal cities in China. Owing to the rapid urban expansion, Weihai government municipality planned to develop the Poyu town into a new district with multifunctions. In consideration of its advantages in natural resources and geographic position, a holiday resort is proposed. In the aim of applying GIS-based MCA in site selection, this thesis would present an experiment to select the optimal site for a holiday resort with the help of GIS techniques. The data used in this project is a satellite image and digital elevation data of Poyu town. The satellite image has been digitized to obtain the current land use map, based on which constraint maps and factor maps have been made to make preparation of multi-criteria analysis. Finally, the multi-criteria analysis model has been made. The weights for multi-criteria analysis are obtained from the advice of experienced people in Weihai Planning Bureau and also earlier studies on the site selection. There are three sets of weights based on three themes that have been used in this project. The three themes which were fruit-picking theme, seascape and seafood theme as well as leisure and recreation theme were decided based on the results of the questionnaire. Through the discussions of the results, a final selected site for the holiday resort was determined. It includes the optimal site for the main part focusing on both fruit picking theme and leisure and recreation theme and also the optimal site for an accessory part focusing on seascape and seafood theme. The final section concludes the general project work, its perspectives and the function of GIS-based MCA in site selection.

This thesis studies the use of a collaborative spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis tool in site evaluation with multiple participants. The approach is situated within the context of three concepts of space, choice and participation, and is informed by fields as diverse as Decision-Making, Participatory Planning, Geographical Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Voting, and Group Collaboration. A collaborative spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis software tool called MapChoice was designed for this thesis, built upon open source components and featuring easy-to-use decision support functionality in both single-user and collaborative modes. MapChoice was then evaluated in a real-world site selection situation with a case study on the location of much-needed affordable housing in the Town of Collingwood, Ontario. Based on previous discussions and workshops on the project, a workshop was held with a group of community housing advocates to compare a set of possible sites for an affordable housing project according to a set of spatial and aspatial criteria. The study indicates that a collaborative spatial MCA approach can be used in dealing with complex planning problems, and that it has the potential to contribute to improved consensus between participants.

Abstract The decrement of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emission can slow down the impaction to the natural environment as well as avoiding the global warming become worse continuously. The three coal fired boilers in CSC were designed as capable of multi-fuel burning but its primary fuel is coal. The original designed coal is PCI coal from Australia. The NOx emission generating while using PCI coal is around 320 ppm and can,t meet the local EPA emission requirement set for year 2001, which is 300ppm. To cope with more stringent environmental requirement, the first stage strategy is to evaluate the NOx removal technologies and selecting the optimum one of them to fight against NOx emission. By means of MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision-Making) methodologies, SNCR is chosen due to its simplicity and acceptable NOx-out ability. The 45% NOx reduction rate can be achieved and the control NOx final output will be lower than 200ppm, which is the promised level to the local EPA. In compromising the NOx reduction requirement and the practical running cost factor, the 240ppm NOx level has been determined for operating the SNCR system. The second stage of NOx reduction evaluation is focused on the coal brands selection. It¡As believed that through the right choose of suitable coal can offer the contribution to both environment and economic. After surveying the different coal composition analysis and carrying out real trial burn, the ADARO coal from Indonesia was picked up from competition and deem as the most environment friendly coal in terms of owning the optimum coal compositions and the lowest pollutants generation including NOx, SO2, as well as ash. As a result, the ADARO coal application is highly successful in the aspects of less pollutant generation and saving cost expenditure caused by the related environment equipment systems operation and maintenance. Obviously, the positive and close relationship between environment and economic has been proved. Base on the real evidence, this paper proves that by choosing the suitable methodologies, the NOx reduction can be accomplished to some extent. The whole environment can be benefited by this action and meanwhile the air pollution tax plus operation and maintenance cost can be reduced further. It¡As hoped that by announcing this paper, the outstanding performance of remarkable NOX reduction outcome and its coat saving advantage can be applied to the whole industrial field. Let¡As work together for the purpose of decreasing the pollutants emission, lightening the harms to the natural environment and fulfilling the duties of protection the all eco system. Key words: Nitrogen Oxide, Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction(SNCR), environmental coal, Multi-criteria decision-making(MCDM)

We aim to classify alternatives evaluated in multiple criteria among preference ordered classes assuming an underlying additive utility function. We develop a probabilistic classification method by calculating the probability of an alternative being in each class. We assign alternatives to classes based on threshold probabilities. We require the decision maker to place an alternative to a class when no alternatives satisfy the required thresholds. We find new probabilities for unassigned alternatives in the light of new information and repeat the procedure until all alternatives are classified. We implemented our algorithm to classify MBA programs among preference ordered groups. We evaluate our algorithm based on the number of misclassified alternatives and the number of alternatives placed by the decision maker.

Selection of the right machine tools is an important decision for most manufacturing companies. The quality and efficiency of manufacture are affected by the correct adoption of machine and equipment, and it will result in reducing the cost, increasing the production, and enhancing the flexibility for the diverse type of machining parts in this competitive globalized environment. On the contrary, an incorrect selection can retard the productivity of company. This research presents the procedures of AHP method for selecting 4-axis CNC machining centers including searching the literature of selecting machines, consulting experts with abundant experience of machine tool, translating the unstructured and biased commercial specification to the objective and hierarchical evaluation criteria for selecting machines. In order to experiment the applicability of the AHP model as well as to realize the relative importance of the criteria for the mold design and manufacturing company, a company was invited as the survey objective. This method proposed in this research is general in form and can be applied to the selections of other machine tools for other manufacturing industries. Also, it is hoped that the results of this experimental study will provide a reference for the domestic machinery manufacturing company to develop 4-axis CNC machining centers.

Wildfire is a naturally occurring process that regenerates vegetation in forests.  However, these fire regimes are becoming increasingly altered by human beings.  This study attempts to predict the risk of human caused forest fire incidents in the Cranbrook Fire Zone in British Columbia, Canada.  A multi-criteria analysis using 16 spatial and socioeconomic variables was developed to produce three separate outputs, each having a different weighting and ranking scheme derived from either The Rank Method, or AHP Method.  Results were compared with point locations of human caused incidents from 1950 to 2008 and the accuracy of the model is very promising; however, further study and analysis is required for true validation.

Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies and remote sensing (RS) technologies have developed rapidly in recent years, and they have been widely used indaily life of ordinary people. The combination of these two remarkable technologies isuseful for location decision making and has been applied in different kinds of study cases.Guangyuan is one of the fastest developing cities in the southwest of China. Especiallyafter the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the development in economic and urbanreconstruction increased rapidly. Many infrastructure constructions and the reformprojects are in progress. At the same time, China's urban sewage treatment facilities areseriously inadequate. Only a small percentage of sewage has been treated by sewagetreatment plants in China. So the purpose of this study is to select an optimal site for asewage treatment plant in Guangyuan in a scientific way.In this particular study, based on GIS software and GIS-based multi-criteria analysis(MCA), a decision making model has been built for optimal site selection for a sewagetreatment plant. Two types of data were used in this study. Digital elevation model andsatellite image, several factor maps and constraint maps were created for the final analysis.The analytic hierarchy process was used to apply the weights for each factor along withformula method, in order to get the best result and find the optimal site. Finally, a MCAmodel has been made to be an example for future similar studies.In the end, an optimal site has been selected. Although aims are achieved in this study,there are still some limitations in different perspectives of the study. In the future, moreprecise data can be used in MCA studies, data limitations could be reduced with thedevelopment of RS techniques. In the future, more similar studies will be finished, whichmeans more scientific papers can provide reliable references of determining the criteriaand weights.