For many decisions validation of their outcomes is invariably problematic to objectively assess. Therefore to aid analysis and validation of decision outcomes, approaches which provide improved traceability and more semantically meaningful measurements of the decision process are required. Hence, this research investigates traceability, transparency, interactivity and auditability to improve the decision making process. Approaches and evaluation measures are proposed to facilitate a richer decision making experience. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) seeks to determine the suitability of alternatives of a goal with respect to multiple criteria. A key component of prominent MCDA methods is the concept of pairwise comparison. For a set of elements, pairwise comparison enables an accurate and transparent extraction and codification of a decision maker’s preferences, though facilitating a separation of concerns. From a set of pairwise comparisons, a ranking of the elements under consideration can be calculated. There are scenarios when a set of pairwise comparisons undergo alteration, both for individual and multiple decision makers. A set of measures of compromise are proposed to quantify the alteration that a set of pairwise comparisons undergo in such scenarios. The measures seek to provide a decision maker with meaningful knowledge regarding how their views have altered. A set of pairwise comparisons may be inconsistent. When inconsistency is present it adversely affects a ranking of the elements derived from the comparisons. Moreover inconsistency within pairwise comparisons used for consideration of more than a handful of elements is almost inevitable. Existing approaches that seek to alter a set of comparisons to reduce inconsistency lack traceability, flexibility, and specific consideration of alteration to the judgments in a way that is meaningful to a decision maker. An approach to inconsistency reduction is proposed that seeks to address these issues. For many decisions the opinions of multiple decision makers are utilized, either to avail of their combined expertise or to incorporate conflicting views. Aggregation of multiple decision makers’ pairwise companions seek to combine the views of the group into a single representation of views. An approach to group aggregation of pairwise comparisons is proposed that models compromise between the decision makers, facilitates decision maker constraints, considers inconsistency reduction during aggregation and dynamically incorporates decision maker weights of importance. With internet access becoming widespread being able to garner the views of a large group of decision makers’ views has become feasible. An approach to the aggregation of a large group of decision makers’ preferences is proposed. The approach facilitates understanding regarding both the agreement and conflict within the group during calculation of an overall group consensus. A Multi-Objective Optimisation Decision Software (MOODS) prototype tool has been developed that implements both the new measures of compromise and the proposed approaches to inconsistency reduction and group aggregation.

The aim of dissertation is to analyse provided services in chosen area and evaluate them by quantitative methods. At the beginning of thesis there are delimited theoretical terms connected with this area. For practital part was chosen few companies for comparison by chosen multicriteria method, which was evaluated and was chosen best company by results of method. At the end of thesis are introduced suggestions for services improvement of companies.

O objetivo principal da tese foi desenvolver um método multicriterial de seleção de processos de fundição de metais (MMSPF) para fabricação de componentes, considerando-se critérios técnicos, ambientais e econômicos para ser aplicado nas fases iniciais do desenvolvimento do componente. O MMSPF é constituído pelos módulos de seleção técnica e econômica. O módulo de seleção técnica é destinado a antecipar as atividades de seleção de processos, a serem desenvolvidas na fase de projeto preliminar, enquanto o módulo de seleção econômica é destinado a antecipar as atividades de seleção de processos, necessárias à fase de projeto detalhado. O MMSPF realiza a seleção de processos de forma sequencial. Inicialmente, avaliando aspectos técnicos e, posteriormente, considerando aspectos econômicos. O MMSPF contempla as seis classes de ligas metálicas mais utilizadas na produção de componentes fundidos: aços, ferros fundidos, ligas de alumínio, ligas de cobre, ligas de magnésio e ligas de zinco, apropriadas aos processos de fundição de metais destinados à produção de peças. O MMSPF contempla os quinze principais processos de fundição de metais destinados a produção de peças: areia verde – manual (P1), areia verde – mecanizada (P2), areia verde – automatizada (P3), areia silicato - CO2 (P4), areia com resina – cura frio (P5), areia com resina – shell molding (P6), processo molde de gesso – plaster molding (P7), processo molde cerâmico (P8), investment casting (P9), molde cheio - lost foam (P10), fundição centrífuga - molde metálico (P11), molde permanente – gravidade (P12), molde permanente - baixa pressão (P13), fundição sob pressão - die casting (P14) e squeeze casting (P15) como conjunto solução da seleção. As inovações propostas pelo MMSPF foram: (i) consolidação das diferentes fontes de informação dos processos a serem utilizadas no MMSPF, por meio de uma função de agregação; (ii) utilização de aspectos ambientais como critérios para seleção de processos de fundição de metais; (iii) consideração da estimação de custos de fabricação para realizar a seleção de processos de fundição de metais a partir de um índice de custo de fabricação, relativo ao desempenho técnico. Também foi desenvolvido um aplicativo computacional para implementar o MMSPF composto por três elementos principais: um software de planilha eletrônica (Microsoft Excel), no qual são realizadas todas as operações matemáticas necessárias ao desenvolvimento das etapas operacionais do MMSPF; um banco de dados, o software livre SQLite, responsável por armazenar as informações utilizadas no aplicativo computacional do MMSPF; e a interface gráfica do usuário, que atua como elemento de conexão entre o banco de dados, o software de planilha eletrônica e o usuário. / The main objective of this thesis was to develop a Multi-criteria Method for metal Casting Process Selection (MMCPS) to manufacturing components, considering technical criteria, environmental and economic to be applied in the early stages of design of the component. The MMCPS consists modules for the technical and economic selection. The technique selection module is designed to anticipate the activities of processes selection to be developed in the embodiment design, while the economic selection module is designed to anticipate selection process activities, necessary the detailed design phase. The MMCPS conducts the selection process sequentially. Initially, evaluating technical aspects and, subsequently, considering economic aspects. The MMCPS includes the six classes of metal alloys more used in the production of cast components: steel, cast iron, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, magnesium alloys and zinc alloys, suitable for metal shape casting processes. The MMCPS covers the fifteen main metal shape casting processes: green sand – hand molding (P1), green sand – mechanized molding (P2), green sand - automatic molding (P3), silicate-CO2 (P4), air-set/nobake (P5), shell molding (P6), plaster molding (P7), ceramic mold (P8), investment casting (P9), lost foam (P10), centrifugal casting – metallic mold (P11), permanent mold-gravity (P12), permanent mold-low pressure (P13), die casting (P14) and squeeze casting (P15) as the set solution for the selection process. The innovations proposed by MMCPS were: (i) consolidation of different sources of information processes to be used in MMCPS through an aggregation function; (ii) use of environmental aspects as criteria for selection of metal casting processes; (iii) consideration of the cost estimation of manufacturing to make the metal casting process selection from an index of manufacturing cost on the technical performance. Also developed a computational tool to implement the MMCPS composed of three main elements: a spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel), which are held every mathematical operations necessary for the development of operational steps MMCPS; a database, freeware SQLite, responsible for storing information used in the application of computational MMCPS, and the graphical user interface, which acts as a link between the database, the spreadsheet software and the user.

O objetivo principal da tese foi desenvolver um método multicriterial de seleção de processos de fundição de metais (MMSPF) para fabricação de componentes, considerando-se critérios técnicos, ambientais e econômicos para ser aplicado nas fases iniciais do desenvolvimento do componente. O MMSPF é constituído pelos módulos de seleção técnica e econômica. O módulo de seleção técnica é destinado a antecipar as atividades de seleção de processos, a serem desenvolvidas na fase de projeto preliminar, enquanto o módulo de seleção econômica é destinado a antecipar as atividades de seleção de processos, necessárias à fase de projeto detalhado. O MMSPF realiza a seleção de processos de forma sequencial. Inicialmente, avaliando aspectos técnicos e, posteriormente, considerando aspectos econômicos. O MMSPF contempla as seis classes de ligas metálicas mais utilizadas na produção de componentes fundidos: aços, ferros fundidos, ligas de alumínio, ligas de cobre, ligas de magnésio e ligas de zinco, apropriadas aos processos de fundição de metais destinados à produção de peças. O MMSPF contempla os quinze principais processos de fundição de metais destinados a produção de peças: areia verde – manual (P1), areia verde – mecanizada (P2), areia verde – automatizada (P3), areia silicato - CO2 (P4), areia com resina – cura frio (P5), areia com resina – shell molding (P6), processo molde de gesso – plaster molding (P7), processo molde cerâmico (P8), investment casting (P9), molde cheio - lost foam (P10), fundição centrífuga - molde metálico (P11), molde permanente – gravidade (P12), molde permanente - baixa pressão (P13), fundição sob pressão - die casting (P14) e squeeze casting (P15) como conjunto solução da seleção. As inovações propostas pelo MMSPF foram: (i) consolidação das diferentes fontes de informação dos processos a serem utilizadas no MMSPF, por meio de uma função de agregação; (ii) utilização de aspectos ambientais como critérios para seleção de processos de fundição de metais; (iii) consideração da estimação de custos de fabricação para realizar a seleção de processos de fundição de metais a partir de um índice de custo de fabricação, relativo ao desempenho técnico. Também foi desenvolvido um aplicativo computacional para implementar o MMSPF composto por três elementos principais: um software de planilha eletrônica (Microsoft Excel), no qual são realizadas todas as operações matemáticas necessárias ao desenvolvimento das etapas operacionais do MMSPF; um banco de dados, o software livre SQLite, responsável por armazenar as informações utilizadas no aplicativo computacional do MMSPF; e a interface gráfica do usuário, que atua como elemento de conexão entre o banco de dados, o software de planilha eletrônica e o usuário. / The main objective of this thesis was to develop a Multi-criteria Method for metal Casting Process Selection (MMCPS) to manufacturing components, considering technical criteria, environmental and economic to be applied in the early stages of design of the component. The MMCPS consists modules for the technical and economic selection. The technique selection module is designed to anticipate the activities of processes selection to be developed in the embodiment design, while the economic selection module is designed to anticipate selection process activities, necessary the detailed design phase. The MMCPS conducts the selection process sequentially. Initially, evaluating technical aspects and, subsequently, considering economic aspects. The MMCPS includes the six classes of metal alloys more used in the production of cast components: steel, cast iron, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, magnesium alloys and zinc alloys, suitable for metal shape casting processes. The MMCPS covers the fifteen main metal shape casting processes: green sand – hand molding (P1), green sand – mechanized molding (P2), green sand - automatic molding (P3), silicate-CO2 (P4), air-set/nobake (P5), shell molding (P6), plaster molding (P7), ceramic mold (P8), investment casting (P9), lost foam (P10), centrifugal casting – metallic mold (P11), permanent mold-gravity (P12), permanent mold-low pressure (P13), die casting (P14) and squeeze casting (P15) as the set solution for the selection process. The innovations proposed by MMCPS were: (i) consolidation of different sources of information processes to be used in MMCPS through an aggregation function; (ii) use of environmental aspects as criteria for selection of metal casting processes; (iii) consideration of the cost estimation of manufacturing to make the metal casting process selection from an index of manufacturing cost on the technical performance. Also developed a computational tool to implement the MMCPS composed of three main elements: a spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel), which are held every mathematical operations necessary for the development of operational steps MMCPS; a database, freeware SQLite, responsible for storing information used in the application of computational MMCPS, and the graphical user interface, which acts as a link between the database, the spreadsheet software and the user.

O objetivo principal da tese foi desenvolver um método multicriterial de seleção de processos de fundição de metais (MMSPF) para fabricação de componentes, considerando-se critérios técnicos, ambientais e econômicos para ser aplicado nas fases iniciais do desenvolvimento do componente. O MMSPF é constituído pelos módulos de seleção técnica e econômica. O módulo de seleção técnica é destinado a antecipar as atividades de seleção de processos, a serem desenvolvidas na fase de projeto preliminar, enquanto o módulo de seleção econômica é destinado a antecipar as atividades de seleção de processos, necessárias à fase de projeto detalhado. O MMSPF realiza a seleção de processos de forma sequencial. Inicialmente, avaliando aspectos técnicos e, posteriormente, considerando aspectos econômicos. O MMSPF contempla as seis classes de ligas metálicas mais utilizadas na produção de componentes fundidos: aços, ferros fundidos, ligas de alumínio, ligas de cobre, ligas de magnésio e ligas de zinco, apropriadas aos processos de fundição de metais destinados à produção de peças. O MMSPF contempla os quinze principais processos de fundição de metais destinados a produção de peças: areia verde – manual (P1), areia verde – mecanizada (P2), areia verde – automatizada (P3), areia silicato - CO2 (P4), areia com resina – cura frio (P5), areia com resina – shell molding (P6), processo molde de gesso – plaster molding (P7), processo molde cerâmico (P8), investment casting (P9), molde cheio - lost foam (P10), fundição centrífuga - molde metálico (P11), molde permanente – gravidade (P12), molde permanente - baixa pressão (P13), fundição sob pressão - die casting (P14) e squeeze casting (P15) como conjunto solução da seleção. As inovações propostas pelo MMSPF foram: (i) consolidação das diferentes fontes de informação dos processos a serem utilizadas no MMSPF, por meio de uma função de agregação; (ii) utilização de aspectos ambientais como critérios para seleção de processos de fundição de metais; (iii) consideração da estimação de custos de fabricação para realizar a seleção de processos de fundição de metais a partir de um índice de custo de fabricação, relativo ao desempenho técnico. Também foi desenvolvido um aplicativo computacional para implementar o MMSPF composto por três elementos principais: um software de planilha eletrônica (Microsoft Excel), no qual são realizadas todas as operações matemáticas necessárias ao desenvolvimento das etapas operacionais do MMSPF; um banco de dados, o software livre SQLite, responsável por armazenar as informações utilizadas no aplicativo computacional do MMSPF; e a interface gráfica do usuário, que atua como elemento de conexão entre o banco de dados, o software de planilha eletrônica e o usuário. / The main objective of this thesis was to develop a Multi-criteria Method for metal Casting Process Selection (MMCPS) to manufacturing components, considering technical criteria, environmental and economic to be applied in the early stages of design of the component. The MMCPS consists modules for the technical and economic selection. The technique selection module is designed to anticipate the activities of processes selection to be developed in the embodiment design, while the economic selection module is designed to anticipate selection process activities, necessary the detailed design phase. The MMCPS conducts the selection process sequentially. Initially, evaluating technical aspects and, subsequently, considering economic aspects. The MMCPS includes the six classes of metal alloys more used in the production of cast components: steel, cast iron, aluminum alloys, copper alloys, magnesium alloys and zinc alloys, suitable for metal shape casting processes. The MMCPS covers the fifteen main metal shape casting processes: green sand – hand molding (P1), green sand – mechanized molding (P2), green sand - automatic molding (P3), silicate-CO2 (P4), air-set/nobake (P5), shell molding (P6), plaster molding (P7), ceramic mold (P8), investment casting (P9), lost foam (P10), centrifugal casting – metallic mold (P11), permanent mold-gravity (P12), permanent mold-low pressure (P13), die casting (P14) and squeeze casting (P15) as the set solution for the selection process. The innovations proposed by MMCPS were: (i) consolidation of different sources of information processes to be used in MMCPS through an aggregation function; (ii) use of environmental aspects as criteria for selection of metal casting processes; (iii) consideration of the cost estimation of manufacturing to make the metal casting process selection from an index of manufacturing cost on the technical performance. Also developed a computational tool to implement the MMCPS composed of three main elements: a spreadsheet software (Microsoft Excel), which are held every mathematical operations necessary for the development of operational steps MMCPS; a database, freeware SQLite, responsible for storing information used in the application of computational MMCPS, and the graphical user interface, which acts as a link between the database, the spreadsheet software and the user.

Orientador: Paulo Correa Lima / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T03:13:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcondes_AndrezaBenatti_M.pdf: 5495313 bytes, checksum: a5a7651ef5e80d1a06695be92059dd0b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003 / Resumo: As mudanças nos padrões de competitividade da indústria brasileira influenciaram os procedimentos na avaliação de investimentos em capital fixo das empresas. Neste sentido, a decisão de investir em determinado projeto não é baseada somente na relação entre uma taxa interna de retomo e uma taxa mínima de atratividade, mas deve-se levar em consideração fatores como tempo de resposta ao cliente, qualidade e custo. Para alcançar estes requisitos, a empresa deve reconfigurar seu processo de negócios e uma das áreas mais afetadas é o chão-de-fábrica. A abordagem da Toyota Motor Corporation para projeto de sistemas de manufatura, conhecida como manufatura enxuta, mostrou ser capaz de garantir resultados superiores. Os modelos de análise de investimento atuais, criados para atender a produção em massa, falham em apontar os resultados gerados pela produção enxuta. Este trabalho pretende entender o impacto financeiro de se converter uma fábrica do sistema de produção em massa para o sistema enxuto. Um caso de estudo de uma montadora que se tornou referência nas práticas enxutas é utilizado para verificar se ocorreram transformações na metodologia utilizada pela empresa / Abstract: The changes in the competitiveness standards in the Brazilian industry had influenced on the investment evaluation procedure of fixed capital in corporations. In this way, the decision to invest in a project must not be only based on a relation between the internal rate of return and attractiveness rate. It is necessary to consider factors as response time to customers orders, quality and cost. In order to achieve those requirements most companies need to reconfigure their business process and one of the most affected areas in the shop floor. Toyota Motor Corporation' s approach to manufacturing system design, a1so known as lean manufacturing, has been showing superior performance. The current investment ana1ysis models, created to support mass production, :fail in recognize the effectiveness of lean manufacturing. This work aims at understanding financial impact of restructuring a plant from mass to lean production. A case study of an automotive assembly company who become a benchmark on lean practices is used to check of investments methodologies had been reviewed to support manufacturing transformation / Mestrado / Materiais e Processos de Fabricação / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

With the rapid advancement of technologies, software is gaining its popularity in assisting our daily activities in the last decades. This circumstance causes a rising concerns about a software product with high quality which lead to a question about the justification whether a software product has high quality. Therefore, a numerous of researches and studies had spent a lot of effort in software product quality assessment in order to justify whether the software product(s) under study have satisfactory quality. One of the foremost approaches to assess software product quality is the application of the quality models. For example, quality model ISO 9126. However, the quality models do not provide an explicit way to aggregate the performance of different quality aspects nor handling the various interests raised from different perspective or stakeholders. Although many studies have been conducted to aggregate the different measures of quality attributes, they are still not capable to include the various interests raised by different software product stakeholders. Therefore, some studies have attempted to apply MCDA methods in order to aggregate the measure of quality attributes as the ultimate software product quality and handling the various quality interests. However, they do not provide any rational about their particular choice of MCDA methods. Most of them justify their choice by referring to high popularity of the selected MCDA method. Without studying the suitability of MCDA methods in the application domain of the software product, it is difficult to conclude whether the chosen MCDA methods fit in the intended software engineering discipline. Furthermore, there is no systematic approach available to help other software practitioners in selecting the MCDA method that will be suitable for their needs and constraints in software product quality assessment. This thesis aims to provide the key concepts for an effective selection of suitable MCDA method for the purpose of software product quality assessment. A foremost part of this thesis presents two systematic reviews. The first review illustrates the evaluation of the characteristics of MCDA methods. The second review identifies the major needs and constraints of the software quality assessment potential MCDA method has to consider in order to be used for assessing quality of software products. Based on the results from both systematic reviews, a selection framework named MCDA-SQA framework is formulated. This framework is intended to assist the software practitioners to systematically select and adapt appropriate MCDA method(s) in order to fulfil their quality assessment needs and the respective environmental concerns.

With an upsurge in number of available smart phones, tablet PCs etc. most users find it easy to access Internet services using mobile applications. It has been a challenging task for mobile application developers to choose suitable security types (types of authentication, authorization, security protocols, cryptographic algorithms etc.) for mobile applications. Choosing an inappropriate security type for a mobile application may lead to performance degradation and vulnerable issues in applications. The choice of the security type can be done by decision making. Decision making is a challenging task for humans. When choosing a single alternative among a set of alternatives with multiple criteria, it is hard to know which one is the better decision. Mobile application developers need to incorporate Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Models to choose a suitable security type for mobile application. A decision model for application security enhances decision making for mobile application developers to decide and set the required security types for the application. In this thesis, we discuss different types of MCDM models that have been applied in an IT security area and scope of applying MCDM models in application security area. Literature review and evaluation of the selected decision models gives a detailed overview on how to use them to provide application security. / The first chapter introduces the thesis work. The second chapter presents the background of decision making models, their process, and the classification of decision making models. The third chapter presents the research methodology we have used in different phases which aims to answer the research questions. The fourth chapter gives a detailed literature study of how decision models can be used in application security. The fifth chapter evaluates selected decision models. The sixth chapter concludes the thesis and presents future work.

This article seeks to enhance acceptance of the profile distance method (PDM) in decision support systems. The PDM is a multiple attributive based decision making as well as a multiple method approach to support complex decision making and uses a heuristic to avoid computationally complex global optimization. We elaborate on the usability of the method and question the heuristic used. We present a bisection algorithm, which efficiently supports the discovery of transition profiles needed in a user-friendly and practical application of the method. Additionally, we provide empirical evidence showing that the proposed heuristic is efficient and delivers results within 5% of the global optimizer for a wide range of data sets.

[pt] Nas últimas décadas, foi possível presenciar a forte pressão da opinião pública para reduzir os acidentes com danos ambientais e colisões rodoviárias. Diversas empresas multinacionais, organizações não-governamentais, assim como governos têm investido muitos recursos nesse sentido. A Alfa, uma empresa petroleira com grande presença na América Central, fez uma enorme redução de empresas fornecedoras de transporte nesta região para poder gerenciar, de maneira mais adequada, seus contratados e, junto com eles, trabalhar em busca da minimização do número de acidentes. Assim, no lapso de três anos, a empresa cortou suas relações com quase uma centena de fornecedores e reestruturou sua operação de transporte contratado. Para chegar a um número tão menor de provedores, a empresa lançou mão de várias técnicas de análise de fornecedores de transporte, de técnicas de negociação eletrônica pela Internet e de um método multicritério de apoio à decisão, desenvolvido por ela. Cada uma destas etapas foi revista à luz da bibliografia acadêmica correspondente, o que possibilita a comparação de modelos apontados somente na teoria quanto à sua aplicação prática. Os resultados mostraram que o caso estudado, além de haver conseguido chegar a seu objetivo, é um caso de sucesso que traz valiosas contribuições à bibliografia acadêmica. / [en] In the last decade it was possible to observe a strong pressure from public opinion to reduce the accidents with environmental consequences and road collisions. Several multinational companies, Non Governmental Organizations, as well as Governments have invested great amount of resources for this aim. Alpha, an oil company, with large operation in Central America, made an enormous carriers reduction in this region, with the objective of being able to manage, in a suitable manner, their contractors and work altogether in the search of accident minimization. Thus, in the lapse of three years the company cancelled its relation with almost one hundred of road transport contractors, and restructured its operation of contracted transport. In order to have only one fraction of the contractors, in relation to what the company had before, a great variety of techniques of analysis for carriers was used. Techniques such as electronic negotiation by Internet, and a multi-criteria decision method developed by the company. Each of these stages was reviewed and compared with the academic bibliography that corresponded. This made possible the comparison of models only written in the bibliography relating their practical application. The results show that the case studied, besides having managed to reach its objective, is a case of success, bringing valuable contributions to the academic bibliography.