No / Conflicting rankings corresponding to alternative performance criteria and measures are mostly reported in the mono-criterion evaluation of competing distress prediction models (DPMs). To overcome this issue, this study extends the application of the expert system to corporate credit risk and distress prediction through proposing a Multi-criteria Decision Aid (MCDA), namely PROMETHEE II, which provides a multi-criteria evaluation of competing DPMs. In addition, using data on Chinese firms listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, we perform an exhaustive comparative analysis of the most popular DPMs; namely, statistical, artificial intelligence and machine learning models under both mono-criterion and multi-criteria frameworks. Further, we address two prevailing research questions; namely, "which DPM performs better in predicting distress?" and "will training models with corporate governance indicators (CGIs) enhance the performance of models?”; and discuss our findings. Our multi-criteria ranking suggests that non-parametric DPMs outperform parametric ones, where random forest and bagging CART are among the best machine learning DPMs. Further, models fed with CGIs as features outperform those fed without CGIs.

No / In recent decades, sustainable investing has caught on with investors, and it has now become the norm. In the age of start-ups, with scant information on the sustainability aspects of an asset, it becomes harder to pursue sustainable investing. To this end, this paper proposes a sustainable financial portfolio selection approach in an intuitionistic fuzzy framework. We present a comprehensive three-stage methodology in which the assets under consideration are ethically screened in Stage-I. Stage-II is concerned with cal- culating the sustainability scores, based on various social, environmental, and economic (SEE) criteria and an evaluation of the return and risk of the ethical assets. Intuitionistic fuzzy set theory is used to gauge the linguistic assessment of the assets on several SEE criteria from multiple decision-makers. A novel intuitionistic fuzzy multi-criteria group decision-making technique is applied to calculate the sustainability score of each asset. Finally, in Stage-III, an intuitionistic fuzzy multi-objective financial portfolio selection model is developed with maximization of the satisfaction degrees of the sustainabil- ity score, return, and risk of the portfolio, subject to several constraints. The ε-constraint method is used to solve this model, which yields various efficient, sustainable financial portfolios. Subsequently, investors can choose the portfolio best suited to their preferences from this pool of efficient, sustainable financial portfolios. A detailed empirical illustration and a comparison with existing works are given to substantiate and validate the proposed approach. / Institution of Eminence, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 under Faculty Research Program / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 16 Jul 2024.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to develop an integrated model which involves creative and analytical features for designing a cost effective logistics centre layout on operational level, with respect to time and space utilization. Engineering methods, creative skills, simulation and multi-criteria decision making methods were integreted in the  developed model. The model has been implemented and validated in Oskarshamn Intralog, which is a sister company of Scania. After applying the model in the case company, three different layout concepts were generated based on engineering and simulation techniques. These concepts were evaluated from utilization of space, time and flexibility aspects. Furthermore, multi criteria decision making method was used to select the most cost effective layout concept among these concepts. Different aspects helped to see various effects of warehouse operations on layout design. Simulation was used as a powerful tool to test cycle time within designed concepts. Clearly it was concluded that a combination of two concepts led to reach the expected results as an optimum point among space, time utilization and flexibility which fullfilled the answer to both academical and practical problem</p> / <p><strong> </strong></p><p>Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att utveckla en integrerad modell som inbegriper kreativa och analytiska egenskaper. Modellen ska användas till att designa en kostnadseffektiv planering av anläggningen för ett logistikcentrum på en operationell nivå, med avseende på tid- och lagerplatsutnyttjande. Tekniska metoder, kreativitet, simulering, samt “multi-criteria decision making” är integrerade i modellen. Validering och implementering av modellen skedde på Oskarshamn Intralog, ett systerföretag till Scania. Efter tillämpning av modellen på fallföretaget, genererades tre olika koncept för planering av anläggningen. Koncepten utvärderades utifrån utnyttjande av plats, tid, samt flexibilitet. Dessutom har metoden “multi-criteria decision making” använts för att selektera det mest kostnadseffektiva av de tre koncepten. Olika aspekter på tid- och lagerplatsutnyttjande, samt flexibilitet bidrog till att se olika effekter på lagerhantering. Simuleringar genomfördes för att testa cykeltiden i de utvecklade koncepten. Slutsatsen är att en kombination av två koncept ledde till det förväntade resultatet; en optimal punkt för tid- och lagerplatsutnyttjande, samt flexibilitet, vilket uppfyller svar till de akademiska och praktiska problemen</p>

The purpose of this thesis is to develop an integrated model which involves creative and analytical features for designing a cost effective logistics centre layout on operational level, with respect to time and space utilization. Engineering methods, creative skills, simulation and multi-criteria decision making methods were integreted in the  developed model. The model has been implemented and validated in Oskarshamn Intralog, which is a sister company of Scania. After applying the model in the case company, three different layout concepts were generated based on engineering and simulation techniques. These concepts were evaluated from utilization of space, time and flexibility aspects. Furthermore, multi criteria decision making method was used to select the most cost effective layout concept among these concepts. Different aspects helped to see various effects of warehouse operations on layout design. Simulation was used as a powerful tool to test cycle time within designed concepts. Clearly it was concluded that a combination of two concepts led to reach the expected results as an optimum point among space, time utilization and flexibility which fullfilled the answer to both academical and practical problem / Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att utveckla en integrerad modell som inbegriper kreativa och analytiska egenskaper. Modellen ska användas till att designa en kostnadseffektiv planering av anläggningen för ett logistikcentrum på en operationell nivå, med avseende på tid- och lagerplatsutnyttjande. Tekniska metoder, kreativitet, simulering, samt “multi-criteria decision making” är integrerade i modellen. Validering och implementering av modellen skedde på Oskarshamn Intralog, ett systerföretag till Scania. Efter tillämpning av modellen på fallföretaget, genererades tre olika koncept för planering av anläggningen. Koncepten utvärderades utifrån utnyttjande av plats, tid, samt flexibilitet. Dessutom har metoden “multi-criteria decision making” använts för att selektera det mest kostnadseffektiva av de tre koncepten. Olika aspekter på tid- och lagerplatsutnyttjande, samt flexibilitet bidrog till att se olika effekter på lagerhantering. Simuleringar genomfördes för att testa cykeltiden i de utvecklade koncepten. Slutsatsen är att en kombination av två koncept ledde till det förväntade resultatet; en optimal punkt för tid- och lagerplatsutnyttjande, samt flexibilitet, vilket uppfyller svar till de akademiska och praktiska problemen

L'accroissement et la diversification des services offerts par les systèmes informatiques modernes rendent la tâche de sécuriser ces systèmes encore plus complexe. D'une part, l'évolution du nombre de services système accroît le nombre des vulnérabilités qui peuvent être exploitées par des attaquants afin d'atteindre certains objectifs d'intrusion. D'autre part, un système de sécurité moderne doit assurer un certain niveau de performance et de qualité de service tout en maintenant l'état de sécurité. Ainsi, les systèmes de sécurité modernes doivent tenir compte des exigences de l'utilisateur au cours du processus de sécurité. En outre, la réaction dans des contextes critiques contre une attaque après son exécution ne peut pas toujours remédier à ses effets néfastes. Dans certains cas, il est essentiel que le système de sécurité soit en avance de phase par rapport à l'attaquant et de prendre les mesures nécessaires pour l'empêcher d'atteindre son objectif d'intrusion. Nous soutenons dans cette thèse que le processus de sécurité doit suivre un raisonnement intelligent qui permet au système de prévoir les attaques qui peuvent se produire par corrélation à une alerte détectée et d'appliquer les meilleures contre-mesures possibles. Nous proposons une approche qui génère des scénarios potentiels d'attaque qui correspondent à une alerte détectée. Ensuite, nous nous concentrons sur le processus de génération d'un ensemble approprié de contre-mesures contre les scénarios d'attaque générés. Un ensemble généré des contre-mesures est considéré comme approprié dans l'approche proposée s'il présente un ensemble cohérent et il satisfait les exigences de l'administrateur de sécurité (par exemple, la disponibilité). Nous soutenons dans cette thèse que le processus de réaction peut être considéré comme un débat entre deux agents. D'un côté, l'attaquant choisit ses arguments comme étant un ensemble d'actions pour essayer d'atteindre un objectif d'intrusion, et de l'autre côté l'agent défendant la cible choisit ses arguments comme étant un ensemble de contre-mesures pour bloquer la progression de l'attaquant ou atténuer les effets de l'attaque. D'autre part, nous proposons une approche basée sur une méthode d'aide à la décision multicritère. Cette approche assiste l'administrateur de sécurité lors de la sélection des contre-mesures parmi l'ensemble approprié des contre-mesures générées à partir de la première approche. Le processus d'assistance est basé sur l'historique des décisions de l'administrateur de sécurité. Cette approche permet également de sélectionner automatiquement des contre-mesures appropriées lorsque l'administrateur de sécurité est dans l'incapacité de les sélectionner (par exemple, en dehors des heures de travail, par manque de connaissances sur l'attaque). Enfin, notre approche est implémentée et testée dans le cadre des systèmes automobiles / The growth and diversity of services offered by modern systems make the task of securing these systems a complex exercise. On the one hand, the evolution of the number of system services increases the risk of causing vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can be exploited by malicious users to reach some intrusion objectives. On the other hand, the most recent competitive systems are those that ensure a certain level of performance and quality of service while maintaining the safety state. Thus, modern security systems must consider the user requirements during the security process.In addition, reacting in critical contexts against an attack after its execution can not always mitigate the adverse effects of the attack. In these cases, security systems should be in a phase ahead of the attacker in order to take necessary measures to prevent him/her from reaching his/her intrusion objective. To address those problems, we argue in this thesis that the reaction process must follow a smart reasoning. This reasoning allows the system, according to a detected attack, to preview the related attacks that may occur and to apply the best possible countermeasures. On the one hand, we propose an approach that generates potential attack scenarios given a detected alert. Then, we focus on the generation process of an appropriate set of countermeasures against attack scenarios generated among all system responses defined for the system. A generated set of countermeasures is considered as appropriate in the proposed approach if it presents a coherent set (i.e., it does not contain conflictual countermeasures) and it satisfies security administrator requirements (e.g., performance, availability). We argue in this thesis that the reaction process can be seen as two agents arguing against each other. On one side the attacker chooses his arguments as a set of actions to try to reach an intrusion objective, and on the other side the agent defending the target chooses his arguments as a set of countermeasures to block the attacker's progress or mitigate the attack effects. On the other hand, we propose an approach based on a recommender system using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method. This approach assists security administrators while selecting countermeasures among the appropriate set of countermeasures generated from the first approach. The assistance process is based on the security administrator decisions historic. This approach permits also, to automatically select appropriate system responses in critical cases where the security administrator is unable to select them (e.g., outside working hours, lack of knowledge about the ongoing attack). Finally, our approaches are implemented and tested in the automotive system use case to ensure that our approaches implementation successfully responded to real-time constraints.

Acquisitions are a major part of the growth and evolution of companies within varying markets. They are conducted under various circumstances with differing aims and rationales, and for different purposes. This thesis focuses on acquisitions carried out by serial investors acting in a private equity market. These acquisitions are characterised by a highly competitive nature, where access to a large pipeline of potential targets is believed to be a key success factor. As such, deal origination and sourcing of potential targets become important factors to facilitate a high-paced deal flow. Earlier research suggests that this is well researched with regards to venture capital, but to a large extent lacking within private equity. This thesis analyses and discusses the possibility of systematising early evaluation of potential acquisition targets within private equity. The aim is to suggest a framework that may be utilised, consisting of the criteria deemed important for early evaluation. Through utilising multi criteria decision making, the framework allows for a relative importance between criteria to contribute to assessment, while fuzzy set theory allows for a degree of uncertainty to be incorporated. This thesis is conducted through data collection from a number of professionals within private equity, selected from a non-probability sample. Semi-structured interviews and a 3 pairwise comparison is utilised to allow for analysis and discussion with regards to earlier research and theory, while allowing for comparison between respondents. The results of the thesis indicate that utilising a framework for early evaluation of potential targets may be beneficial. The key dimensions to consider are financial, commercial and market capabilities. However, the criteria constituting the dimensions may be firm or industry specific. / Förvärv är en viktig del av tillväxten och utvecklingen av företag i en rad olika marknader. De genomförs under varierande förutsättningar med olika mål och avsikter, och med olika syften. Denna uppsats fokuserar på förvärv utförda av serieinvesterare på en riskkapitalsmarknad. Dessa förvärv karaktäriseras av en konkurrensutsatt marknad, där tillgång till en bred pipeline av potentiella förvärvsmöjligheter förväntas vara en viktig framgångsfaktor. Således är hantering av leadsgenerering och sourcing av möjliga förvärvsobjekt viktiga faktorer för att främja ett aktivt förvärvsflöde. Tidigare forskning tyder på att detta är ett välutforskat område inom venture capital, men saknas i stor utsträckning inom riskkapital. Denna uppsats analyserar och diskuterar möjligheten att systematisera tidig utvärdering av potentiella förvärvsobjekt inom riskkapital. Avsikten är att föreslå ett ramverk som kan användas, bestående av de kriteria som anses viktiga vid tidig utvärdering. Genom att använda multi criteria decision making möjliggör ramverket en relativ betydelse mellan kriterier att påverka bedömningen, medan fuzzy set-teori möjliggör för en grad av osäkerhet att inkorporeras. Denna uppsats utförs genom datainsamling från ett antal yrkesverksamma inom riskkapital, utvalda från en icke-sannolikhetsprovtagning. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer och en parvis 5 jämförelse används för analys och diskussion i relation till tidigare forskning och teori, och tillåter även jämförelse mellan svarande. Resultaten av denna uppsats indikerar att användande av ett ramverk för tidig utvärdering av potentiella förvärvsobjekt kan vara positiv. De viktigaste dimensionerna att ta i beaktning är finansiella, kommersiella och marknadsmässiga förmågor. Kriterierna som utgör dessa dimensioner kan dock vara bolags- eller industrispecifika.

Construction activity is known to have a major impact on the environment and is a major consumer of a wide range of naturally occurring and synthesized resources. Despite the recognition that environmental issues are important to the survival of the construction industry, the industry continues to degrade the environment, exploiting resources and generating waste, and is slow to change its conventional practices to incorporate environmental matters as part of its decision making process. With increased awareness and knowledge of these impacts, efforts are being made to avoid these adverse effects and to work towards impact mitigation. Among these is sustainable building material selection. Building material selection is an important issue in building design and construction decision-making and environmental issues need to be incorporated into the evaluation process. The research reported in this thesis was initiated to address these issues in the UK, towards developing an assessment model for incorporating sustainability into building material selection process. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the level of awareness, knowledge and implementation of sustainable practices among architects and designers and how this impacts on their design decisions. To facilitate the implementation of sustainable practices into building material selection, a set of sustainable assessment criteria (SAC) for modeling and evaluating sustainability performance of building materials was developed. Building material can be assessed using an index system that combines the principal criteria of sustainable development. The derived criteria were assessed and aggregated into a composite sustainability index using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique which has been praised for its ability to incorporate both objective and subjective considerations in the decision process. The development of a sustainability index is a way of supporting decision makers faced with making numerous and sometimes conflicting evaluation as with building material selection. The methodology adopted in undertaking this research was the mixed method approach involving a detailed review of the relevant literature, followed by an industry-wide survey of UK architects and designers. Following this, case study was conducted to collect data for sustainability criteria used in the assessment model. The data collected were analyzed, with the aid of SPSS, Excel and expert choice software using a variety of statistical methods including descriptive statistics analysis, relative index analysis, Kendall’s concordance and factor analysis. The key finding was the existing gap between awareness and implementation of sustainable construction practices, which has led to failure of realizing the benefits of a sustainable approach to construction. The study showed a discrepancy between what architects and designers claim to be convinced about, and knowledgeable in, and their commitment and practices; they seem to be unable to translate their environmental awareness and knowledge into appropriate design decisions and are in need of a decision support system that can aid the incorporation of sustainability into building design. The model developed satisfy this gap and was validated by application to a roof covering material selection decision process for a case study building project by means of experts’ review via a survey and the findings obtained suggest that the model is valuable and suitable for use in practice. Finally, areas for further research were identified.

At the turn of the years 2009 and 2010 the structure of supply chain of the company operating in the Czech and Slovak republic has changed through Warehouse Change Project. The goal of this diploma thesis is to evaluate changes caused by this project in term of mathematical modeling and multi-criterial decision making; eventually, propose appropriate changes in the logistic system.

This report describes a case study where a multi criteria decision model is used to make decisions regarding asset interventions for four social housing complexes, similar in terms of issues and possible interventions, at Christchurch City Council. The value judgements from the decision makers and their advisors that were necessary for creating the decision model were elicited through three workshops; selecting aspects, weighting and rating and lastly reviewing the output. An analysis performed shows that the decision model is logically consistent and does not suffer from the rank reversal phenomenon. The validation of the model also included creating four individual decision models, one for each social housing complex, comparing the results of applying the joint model and the individual models, and revisiting and reconsidering the value judgments made in the different models when discrepancies were found. This included utility difference analysis and asking trade-off questions to the decision makers. Part of the validation was also to get acceptance of the output of the joint model from the social housing team. Applying the decision model on the four social housing complexes and receiving an output which is accepted by the social housing team suggests that the aggregated model can be used for future decision problems of the same kind, provided that they are within the set level ranges of the aspects. Since the decision model is transparent in terms of which values or priorities have been applied and which prerequisites must be met in order to apply the model to future decisions, it is possible to use the decision model as a ‘live model’ with adjustment being made to it when required.

This study is conducted with the aims to develop a new ranking method for multi-criteria decision making problem with conflicting criteria. Such a problem has a set of Pareto solutions, where the act of improving a value of one solution will result in depreciating some of the others. Thus, in this type of problem, there is no unique solution. However, out of many available options, the Decision Maker eventually has to choose only one solution. With this problem as the motivation, the current study develops a compromise ranking algorithm, namely a trade-off ranking method. The trade-off ranking method able to give a trade-off solution with the least compromise compared to other choices as the best solution. The properties of the algorithm are studied in the thesis on several test cases. The proposed method is compared against several multi-criteria decision making methods with ranking based on the distance measure, which are the TOPSIS, relative distance and VIKOR. The sensitivity analysis and uncertainty test are carried out to examine the methods robustness. A critical criteria analysis is also done to test for the most critical criterion in a multi-criteria problem. The decision making method is considered further in a fuzzy environment problem where the fuzzy trade-off ranking is developed and compared against existing fuzzy decision making methods.