editorial building mathematical models for...

EditorialBuilding Mathematical Models for Multicriteria andMultiobjective Applications

Adiel T. de Almeida,1 Love Ekenberg,2,3 Martin J. Geiger,4

Juan Carlos Leyva Lopez,5 and Danielle Morais1

1Department of Management Engineering, Federal University of Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil2International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Schlossplatz 1, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria3Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, 164 07 Stockholm, Sweden4Logistics Management Department, University of the Federal Armed Forces, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany5Department of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Occident, 80040 Culiacan, SIN, Mexico

Correspondence should be addressed to Adiel T. de Almeida; [email protected]

Received 17 July 2016; Accepted 17 July 2016

Copyright © 2016 Adiel T. de Almeida et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.

In our daily lives or professional settings, there are manydecision problems involving multiple criteria, which may beconflicting and incommensurable. The complexity of real-world decision and the plethora of factors involved necessi-tate the implementation of sound theoretical frameworks forstructuring decision-making processes. Multicriteria Deci-sion Making/Aid (MCDM/A) and multiobjective methodscan be highly useful for decisionmakers (DMs) in such tasks.

Multicriteria and multiobjective approaches provide awide variety of methodological tools for supporting the DMswhen facing real-world decision problems when designingand analyzing mathematical models, representing both thepreferences of decisionmakers and the various characteristicsof the decision problems at hand in a number of areas.

There is nevertheless still a need for further developmentsof multicriteria and multiobjective models and applicationsin order to meet an increasing demand for solving complexproblems. The aim of this special issue is therefore to furtherexpand the field and to promote and disseminate researchand applications among academics and other profession-als interested in theories, methodologies, and applicationsof multicriteria and multiobjective approaches for tacklingcomplex problems in a wide variety of areas.

The special issue received a high number of high-qualitysubmissions. After a rigorous peer-review process, with an

acceptance rate of about 18%, ten accepted papers provide avariety of applications for real-world problemswhile combin-ing theoretical methodology and mathematical analysis. Theauthors of these papers are fromBrazil, China, Spain, Taiwan,and Turkey.

This selection of papers reflects the diversity of researchstudies applying different multicriteria and multiobjectivesmethods and includes theoretical procedures being devel-oped for different areas as well as practical experiments forvalidating these.

In the area of information system, A. P.H. deGusmao andC. P. Medeiros present a study with an additive model usedto evaluate alternatives for selecting a strategic informationsystem using FITradeoff, which is a new method for elicitingthe weights of criteria. The FITradeoff has the advantage ofrequiring less effort from the decision-maker when express-ing preferences regarding weights of criteria, minimizing therisk of inconsistent answers. The model is using data from aglass packaging factory to select a single information systemfrom a set of systems previously identified as relevant.

Dealing with evaluation of the security level of a city, C. J.J. de Figueiredo and C. M. M. Mota show mapping locationsfor the occurrence of robberies applying the multicriteriamethod Dominance-Based Rough Set Approach. With this

Hindawi Publishing CorporationMathematical Problems in EngineeringVolume 2016, Article ID 1857670, 2 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1857670

2 Mathematical Problems in Engineering

classification model, it is possible to understand the socialdynamics and also to propose strategies against violence.

R.-C. Chen and S.-P. Suen propose a multiobjectivemechanism to help retail industry practitioners to optimizethe allocation of stores. The model is based on three phases.Firstly, all stores are divided into clusters using a geographicinformation system (GIS) and 𝑘-means clustering algorithm.Secondly, stores are strategically selected according to therequirements of the company and the attributes of thestores. And finally, it is determined which stores to closeby using a neighborhood-based multiobjective genetic algo-rithm (NBMOGA).

Considering Earned Value Management (EVM) system,which is applied to monitor and control organizations’projects to attain high performance, S.-Y. Chou et al. employa hybrid multiple criteria decision-making (HMCDM) pro-cedure for achieving aspired EVM projects’ performance.The proposed procedure quantifies gap indices with respectto aspiration levels of EVM based on interinfluence effectsamong criteria/dimensions/alternatives and systemizes thequantitative results in the context of influential networkrelation maps (INRM), helping managers to find routes forEVM application decisions. This study demonstrates theimportance of adopting a systematic procedure to analyzeinterinfluenced criteria associated with the EVM applicationdecisions.

In view of service related to environmental sector, L.Delgado-Antequera et al. design a framework to solve wastecollection problems applying anAsymmetricVehicle RoutingProblem (AVRP) with side constraints and several variations.This model is based on an interactive biobjective method forminimizing the total distance travelled by all vehicles and thelength of the longest route to balance the working day withinthe fleet of vehicles.Themodel helps the companies in chargeof waste management in obtaining a better planning of theirservices.

Regarding the aerospatial field of research, L. Jia et al.propose an integrated decision model based on combina-tion weighting and multiattribute intelligent grey target tocalculate aircraft combat survivability, that is, the capabilityof an aircraft to avoid or withstand a man-made hostileenvironment.

Another paper in this research field is presented by A.Mateos and A. Jimenez-Martın, who investigate air trafficcontrol systems while applying the multiobjective optimiza-tion simulated annealing algorithm for collision avoidance inATM, accounting for three admissible maneuvers (velocity,turn, and altitude changes). The emphasis is on the min-imization of the maneuver number and magnitude, timedelays, or deviations in the leaving points. This study isespecially important to improve the safety standards in freeflight unstructured environments.

For the industrial sector, T. Kellegoz presents a goalprogramming model as well as heuristic methods based ona variable neighborhood search approach for multiobjec-tive assembly line balancing problems with multimannedstations. This model minimizes the total number of multi-manned stations as well as the total number of workers forsmoothing the number of personnel at the stations.

Another strategic application concerns power projection,that is, a military term referred to the capacity of a state toapply national transportation networks for crisis response,which is a crucial element of a state’s military power inmodern warfare. Focused on this research field, H.-L. Bi etal. present a hub location problem in the design of power aprojection network from a resilience perspective.The authorspropose a biobjective and trilevel integer programmingmodel for analyzing tradeoffs between the performancesof the projection network in different situations. Besidesconsidering the cost of the projection network in normalsituations, it also analyzes the performance in presence of hubdisruptions.

In the civil construction sector, P. Palha et al. dealwith subcontractors’ selection problems considering variousattributes, such as variations in projects and type of activity.The authors present an additive sortingmethod for categoriz-ing activities to be outsourced in civil construction based onthe ROR-UTADISmethod, including new forms of supplyingpreference information.

Despite the significant spread of method and applicationspresented herein, this special issue can only cover a smalldiversity of areas of the recent developments and applicationsin the fields. Our intention is merely to demonstrate thebroad usability of multicriteria and multiobjective methodsof high standards and it is our hope that it will inspire andstimulate further development of mathematical models formulticriteria and multiobjective applications in the future.

Acknowledgments

Wewould like to express our deepest gratitude to the authorsfor their contributions to this special issue and the coopera-tion and assistance of many reviewers, whose feedback wasvery useful in improving the quality of papers submitted.

Adiel T. de AlmeidaLove Ekenberg

Martin J. GeigerJuan Carlos Leyva Lopez

Danielle Morais

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