Supplier selection with different risk preferences and attribute sets: An innovative study based on generalized linguistic term sets

Selecting the optimal supplier is crucial to the management of the company’s supply chain, which has received widespread attention from academia and business circles. Generally, a variety of suppliers and multiple attributes are usually involved in this selection proceeding which can be comparatively regarded as a linguistic multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problem. However, common linguistic MAGDM problems may not take the following characteristics into consideration. Due to the limited knowledge, distinctive interests, and different semantic value expectations of decision makers (DMs), it is necessary for them to consider their diverse risk preferences and use multi-granular linguistic term sets (LTSs) to assess suppliers on individual attribute sets independently. Meanwhile, the complex decision environment may have influences on the integrity of the attribute weight information, such that it is always incompletely known. To deal with the afore-mentioned situations, this paper presents a procedure based on risk preferences and several attribute sets with incomplete weight information for choosing the desirable supplier. Firstly, a new multi-granular fuzzy linguistic transformation model is constructed to normalize linguistic domains of multi-granular generalized linguistic term sets (GLTSs). Multi-granular GLTSs are introduced to describe semantic values of multi-granular LTSs given by DMs with risk preferences. Secondly, according to the maximizing deviation method with incomplete attribute weight information, an optimization model is also established to determine attribute weight vectors of individual attribute sets. Thirdly, a novel method that comprises of the aforesaid models is presented to handle supplier selection problems with risk preferences and several attribute sets. Finally, an illustrative example on supplier selection and comparative analyses are provided to clarify the validity and feasibility of our proposed method. Significantly, the initiation of the proposed method and its application could afford to the theoretical development of linguistic MAGDM, as well as the practical expansion in the domain of supplier selection.     

Consensus reaching for group decision making with multi-granular unbalanced linguistic information: A bounded confidence and minimum adjustment-based approach

In group decision making problems, there exist the situations that decision makers may use unbalanced linguistic term sets that are not uniformly and symmetrically distributed to provide their linguistic assessments over alternatives. Moreover, due to the difference in knowledge and culture backgrounds, it is also possible that multi-granular linguistic term sets may also be used by decision makers. How to manage multi-granular unbalanced linguistic information in consensus-based group decision making has becoming an important topic in linguistic decision making. In this paper, we first revise Herrera’s unbalanced linguistic term sets and propose a simplified linguistic computational model to fuse multi-granular unbalanced linguistic terms. Afterwards, for multi-criteria group decision making problems with multi-granular unbalanced linguistic information, we develop two optimization models to generate adjustment advice for decision makers who have to change his/her opinions in consensus reaching process, which consider both the bounded confidence levels and minimum adjustment of decision makers’ linguistic assessments. Moreover, an algorithm is further proposed to help decision makers reach consensus in group decision making. Eventually, an application example for ERP system supplier selection and some simulation results are presented to illustrate and justify the consensus reaching algorithm.     

基于相对熵和二元熵的多粒度直觉语言TODIM决策方法

针对评估信息为多粒度直觉语言集的决策问题,提出一种基于相对熵和二元熵的TODIM方法。该方法首先定义了直觉语言数的相对熵和二元熵,以度量决策信息的差异和不确定性;其次,构建了基于相对熵和二元熵的专家赋权模型,并建立了主观权重完全已知、部分已知和完全未知场景下的属性赋权模型;最后,为集结多粒度群体决策信息,提出了多粒度直觉语言加权算术平均(MIL-WAA)算子。算例分析表明,该方法能够较好地度量决策信息的不确定性和差异性,并考虑了决策者的有限理性行为,具有一定的合理性和有效性。     

多粒度犹豫模糊语言环境下未知权重的多属性群推荐方法

针对群推荐中存在的多粒度、犹豫性、模糊性语言信息问题, 提出多粒度犹豫模糊语言环境下未知权重的多属性群推荐方法. 首先, 提出多粒度犹豫模糊语言术语集的概念, 定义其距离公式; 然后, 在多粒度犹豫模糊语言环境下, 针对属性权重完全未知的情况, 建立目标规划模型, 利用拉格朗日方程求解, 针对属性权重不完全未知的情况, 建立线性规划模型求解; 最后, 通过算例计算和分析表明了上述模型求解权重问题是有效的.

     

Dealing with incomplete information in a fuzzy linguistic recommender system to disseminate information in university digital libraries

As in the Web, the growing of information is the main problem of the academic digital libraries. Thus, similar tools could be applied in university digital libraries to facilitate the information access by the students and teachers. In [46] we presented a fuzzy linguistic recommender system to advice research resources in university digital libraries. The problem of this system is that the user profiles are provided directly by the own users and the process for acquiring user preferences is quite difficult because it requires too much user effort. In this paper we present a new fuzzy linguistic recommender system that facilitates the acquisition of the user preferences to characterize the user profiles. We allow users to provide their preferences by means of incomplete fuzzy linguistic preference relation. We include tools to manage incomplete information when the users express their preferences, and, in such a way, we show that the acquisition of the user profiles is improved.     

考虑决策者心理行为的概率语义术语集多属性决策方法

概率语义术语集可以通过给语义赋予概率以表达不同程度偏好,采用概率语义术语集获取专家犹豫和不确定的评价信息。针对传统多属性决策中指标权重确定没有考虑指标间相互影响关系的问题,采用概率语义DEMATEL方法分析指标间的相互影响关系,其中采用二元语义将指标间关联关系概率语义术语集的得分函数转换为精确数值,得到指标的权重。考虑决策者的不同偏好和心理行为,采用改进的概率语义TODIM方法对决策对象进行排序。最后以某班轮公司的综合竞争力评估为例,验证了所提方法的有效性。     

A multi-granular linguistic model for management decision-making in performance appraisal

The performance appraisal is a relevant process to keep and improve the competitiveness of companies in nowadays. In spite of this relevance, the current performance appraisal models are not sufficiently well-defined either designed for the evaluation framework in which they are defined. This paper proposes a performance appraisal model where the assessments are modelled by means of linguistic information provided by different sets of reviewers in order to manage the uncertainty and subjectivity of such assessments. Therefore, the reviewers could express their assessments in different linguistic scales according to their knowledge about the evaluated employees, defining a multi-granular linguistic evaluation framework. Additionally, the proposed model will manage the multi-granular linguistic labels provided by appraisers in order to compute collective assessments about the employees that will be used by the management team to make the final decision about them.     

一种基于多粒度语言偏好矩阵的多属性群决策方法

针对决策专家以多粒度语言偏好矩阵形式给出偏好信息的多属性群决策问题,提出一种基于二元语义一致化的多属性群决策方法.首先,构建一个基本语言偏好集作为多粒度语言一致化的参考集合;然后,采用基于二元语义的一致化处理方法将不同粒度的语言偏好信息均统一转化为相同粒度的二元语义形式,再通过二元语义的相关集结算子,对各决策专家给出的偏好信息进行集结并进行方案优选,得到满意结果;最后,通过算例说明了该方法的有效性.     

Evaluating recommender systems from the user’s perspective: survey of the state of the art

A recommender system is a Web technology that proactively suggests items of interest to users based on their objective behavior or explicitly stated preferences. Evaluations of recommender systems (RS) have traditionally focused on the performance of algorithms. However, many researchers have recently started investigating system effectiveness and evaluation criteria from users?? perspectives. In this paper, we survey the state of the art of user experience research in RS by examining how researchers have evaluated design methods that augment RS??s ability to help users find the information or product that they truly prefer, interact with ease with the system, and form trust with RS through system transparency, control and privacy preserving mechanisms finally, we examine how these system design features influence users?? adoption of the technology. We summarize existing work concerning three crucial interaction activities between the user and the system: the initial preference elicitation process, the preference refinement process, and the presentation of the system??s recommendation results. Additionally, we will also cover recent evaluation frameworks that measure a recommender system??s overall perceptive qualities and how these qualities influence users?? behavioral intentions. The key results are summarized in a set of design guidelines that can provide useful suggestions to scholars and practitioners concerning the design and development of effective recommender systems. The survey also lays groundwork for researchers to pursue future topics that have not been covered by existing methods.     

A normal wiggly hesitant fuzzy linguistic projection-based multiattributive border approximation area comparison method

As a useful information representation tool, hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS) allows decision makers (DMs) to express their cognitive preferences in terms of several ordered and continuous linguistic terms. Considering the fact that much valuable information related to the cognitive behavior of DMs is hidden in the original evaluation information, this paper studies how to comprehensively mine uncertain information from original hesitant fuzzy linguistic evaluation information given by DMs. To address this objective, we present a new representation tool, normal wiggly hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (NWHFLTS), which not only retains the original evaluation information, but also delivers and quantifies potential uncertain information, and can also help DMs express their evaluation information in a more complete manner. First, we develop the basic operations, score function, and comparison rule of NWHFLTS based on linguistic scale functions (LSFs), and propose the projection measure, the normal projection measure, and the normalized projection-based distance measure to describe the degree of deviation between two NWHFLTSs. Furthermore, for the case when the attribute weight is completely unknown, we combine the multiattributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) method and develop a new method called as normal wiggly hesitant fuzzy linguistic projection-based MABAC to solve the multiattribute decision-making problems where attribute values are expressed in the form of NWHFLTS. Finally, through a practical example of marine ecological security situation, the specific calculation steps of this method are exemplified, the feasibility and advancement of the proposed method are demonstrated via a comprehensive comparative study.     

二元语义粗算子及其语言多属性决策中的应用

针对语言多属性决策,提出一种基于二元语言信息处理和粗糙集理论的求解方法。利用规范的语言评价信息建立决策信息表,提出了一种由属性依赖度和信息度来形成属性客观权重的方法,通过二元语义集成算子计算属性的主观权;根据决策者的偏好,将各属性的主客观权重信息集成,得到属性综合权重;将规范化的语言评价信息转化为二元语言形式,并与已有的信息集结算子合成,得到二语义粗算子;举例说明二元语义粗算子的应用。     

Multi-period multi-attribute group decision-making under linguistic assessments

In fuzzy environments, decision information is more suitable to be expressed in linguistic labels than exact numerical values. Group decision-making with linguistic assessments has received more and more attention over the last decades. Most research on this topic has focused on situations where all the original decision information is provided at the same time and refers to one and same period. However, in many decision areas, such as multi-period investment decision-making, medical diagnosis, personnel dynamic examination, military system efficiency dynamic evaluation, etc., the original decision information is usually collected at different periods and/or refers to different moments in time. This paper investigates the multi-period multi-attribute group decision-making problems where all decision information is expressed by decision-makers in multiplicative linguistic labels at different periods. The paper first introduces a new operator called a dynamic linguistic weighted geometric (DLWG) operator and uses the minimum variability model to derive the time series weights associated with the DLWG operator, and then utilises, respectively, the linguistic weighted geometric (LWG) operator and the DLWG operator to aggregate the given linguistic labels. Moreover, the paper develops an approach to multi-period multiple attribute group decision-making under linguistic assessments so as to derive the final ranking of alternatives, and finally, gives an illustrative example and extends the above results to uncertain linguistic environments.     

基于犹豫模糊语言的多阶段多属性决策方法

针对不确定语言条件下的决策问题,考虑专家偏好的阶段性差异,提出基于犹豫模糊语言的多阶段多属性决策方法。首先为了更准确地表达专家在决策过程中的犹豫性,采用犹豫模糊语言来表达专家的评估信息;其次考虑阶段权重的波动性,运用基于专家阶段性偏好的信息熵方法构建阶段权重优化模型确定阶段权重;然后利用最大化偏差法来求解属性权重,并采用基于平均解距离评价(EDAS)方法对备选方案进行排序;最后以某企业选取物流商问题为例,验证该方法的有效性和可行性。     

二元语义处理不同偏好评价信息的群决策方法

针对具有序关系值、效用值、互反判断矩阵、互补判断矩阵、区间模糊数、三角模糊数六种不同偏好评价信息的群决策问题,根据偏好信息的实际意义,通过转换函数将不同偏好信息一致化为二元语义判断矩阵形式,阐明转化方法的合理性与有效性,采用二元语义加权算术平均（T-WAA）算子集结转化后的二元语义判断矩阵,得到群体二元语义判断矩阵,基于二元语义有序加权平均（T-OWA）算子计算某方案优于其他所有方案的整体偏好程度,从而对方案排序择优。算例分析表明该群决策方法的有效性与合理性。     

纯语言多属性群决策方法研究

研究了属性权重、属性值以及专家权重均以语言形式给出的纯语言多属性群决策问题．定义了语言评估标度的运算法则，给出了一些基于语言评估标度及其运算法则的新算子，提出了一种纯语言多属性群决策方法．该法不但计算简洁便利，而且能充分地利用已有的语言决策信息．最后将该方法应用于解决供应链管理领域中的战略合作伙伴选择问题．     

Distance measure for Fermatean fuzzy linguistic term sets based on linguistic scale function: An illustration of the TODIM and TOPSIS methods

In this paper, we propose the Fermatean fuzzy linguistic term set (FFLTS) based on the linguistic scale function. A new similarity measure between FFLTSs is constructed, which not only includes the linguistic scale function but also combines the cosine similarity measure and Euclidean distance measure, and then the related properties of the similarity measure are proven. A corresponding distance measure is obtained according to the relationship between the distance measure and similarity measure. Furthermore, we extend the Tomada de Decisão Interativa Multicritério (TODIM) method and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method to the corresponding distance measure under the Fermatean fuzzy linguistic environment. The main advantages of the proposed methods are that they can not only transform linguistic information effectively in different decision environments but also improve the adaptability of FFLTS in decision-making problems. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods, which are also compared with other existing methods. The sensitivity analysis of the parameters and the influence of linguistic scale function on the ranking results are also discussed.     

Partitioned Bonferroni mean based on linguistic 2-tuple for dealing with multi-attribute group decision making

In this study, a multi-attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problem is investigated, in which decision makers provide their preferences over alternatives by using linguistic 2-tuple. In the process of decision making, we introduce the idea of a specific structure in the attribute set. We assume that attributes are partitioned into several classes and members of intra-partition are interrelated while no interrelationship exists among inter partition. We emphasize the importance of having an aggregation operator, to capture the expressed inter-relationship structure among the attributes, which we will refer to as partition Bonferroni mean (PBM). We also investigate the behavior of the proposed PBM operator. Further to aggregate the given linguistic information to get overall performance value of each alternative in MAGDM, we analyze PBM operator in linguistic 2-tuple environment and develop three new linguistic aggregation operators: 2-tuple linguistic PBM (2TLPBM), weighted 2-tuple linguistic PBM (W2TLPBM) and linguistic weighted 2-tuple linguistic PBM (LW-2TLPBM). Based on the idea that total linguistic deviation between individual decision maker's opinions and group opinion should be minimized, we develop an approach to determine weight of the decision makers. Finally, a practical example is presented to illustrate the proposed method and comparison analysis demonstrates applicability of the proposed method.     

基于勾股模糊语言幂加权平均算子的多属性群体决策方法

针对多属性群决策问题,采用能够方便专家参考语言集信息进行评价并且取值灵活的勾股模糊语言集进行了处理。首先,基于语言集和勾股模糊集的距离测度给出了勾股模糊语言数距离测度的定义与相关性质;然后,以勾股模糊语言数的距离测度作为幂均（PA）算子的距离度量,提出了勾股模糊语言幂加权平均（PFLPWA）算子用以对群决策过程中不同专家评价矩阵进行融合,并同时在融合过程中考虑专家评价的差异性;最后,基于PFLPWA算子构建了勾股模糊语言环境下的群体决策新方法,并通过案例分析检验了PFLPWA算子应用于群决策中的有效性和适用性。     

AN EXTENDED HIERARCHICAL LINGUISTIC MODEL FOR DECISION‐MAKING PROBLEMS

In multi‐expert decision making (MEDM) problems the experts provide their preferences about the alternatives according to their knowledge. Because they can have different knowledge, educational backgrounds, or experiences, it seems logical that they might use different evaluation scales to express their opinions. In the present article, we focus on decision problems defined in uncertain contexts where such uncertainty is modeled by means of linguistic information, therefore the decision makers would use different linguistic scales to express their evaluations on the alternatives, i.e., multigranular linguistic scales. Several computational approaches have been presented to manage multigranular linguistic scales in decision problems. Although they provide good results in some cases, still present limitations. A new approach, so‐called extended linguistic hierarchies, is presented here for managing multigranular linguistic scales to overcome those limitations, an MEDM case study is given to illustrate the proposed method.     

Z‐uncertain probabilistic linguistic variables and its application in emergency decision making for treatment of COVID‐19 patients

Probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs) have many applications in the field of group decision making (GDM) because it includes both linguistic evaluation and probabilistic distribution when expressing preference information. However, the difference of information credibility in PLTSs is ignored, resulting in an inaccurate representation of decision information and unreasonable probability calculation. In this paper, we first consider the credibility of the information and propose the concept of Z‐uncertain probabilistic linguistic variables (Z‐UPLVs). Subsequently, the operational rules, normalization, distance and similarity measures, and comparison method of Z‐UPLVs are introduced. Then, a probability calculation method based on credibility, an extended TOPSIS method, and some operators are proposed, which can be applied to emergency decision making in the Z‐uncertain probabilistic linguistic (Z‐UPL) environment. Finally, an emergency decision‐making case of COVID‐19 patients and comparative analysis illustrate the necessity and effectiveness of this method.