This paper presents new concepts and methodological tools to decide the investments that electric distribution utilities must perform under regulatory frameworks based on performance (Performance Based Regulation or PBR). The proposal is focused on short-term investments. In this work, the...

A key point in value engineering (VE) methodology is to acquire and apply knowledge of the assorted fields. An appropriate definition of VE expert knowledge flow could, therefore, yield more productive VE workshops. A conceptual expert case-based reasoning (CBR) framework is introduced in this...

Over the years, many private sector participation (PSP) models have been evolved for infrastructure procurement and the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model is one of the most common approaches used for the same. Private infrastructure projects under BOT arrangement have a complex risk profile and...

The paper illustrates a differential evolution (DE) algorithm to calculate the level-cuts of the fuzzy extension of a multidimensional real valued function to fuzzy numbers. The method decomposes the fuzzy extension engine into a set of "nested" min and max box-constrained op- timization...

Using historical time-series data, we test for convergence and common trends in real per capita output for New Zealand and her four major trading partners. Both bivariate and multivariate time-series methods are used, and we also implement the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm as a new method...

In a bilevel decision problem, both the leader and the follower may have multiple objectives, and the coefficients involved in these objective functions or constraints may be described by some uncertain values. To express such a situation, a fuzzy multi-objective bilevel (FMOBL) programming...

This paper presents a fuzzy set-based approach to the evaluation of information technology (IT) projects. We assume a multi-criteria decision-making framework, where sets of general and domain-specific criteria are used to judge the relative performance of alternative technologies. The...

When dealing with multi-criteria decision making problem the concept of Pareto -optimality and Pareto-dominance could be inefficient (the lack of unique solution), especially with many number of criteria. Our paper faces the fuzzy multi-criteria decision making problem based on Zadeh’s...

This study aims at proposing a modified 7-category fuzzy SERVQUAL to measure service quality for the banking sector. We have added new categories to the conventional SERVQUAL to account for the impacts of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, and e-banking. A...