A preliminary study on criteria weights for a library's digital resource selection:From the viewpoints of both users and librarians

Through investigating both users' and librarians' perceptions of the relative importance of the major criteria governing the selection of digital resources, we attempted to develop a criterion weight framework for a library's selection of digital resources, which can meet both the users' requirements and the library's goal of developing digital collections. The respective weight of each specific criterion is decided through the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) Method. The findings of this study indicate that, when assigning weights to the selection criteria, it is important to consult the opinions of a wide crosssection of people, especially the views of different users. As a result, the digital resource selection system characterized by the criteria weights can reflect more comprehensively the users' requirements, and meanwhile it enables librarians' more rational selection of digital resources.

Assessing Criteria Weights by the Symmetry Point of Criterion (Novel SPC Method)–Application in the Efficiency Evaluation of the Mineral Deposit Multi-Criteria Partitioning Algorithm

Information about the relative importance of each criterion or theweights of criteria can have a significant influence on the ultimate rank of alternatives.Accordingly,assessing the weights of criteria is a very important task in solving multi-criteria decision-making problems.Three methods are commonly used for assessing the weights of criteria:objective,subjective,and integrated methods.In this study,an objective approach is proposed to assess the weights of criteria,called SPCmethod(Symmetry Point of Criterion).This point enriches the criterion so that it is balanced and easy to implement in the process of the evaluation of its influence on decision-making.The SPC methodology is systematically presented and supported by detailed calculations related to an artificial example.To validate the developed method,we used our numerical example and calculated the weights of criteria by CRITIC,Entropy,Standard Deviation and MEREC methods.Comparative analysis between these methods and the SPC method reveals that the developedmethod is a very reliable objective way to determine the weights of criteria.Additionally,in this study,we proposed the application of SPCmethod to evaluate the efficiency of themulti-criteria partitioning algorithm.The main idea of the evaluation is based on the following fact:the greater the uniformity of the weights of criteria,the higher the efficiency of the partitioning algorithm.The research demonstrates that the SPC method can be applied to solving different multi-criteria problems.

Landfill Siting Evaluation Using GIS and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Method: A Case Study: Dammam Municipal Solid Waste Landfill

Waste landfills are a prominent global issue that does not concern a country without the other because of its long-term effects especially in the environmental aspect. As these pose an environmental threat to water, air and soil;and directly affect human life and health. Accordingly, this research uses the integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approaches to assess the location of the municipal solid waste dump in Dammam, which was established in (2000AD) twenty years ago, due to the lack of recent studies assessing the current status of the landfill and whether it is in a suitable location and keeps pace with the population and urbanization increase in the region. For this purpose, the researchers are using the tools and techniques of GIS to evaluate eight criteria on the study area. The required standards were directed to the landfill site and transformed into maps that represent the most important economic, social, environmental, geological, geomorphological and Public Acceptance standards. These standards have been processed using the tools of spatial and statistical analyses. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is implemented in geographical information system for building the suitable cartographic model, and thus allowed to determine the suitable degree of Dammam municipal solid waste landfill site in light of the study criteria. The study concluded that the current landfill site achieves a good degree of suitability, as it achieved 63% measured against the quality standards set by the study, and that the current landfill site conforms to most of the criteria in this study to a good degree. But it violates two standards, which are distance from wells standard and distance between landfill and the center of waste generation standard.

Analytic Hierarchy Process for Evaluating Flipped Classroom Learning

In reality,the flipped classroom has gained popularity as a modern way of structuring teaching,where lectures move from in-class procedures to digitally-based assignments,freeing up the debate,and practice exercises class time.Therefore,it is essential to implement and analyze a way of teaching that will improve student performance.The paper aims to develop a model of the method of teaching science in Iraqi schools,and to assess whether teaching flipped classroom affects the achievement,motivation,and creative thinking of students by using the methodology of Multi-Criteria Decision Making(MCDM)in the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP).The AHP approach includes several steps,including setting assessment criteria and their weights,and by assessing the methodology of the flipped classroom as compared to the conventional cognitive learning process.An experiment was carried out in Iraqi secondary schools to examine the attitude of the students towards the subject of Chemistry.The findings have indicated that the students and teachers favored flipped classroom learning more than conventional cognitive learning.The study took the following parameters compared to the traditional approach:teaching techniques,learning flexibility,teaching aids effectiveness,student participation and working environment.This paper indicates that the teachers in Iraqi schools will be able to improve and do more preparation to shift towards flipped learning in the classroom.

Occupational health and safety performance evaluation of countries based on MAIRCA

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to compare occupational health and safety(OHS)performances of countries.Additionally,another aim is to debate the impacts of using recorded data and ratios for OHS performance evaluations.Design/methodology/approach-The number of fatal accidents(NFAs),fatal accident rates(FARs),numbers of lost days(NLDs)and accident severity rates(ASRs)are determined as main criteria and six economic activity areas(EAAs)are considered as sub-criteria.Two different initial decision matrices are used as the initial decision matrix,the first of which consists of recorded data of countries related to NFAs and NLDs,and the second consists of FAR and ASR values as ratios.Importance weights of main and sub-criteria regarding the recorded data and ratios are determined using four different weighting ways.Countries are ranked via utilizing Multi-Attributive Ideal-Real Comparative Analysis considering two different initial decision matrices.Findings-It can be stated that an evaluation based on ratios for comparison of OHS performance provides more realistic results.Additionally,increasing the effect of the FAR values using the 6,000 equivalent lost days factor is also important in terms of differentiating the data of the countries in question.Originality/value-To the best of the authors’knowledge,there is no study in literature that discusses the ranking of countries by means of recorded data and ratios considering different criteria.Additionally,this study is a first in terms of the number of countries evaluated and the comparison of these countries according to their respective EAAs.

Stability Analysis of Ranking Alternatives Based on Subjective and Objective Weight

Weights of criteria are used to assess the relative importance of the different criteria in multicriteria analysis, which can influence ranking result more or less depending on the multicriteria decision-making method used. In this paper, the influences of alternatives′ ranking result associated with the change of weight are discussed by making use of the concept of weight stability intervals based on subjective and objective integrated weighting approach. Meamwhile, A model of weight proportion stability intervals is proposed. a numeral example is used to illuminate how many increment of objective weight can change the ranking results determined by subjective weight.