Weimin Ma

An approach to emergency decision making based on decision-theoretic rough set over two universes

Emergency decision making is still an important issue in unconventional emergency management research. Although many studies have been written on this topic, they remain political and qualitative, and it is difficult to make them operational in practice. Therefore, this article proposes a decision-theoretic rough set over two universes as an approach for solving this difficulty. The proposed approach integrates rough set theory over two universes using a Bayesian decision-making technique. In this study, emergency decision making is considered as a multiple-criteria ranking or multiple-criteria selection problem with multi-granularity linguistic assessment information. A Bayesian decision process based on linguistic description with qualitative data over two universes is first presented to construct the decision model and approach, and then the decision-theoretic rough set theory over two universes is taken to induce a set of decision rules that satisfy minimum risk of loss conditions. These rules can easily give the optimal decision results with minimum risk of loss by considering online information, realistic scenarios, and the dynamic characteristic of unconventional emergency events as they develop. Finally, the steps and the basic principle of the proposed method are illustrated by a numerical example with the background of emergency decision making.

Rough set-based conflict analysis model and method over two universes

Rough set theory, as a new mathematical tool to handle uncertainty decision making problems, was used to study conflict analysis decision making in late90s, and then the Pawlak conflict analysis model was established. The approach of rough set provides a new perspective and also gives an effective tool to deal with conflict analysis decision making, both theoretically and practically. In this paper, we propose a new rough set model of conflict analysis: a conflict analysis decision model based on rough set theory over two universes. It is a natural extension of the Pawlak conflict analysis model. Subsequently, we define the conflict matrix and a consistent disagreement matrix on the basis of the model proposed in this paper. Then we can find the intrinsic reasons for conflict and attain a feasible strategy for a conflict situation. Furthermore, we define a positive alliance matrix and a negative alliance matrix for a conflict situation. These can help us analyze the opinions of different agents in the conflict situation. Moreover, we develop a matrix approach for a conflict analysis model based on rough set theory over two universes, which provides a convenient way to analyze and solve the conflict situation. Comparing to the Pawlak conflict analysis model, our proposed model not only could reveal the core causes for a conflict situation but also can find a possible optimal feasible consensus strategy to solve the conflict situation which satisfies the agents as much as possible. Finally, we illustrate the idea and the basic principles established in this paper by analyzing a conflict decision making scenario.

Mining potentially more interesting association rules with fuzzy interest measure

The association rules, discovered by traditional support–confidence based algorithms, provide us with concise statements of potentially useful information hidden in databases. However, only considering the constraints of minimum support and minimum confidence is far from satisfying in many cases. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy method to formulate how interesting an association rule may be. It is indicated by the membership values belonging to two fuzzy sets (i.e., the stronger rule set and the weaker rule set), and thus provides much more flexibility than traditional methods to discover some potentially more interesting association rules. Furthermore, revised algorithms based on Apriori algorithm and matrix structure are designed under this framework.

General relation-based variable precision rough fuzzy set

In order to effectively handle the real-valued data sets in practice, it is valuable from theoretical and practical aspects to combine fuzzy rough set and variable precision rough set so that a powerful tool can be developed. That is, the model of fuzzy variable precision rough set, which not only can handle numerical data but also is less sensitive to misclassification and perturbation,In this paper, we propose a new variable precision rough fuzzy set by introducing the variable precision parameter to generalized rough fuzzy set, i.e., the variable precision rough fuzzy set based on general relation. We, respectively, define the variable precision rough lower and upper approximations of any fuzzy set and it level set with variable precision parameter by constructive approach. Also, we present the properties of the proposed model in detail. Meanwhile, we establish the relationship between the variable precision rough approximation of a fuzzy set and the rough approximation of the level set for a fuzzy set. Furthermore, we give a new approach to uncertainty measure for variable precision rough fuzzy set established in this paper in order to overcome the limitations of the traditional methods. Finally, some numerical example are used to illuminate the validity of the conclusions given in this paper.

Probabilistic Fuzzy Rough Set Model over Two Universes

As a new generalization of Pawlak rough set, the theory and applications of rough set over two universes has brought the attention by many scholars in various areas. In this paper, we propose a new model of probabilistic fuzzy rough set by introducing the probability measure to the fuzzy compatibility approximation space over two universes. That is, the model defined in this paper included both of probabilistic rough set and fuzzy rough set over two universes. The probabilistic fuzzy rough lower and upper approximation operators of any subset were defined by the concept of the fuzzy compatible relation between two different universes. Since there has two parameters in the lower and upper approximations, we also give other definitions for probabilistic fuzzy rough set model under the framework of two universes with different combination of the parameters. Furthermore, we discuss the properties for the established model in detail and present several valuable conclusions. The results show that this model has more extensively applied fields.

Uncertain programming models for fixed charge multi-item solid transportation problem

This paper investigates the fixed charge multi-item solid transportation problem, in which the fixed charges, direct costs, transportation capacities, supply and demand are uncertain variables. Based on the uncertainty theory, expected value programming model and chance-constrained programming model for fixed charge multi-item solid transportation problem are constructed, respectively. We can obtain the optimal solution of two models via solving the relevant deterministic models. Finally, a numerical experiment is implemented to illustrate the application of the models.

A novel decision making approach based on intuitionistic fuzzy soft sets

Molodtsov’s soft set was initiated as a general emerging mathematical tool to deal with uncertain problems, which is free from the limitations of other traditional mathematical tool. It has been proven that decision making based on soft sets boom in recent years in many different fields. In this paper, a novel multi-criteria ranking approach is generalized based on intuitionistic fuzzy soft sets. There will be only one optimal decision among all the selections, instead of several or all by this method. Firstly, we present several notations named degree-hesitation function, score function and accuracy function to intuitionistic fuzzy soft set, and then give several principles based on these concepts. Some different decision making algorithms can be got for different preference, and a concrete algorithm is proposed in a certain condition. Moreover, we introduced the weighted ranking approach to the weighted intuitionistic fuzzy soft set. At the same time, both of these situations are proved to be effective with the help of examples. Finally, we conclude the research and further research directions.

The pricing strategy for Fuji apple in Shaanxi of Chain under the e-commerce environment

Purpose n n n n nThe purpose of this paper is to present a new method and model for determining the optimal decision-making for the pricing strategy to the Fuji apple in Shaanxi of Chain which is representing fresh agricultural products under the e-commerce environment. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nConsidering the rapid development of information technology as well as internet that actually motivate the e-commerce, Fuji apple is a distinctive product in China’s Shaanxi; its sales channels have extended to online sales under the wave of e-commerce. Internet trading platforms make it possible to trade online in real time between suppliers and customers who live in different geographical areas. In this paper, the authors study how to price online to maximize the total revenue. The challenge is to optimally price two different qualities of apple. Based on the consumer surplus theory, the authors use the method that builds the function of the relationship between the proportion of consumers purchasing different qualities of products and price. n n n n nFindings n n n n nThis paper presents a generalized model to determine the optimal pricing that maximizes the total revenue of a fruit grower over a finite planning horizon. The authors divided discount into two intervals and discussed the optimal discounting and pricing at both intervals. Then they determined the optimal pricing strategy for Fuji apple in Shaanxi of Chain under the e-commerce environment. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThis paper makes up for the lack of existing studies of pricing under the e-commerce environment. A new method and approach to the traditional pricing strategy is established and applied to a management decision-making problem with Chinese characteristics in reality.

Store-Brand Production Arrangement Based on the Game Theory

The increasing popularity of store brands is resulting in greater cannibalization of national brands. Thus, national-brand manufacturers are trying their best to confront this trend. At the same time, however, many leading national-brand manufacturers have become involved in the store-brand production of their counterpart retailers. We construct a game-theory-based framework to model the strategic interaction between a leading national-brand manufacturer and a retailer. Besides the national brand, the retailer also has an option for its own store brand to compete with the national brand head to head. There are two choices for the store-brand production available to the retailer: a fringe manufacturer with low production efficiency or alternatively the national-brand manufacturer with high efficiency. It is shown that, under certain conditions, there is a win-win situation for both the store-brand retailer and the national-brand manufacturer with the latter supplying the store brand. More interestingly, it is found that the national-brand manufacturer supplying the store brand may lead to a higher likelihood of the store brand introduction. Our study offers an explanation for why more and more national-brand manufacturers supply store brands.