This is the first part of an introduction to multicriteria decision making using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and its generalization, the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The discussion involves individual and ...This is the first part of an introduction to multicriteria decision making using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and its generalization, the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The discussion involves individual and group decisions both with the independence of the criteria from the alternatives as in the AHP and also with dependence and feedback in the entire decision structure as in the ANP. This part explains the Analytic Hierarchy Process, with examples, and presents in some detail the mathematical foundations. An exposition of the Analytic Network Process and its applications will appear in later issues of this journal.展开更多
The basic concepts and models of weapon-target assignment （WTA） are introduced and the mathematical nature of the WTA models is also analyzed. A systematic survey of research on WTA problem is provided. The present ...The basic concepts and models of weapon-target assignment （WTA） are introduced and the mathematical nature of the WTA models is also analyzed. A systematic survey of research on WTA problem is provided. The present research on WTA is focused on models and algorithms. In the research on models of WTA, the static WTA models are mainly studied and the dynamic WTA models are not fully studied in deed. In the research on algorithms of WTA, the intelligent algorithms are often used to solve the WTA problem. The small scale of static WTA problems has been solved very well, however, the large scale of dynamic WTA problems has not been solved effectively so far. Finally, the characteristics of dynamic WTA are analyzed and directions for the future research on dynamic WTA are discussed.展开更多
Assessing the prognosis before treatment for metastatic spine tumor is extremely important in therapy selection.Therefore,we review some prognostic scoring systems and their outcomes.Articles with combinations of two ...Assessing the prognosis before treatment for metastatic spine tumor is extremely important in therapy selection.Therefore,we review some prognostic scoring systems and their outcomes.Articles with combinations of two keywords among"metastatic spine tumor"and"prognosis","score","scoring system","predicting",or"life expectancy"were searched for in Pub Med.As a result,236 articles were extracted.Those referring to representative scoring systems about predicting the survival of patients with metastatic spine tumors were used.The significance and limits of these scoring systems,and the future perspectives were described.Tokuhashi score,Tomita score,Baur score,Linden score,Rades score,and Katagiri score were introduced.They are all scoring systems prepared by combining factors that affect prognosis.The primary site of cancer and visceral metastasis were common factors in all of these scoring systems.Other factors selected to influence the prognosis varied.They were useful to roughly predict thesurvival period,such as,"more than one year or not"or"more than six months or not".In particular,they were utilized for decision-making about operative indications and avoidance of excessive medical treatment.Because the function depended on the survival period in the patients with metastatic spine tumor,it was also utilized in assessing functional prognosis.However,no scoring system had more than 90%consistency between the predicted and actual survival periods.Future perspectives should adopt more oncological viewpoints with adjustment of the process of treatment for metastatic spine tumor.展开更多
The dynamic weapon-target assignment （DWTA） problem is an important issue in the field of military command and control. An asset-based DWTA optimization model was proposed with four kinds of constraints considered, ...The dynamic weapon-target assignment （DWTA） problem is an important issue in the field of military command and control. An asset-based DWTA optimization model was proposed with four kinds of constraints considered, including capability constraints, strategy constraints, resource constraints and engagement feasibility constraints. A general ＂virtual＂ representation of decisions was presented to facilitate the generation of feasible decisions. The representation is in essence the permutation of all assignment pairs. A construction procedure converts the permutations into real feasible decisions. In order to solve this problem, three evolutionary decision-making algorithms, including a genetic algorithm and two memetic algorithms, were developed. Experimental results show that the memetic algorithm based on greedy local search can generate obviously better DWTA decisions, especially for large-scale problems, than the genetic algorithm and the memetic algorithm based on steepest local search.展开更多
BACKGROUND: Simulation-based medical education has been growing rapidly and becomes one of the most popular teaching methods for improving patient safety and patient care. The Simulation Subcommittee of the Hong Kong ...BACKGROUND: Simulation-based medical education has been growing rapidly and becomes one of the most popular teaching methods for improving patient safety and patient care. The Simulation Subcommittee of the Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine organized an educational program emphasizing the team training, clinical decision-making and communication skills. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of the participants toward a new training program and the change in the knowledge on clinical performance in emergency physicians and nurses after attending the educational program.METHODS: A course evaluation form was filled in by the participants at the end of the workshop. An assessment of 20 multiple-choice questions with 5 options was administered to the participants before and after the 2-day simulation-based training workshop.RESULTS: A total of 72 doctors and nurses working in the Accident and Emergency Department were enrolled. The average pretest and posttest scores were 12 and 14.3 respectively. The percentage improvement in the mean score of the pretest and posttest was 11.5%. The Chi-square test showed signifi cant improvement in the pretest and posttest score grading(P=0.00). Paired t-test revealed signifi cant difference between the mean scores of the pretest and posttest(P=0.00).CONCLUSIONS: Participants had positive attitude toward this new training program. Significant improvement of the knowledge on clinical performance in healthcare professionals in the Accident and Emergency Department was observed after the participation in this simulation-based educational program.展开更多
Due to the growing penetration of renewable energies(REs)in integrated energy system(IES),it is imperative to assess and reduce the negative impacts caused by the uncertain REs.In this paper,an unscented transformatio...Due to the growing penetration of renewable energies(REs)in integrated energy system(IES),it is imperative to assess and reduce the negative impacts caused by the uncertain REs.In this paper,an unscented transformation-based mean-standard(UT-MS)deviation model is proposed for the stochastic optimization of cost-risk for IES operation considering wind and solar power correlated.The unscented transformation(UT)sampling method is adopted to characterize the uncertainties of wind and solar power considering the correlated relationship between them.Based on the UT,a mean-standard(MS)deviation model is formulated to depict the trade-off between the cost and risk of stochastic optimization for the IES optimal operation problem.Then the UT-MS model is tackled by a multi-objective group search optimizer with adaptive covariance and Levy flights embedded with a multiple constraints handling technique(MGSO-ACL-CHT)to ensure the feasibility of Peratooptimal solutions.Furthermore,a decision-making method,improved entropy weight(IEW),is developed to select a final operation point from the set of Perato-optimal solutions.In order to verify the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed UT-MS model in dealing with the uncertainties of correlative wind and solar power,simulation studies are conducted on a test IES.Simulation results show that the UT-MS model is capable of handling the uncertainties of correlative wind and solar power within much less samples and less computational burden.Moreover,the MGSOACL-CHT and IEW are also demonstrated to be effective in solving the multi-objective UT-MS model of the IES optimal operation problem.展开更多
The services sector employs a large and growing proportion of workers in the industrialized nations, and it is increasingly dependent on information and communication technologies. While the interdependences, similari...The services sector employs a large and growing proportion of workers in the industrialized nations, and it is increasingly dependent on information and communication technologies. While the interdependences, similarities and complementarities of manufacturing and services are significant, there are considerable differences between goods and services, including the shift in focus from mass production to mass customization （whereby a service is produced and delivered in response to a customer＇s stated or imputed needs）. In general, services can be considered to be knowledge-intensive agents or components which work together as providers and consumers to create or co-produce value. Like manufacturing systems, an efficient service system must be an integrated system of systems, leading to greater connectivity and interdependence. Integration must occur over the physical, temporal, organizational and functional dimensions, and must include methods concerned with the component, the management, and the system. Moreover, an effective service system must also be an adaptable system, leading to greater value and responsiveness. Adaptation must occur over the dimensions of monitoring, feedback, cybernetics and learning, and must include methods concerned with space, time, and system. In sum, service systems are indeed complex, especially due to the uncertainties associated with the human-centered aspects of such systems. Moreover, the system complexities can only be dealt with methods that enhance system integration and adaptation. The paper concludes with several insights, including a plea to shift the current misplaced focus on developing a science or discipline for services to further developing a systems engineering approach to services, an approach based on the integration and adaptation of a host of sciences or disciplines （e.g., physics, mathematics, statistics, psychology, sociology, etc.）. In fact, what is required is a services-related transdisciplinary - beyond a single disciplinary - ontology or taxon展开更多
In the remote sensing survey of the country land, cost and accuracy are a pair of conflicts, for which spatial sampling is a preferable solution with the aim of an optimal balance between economic input and accuracy o...In the remote sensing survey of the country land, cost and accuracy are a pair of conflicts, for which spatial sampling is a preferable solution with the aim of an optimal balance between economic input and accuracy of results, or in other words, acquirement of higher ac-curacy at less cost. Counter to drawbacks of previous application models, e.g. lack of compre-hensive and quantitative-comparison, the optimal decision-making model of spatial sampling is proposed. This model first acquires the possible accuracy-cost diagrams of multiple schemes through initial spatial exploration, then regresses them and standardizes them into a unified ref-erence frame, and finally produces the relatively optimal sampling scheme by using the discrete decision-making function (built by this paper) and comparing them in combination with the dia-grams. According to the test result in the survey of the arable land using remotely sensed data, the Sandwich model, while applied in the survey of the thin-feature and cultivated land areas with aerial photos, can better realize the goal of the best balance between investment and accuracy. With this case and other cases, it is shown that the optimal decision-making model of spatial sampling is a good choice in the survey of the farm areas using remote sensing, with its distin-guished benefit of higher precision at less cost or vice versa. In order to extensively apply the model in the surveys of natural resources, including arable farm areas, this paper proposes the prototype of development using the component technology, that could considerably improve the analysis efficiency by insetting program components within the software environment of GIS and RS.展开更多
文摘This is the first part of an introduction to multicriteria decision making using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and its generalization, the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The discussion involves individual and group decisions both with the independence of the criteria from the alternatives as in the AHP and also with dependence and feedback in the entire decision structure as in the ANP. This part explains the Analytic Hierarchy Process, with examples, and presents in some detail the mathematical foundations. An exposition of the Analytic Network Process and its applications will appear in later issues of this journal.
基金This project was supported by the National Defense Pre-Research Foundation of China
文摘The basic concepts and models of weapon-target assignment （WTA） are introduced and the mathematical nature of the WTA models is also analyzed. A systematic survey of research on WTA problem is provided. The present research on WTA is focused on models and algorithms. In the research on models of WTA, the static WTA models are mainly studied and the dynamic WTA models are not fully studied in deed. In the research on algorithms of WTA, the intelligent algorithms are often used to solve the WTA problem. The small scale of static WTA problems has been solved very well, however, the large scale of dynamic WTA problems has not been solved effectively so far. Finally, the characteristics of dynamic WTA are analyzed and directions for the future research on dynamic WTA are discussed.
文摘Assessing the prognosis before treatment for metastatic spine tumor is extremely important in therapy selection.Therefore,we review some prognostic scoring systems and their outcomes.Articles with combinations of two keywords among"metastatic spine tumor"and"prognosis","score","scoring system","predicting",or"life expectancy"were searched for in Pub Med.As a result,236 articles were extracted.Those referring to representative scoring systems about predicting the survival of patients with metastatic spine tumors were used.The significance and limits of these scoring systems,and the future perspectives were described.Tokuhashi score,Tomita score,Baur score,Linden score,Rades score,and Katagiri score were introduced.They are all scoring systems prepared by combining factors that affect prognosis.The primary site of cancer and visceral metastasis were common factors in all of these scoring systems.Other factors selected to influence the prognosis varied.They were useful to roughly predict thesurvival period,such as,"more than one year or not"or"more than six months or not".In particular,they were utilized for decision-making about operative indications and avoidance of excessive medical treatment.Because the function depended on the survival period in the patients with metastatic spine tumor,it was also utilized in assessing functional prognosis.However,no scoring system had more than 90%consistency between the predicted and actual survival periods.Future perspectives should adopt more oncological viewpoints with adjustment of the process of treatment for metastatic spine tumor.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60374069)the Foundation of the Key Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligent Science, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 20060104)
文摘The dynamic weapon-target assignment （DWTA） problem is an important issue in the field of military command and control. An asset-based DWTA optimization model was proposed with four kinds of constraints considered, including capability constraints, strategy constraints, resource constraints and engagement feasibility constraints. A general ＂virtual＂ representation of decisions was presented to facilitate the generation of feasible decisions. The representation is in essence the permutation of all assignment pairs. A construction procedure converts the permutations into real feasible decisions. In order to solve this problem, three evolutionary decision-making algorithms, including a genetic algorithm and two memetic algorithms, were developed. Experimental results show that the memetic algorithm based on greedy local search can generate obviously better DWTA decisions, especially for large-scale problems, than the genetic algorithm and the memetic algorithm based on steepest local search.
基金sponsored by the Hospital Authority in Hong Kong
文摘BACKGROUND: Simulation-based medical education has been growing rapidly and becomes one of the most popular teaching methods for improving patient safety and patient care. The Simulation Subcommittee of the Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine organized an educational program emphasizing the team training, clinical decision-making and communication skills. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of the participants toward a new training program and the change in the knowledge on clinical performance in emergency physicians and nurses after attending the educational program.METHODS: A course evaluation form was filled in by the participants at the end of the workshop. An assessment of 20 multiple-choice questions with 5 options was administered to the participants before and after the 2-day simulation-based training workshop.RESULTS: A total of 72 doctors and nurses working in the Accident and Emergency Department were enrolled. The average pretest and posttest scores were 12 and 14.3 respectively. The percentage improvement in the mean score of the pretest and posttest was 11.5%. The Chi-square test showed signifi cant improvement in the pretest and posttest score grading(P=0.00). Paired t-test revealed signifi cant difference between the mean scores of the pretest and posttest(P=0.00).CONCLUSIONS: Participants had positive attitude toward this new training program. Significant improvement of the knowledge on clinical performance in healthcare professionals in the Accident and Emergency Department was observed after the participation in this simulation-based educational program.
基金supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51437006)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2017M622690).
文摘Due to the growing penetration of renewable energies(REs)in integrated energy system(IES),it is imperative to assess and reduce the negative impacts caused by the uncertain REs.In this paper,an unscented transformation-based mean-standard(UT-MS)deviation model is proposed for the stochastic optimization of cost-risk for IES operation considering wind and solar power correlated.The unscented transformation(UT)sampling method is adopted to characterize the uncertainties of wind and solar power considering the correlated relationship between them.Based on the UT,a mean-standard(MS)deviation model is formulated to depict the trade-off between the cost and risk of stochastic optimization for the IES optimal operation problem.Then the UT-MS model is tackled by a multi-objective group search optimizer with adaptive covariance and Levy flights embedded with a multiple constraints handling technique(MGSO-ACL-CHT)to ensure the feasibility of Peratooptimal solutions.Furthermore,a decision-making method,improved entropy weight(IEW),is developed to select a final operation point from the set of Perato-optimal solutions.In order to verify the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed UT-MS model in dealing with the uncertainties of correlative wind and solar power,simulation studies are conducted on a test IES.Simulation results show that the UT-MS model is capable of handling the uncertainties of correlative wind and solar power within much less samples and less computational burden.Moreover,the MGSOACL-CHT and IEW are also demonstrated to be effective in solving the multi-objective UT-MS model of the IES optimal operation problem.
文摘The services sector employs a large and growing proportion of workers in the industrialized nations, and it is increasingly dependent on information and communication technologies. While the interdependences, similarities and complementarities of manufacturing and services are significant, there are considerable differences between goods and services, including the shift in focus from mass production to mass customization （whereby a service is produced and delivered in response to a customer＇s stated or imputed needs）. In general, services can be considered to be knowledge-intensive agents or components which work together as providers and consumers to create or co-produce value. Like manufacturing systems, an efficient service system must be an integrated system of systems, leading to greater connectivity and interdependence. Integration must occur over the physical, temporal, organizational and functional dimensions, and must include methods concerned with the component, the management, and the system. Moreover, an effective service system must also be an adaptable system, leading to greater value and responsiveness. Adaptation must occur over the dimensions of monitoring, feedback, cybernetics and learning, and must include methods concerned with space, time, and system. In sum, service systems are indeed complex, especially due to the uncertainties associated with the human-centered aspects of such systems. Moreover, the system complexities can only be dealt with methods that enhance system integration and adaptation. The paper concludes with several insights, including a plea to shift the current misplaced focus on developing a science or discipline for services to further developing a systems engineering approach to services, an approach based on the integration and adaptation of a host of sciences or disciplines （e.g., physics, mathematics, statistics, psychology, sociology, etc.）. In fact, what is required is a services-related transdisciplinary - beyond a single disciplinary - ontology or taxon
基金the National Key Fundamental Research Development Planning Project(Grant No.KZCX1-Y-02)the High-tech Research and Development(863)Programme of the Ministry of Science and Technology(Grant No.2002AA135230)+1 种基金the Projects of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant Nos.KZ951-A1-302,KZ951-A1-203, KJ951-B1-703) the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.49871064 , 69896250).
文摘In the remote sensing survey of the country land, cost and accuracy are a pair of conflicts, for which spatial sampling is a preferable solution with the aim of an optimal balance between economic input and accuracy of results, or in other words, acquirement of higher ac-curacy at less cost. Counter to drawbacks of previous application models, e.g. lack of compre-hensive and quantitative-comparison, the optimal decision-making model of spatial sampling is proposed. This model first acquires the possible accuracy-cost diagrams of multiple schemes through initial spatial exploration, then regresses them and standardizes them into a unified ref-erence frame, and finally produces the relatively optimal sampling scheme by using the discrete decision-making function (built by this paper) and comparing them in combination with the dia-grams. According to the test result in the survey of the arable land using remotely sensed data, the Sandwich model, while applied in the survey of the thin-feature and cultivated land areas with aerial photos, can better realize the goal of the best balance between investment and accuracy. With this case and other cases, it is shown that the optimal decision-making model of spatial sampling is a good choice in the survey of the farm areas using remote sensing, with its distin-guished benefit of higher precision at less cost or vice versa. In order to extensively apply the model in the surveys of natural resources, including arable farm areas, this paper proposes the prototype of development using the component technology, that could considerably improve the analysis efficiency by insetting program components within the software environment of GIS and RS.
