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The application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method for the prioritization of pavement maintenance sections is widespread now-a-days. Although the evaluation of pavement maintenance section through AHP method is simple, where the relative importance (on Saaty's scale) assigned to each parameter in the hierarchy varies between the experts (transportation professionals) consulted, which leads to discrepancies in the final rankings of the sections', due to the subjectivity in the process. Further, experts base their decisions solely on their experience while consideration is not given to the actual quantitative physical condition of the roads. To overcome these difficulties an objective based AHP method is proposed in this study, where pairwise comparison values are assigned based on the collected field data from a road network in Mumbai city, consisting of 28 road sections. The final ranking list of candidate sections takes into consideration the priority weight of alternatives, which reflect the road conditions. The solution of priority ratings of AHP method is compared with the corresponding solution of road condition index method, a traditional pavement maintenance procedure. The findings of the present study suggest that objective based AHP method is more suitable for the prioritization of pavement maintenance of roads.

Abstract Background The World Health Organization and the European Union have set among their priority objectives the improvement of environmental quality and health, aiming to prevent environment-induced diseases. This requires the nationwide availability of reliable indicators of environmental quality and of epidemiological data. In Italy, the National Prevention Plan 2020-2025 aims to implement guidelines and actions to provide tools to facilitate the integration and synergy between the National Health System and the National System for Health Prevention from environmental-related health risks. Within this framework, the Integrated Database for Environment And Health (IDEAH) project aims at developing an online platform to collect and integrate the data related to environmental health nationwide, thus offering a data lakehouse architecture for supporting the achievement of such goals. Materials and methods We systematically investigated multiple sources of environmental factors, their characteristics and quality, looking also at their time coverage, spatial resolution, and validity. Similarly, we assessed the availability and completeness of national data flows about health endpoints potentially linked to environmental factors, including their spatial and time coverage, validity, and privacy constraints. We assigned a priority rating to exposures and outcomes of high relevance to identify the relation between the environment and health risks. Results and conclusions We identified and prioritized over 40 sources of environmental exposures, covering both terrestrial and satellite indicators related to air and soil pollution, land use, and other environmental factors. We also mapped a large number of national datasets potentially related to environmental health endpoints, including reproductive health outcomes, mortality and morbidity data, and hospital admissions. Assessment of data validity, priority and suitability for inclusion in the IDEAH platform, is ongoing. Key messages • Collecting, validating and integrating multiple data flows related to environmental quality and environmental health is a primary public health goal. • The Italian Integrated Database for Environment And Health – IDEAH aims at identifying and combining nationwide data of terrestrial and satellite environmental quality, and health endpoints.

In disease control, the program officers are vital to the successful implementation of control strategies. However, poor knowledge of the disease and its control, staff attrition, and lack of intentional training for new staff can lead to under-performance and ineffectiveness of interventions. Thus, the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, in collaboration with National Malaria Elimination Program, planned a malaria short course (MSC) to strengthen the capacity of current program managers and incoming staff. To guide the development of the curriculum for the MSC, we conducted a needs assessment survey to ascertain the perceived usefulness of the MSC, the priority rating of MSC thematic domains and associated factors. Overall, 384 purposively selected respondents across ten states and the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria were interviewed. These comprised malaria and non-malaria control program staff at state, local government area (LGA) and ward levels. We administered a structured questionnaire to elicit information on socio-demographics, training needs, priority malaria thematic domains, perceived course usefulness and willingness of ministries/organizations to release staff to attend the MSC. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics at p<0.05. Mean age was 43.9 (standard deviation: 7.6 years), 172 (44.8%) were females. Of the 384 respondents, 181 (47.1%), 144 (37.5%) and 59 (15.4%) were at the ward, LGA and state levels, respectively. Seventy-two (18.8%) had never worked in malaria control program. Majority (98.7%, n = 379) reported the need for further training, 382 (99.5%) opined that the course would be useful, and all affirmed their employers' willingness towards their participation at the training. Respondents rated high the domains of basic malariology, malaria treatment, malaria prevention, surveillance/data management, use of computers, leadership skills, program management and basic statistics. Predictors of malaria topical domains' high rating were gender (odds ratio (OR) = 6.77; 95% CI:3.55-12.93) and educational qualifications (OR = 0.48; 95% CI:0.26-0.89). A malaria short course is a necessity and appropriate for program officers at different levels of health administration in Nigeria to achieve malaria elimination, taking into consideration the challenges of human resource retention. The outcome of this study should inform the curriculum and the delivery of the MSC.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to select a suitable procurement method for steel building construction in Sri Lanka following a systematic method which weigh, both procurement selection factors and existing procurement systems.Design/methodology/approachAn abductive research stance is followed in this empirical study. Procurement selection factors were selected through a critical literature review which was followed by a quantitative questionnaire survey. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis and relative important index.FindingsThe critical literature review outlined 46 procurement selection factors, out of which 26 factors were very important in steel building procurement selection. Short construction period and higher constructability of design are ranked at the top with the highest priority rating factors. Management-oriented procurement system was selected as the most appropriate procurement system for steel building constructions within the Sri Lankan context.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to widely use three procurement systems in Sri Lankan construction industry. Yet, the process followed in selecting the most appropriate procurement system could be applied for other contexts. The implications of the study are mainly identifying management-oriented procurement as the most suitable procurement method for steel building construction in Sri Lanka.Practical implicationsThe systematic procedure of procurement method selection for steel building construction may use in the Sri Lankan construction industry to limit the resource loss due to wrong selection of procurement.Originality/valueA study which critically and comprehensively presenting a procurement selection process for steel building construction is not recorded in Sri Lanka prior to this study.

Purpose – In the rapidly changing business environment, companies must align with suppliers to streamline operations, as well as working together to achieve a level of agility beyond individual companies (Lin et al., 2006). Today’s more dynamic business environment increases the need for greater agility in supply chains, which increases both the importance and frequency of supplier/partner evaluation and benchmarking decision making. The purpose of this paper is to develop a multiple criterion appraisement index (model/module) for supplier/partner alternative firm benchmarking perspective under similar agile supply chain architecture. Design/methodology/approach – In this reporting, evaluation information against subjectivity (uncertain environment) indices has been transformed mathematical dimensionless numbers by fuzzy-based computation module. A new interval-valued fuzzy number set conjunction with modified “technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution” methodology has been explored from benchmarking (ranking order of firm under similar criterion) point of view of supplier firms. Findings – In this context, a novel “fuzzy mathematical equation” has been developed in perceptive to compute the priority weights and appropriateness ratings of first-level measures which reduced the acquisition of supplementary priority weights and appropriateness ratings assessment in linguistic terms from group decision makers (DMs) for first-level indices. An empirical case study has been carried to ranking order the candidate partner/supplier alternative via collective index (CI) value. Lower value of “CI” reflected higher degree of performance extent. The authors found out the effectiveness and validity of proposed methodology for constructed appraisement module. Originality/value – This research work shall be valuable for that organization which volunteer to obtain the ranking order of partner/supplier alternative (benchmark) under similar agile supply chain architecture in accordance to group DMs’ comprehensive information for select best one supplier for own firm. In this reporting, a novel fuzzy mathematical equation has been developed in order to compute the important weights as well as priority rating of first-level indices/measure which reduced the supplementary important weights and priority rating assessment from group DMs in linguistic terms in order to obtain the measures rating and weights.

In accordance with Regulation number 1 the year 1994 concerning the general spatial plan, the development must be optimally utilized without ignoring the principle of balance and sustainability. Development programs implemented by the Government of Bantul (for the rest of the abstract defines as Bantul), specifically the physical construction of the building, or in other words the infrastructure is currently progressing incredibly fast. It is marked with the number of facilities and public services buildings in the Bantul such as government buildings, educational and health facilities, etc. The process of physical building assessment submitted by the regional work units (Satuan Kerja Perangkat Daerah/SKPD). It requires good planning since it involves massive costs and also complies with general spatial planning of Bantul. This research aimed to establish a system of decision making to assess a proposal of the physical development building by using case-based reasoning (CBR). The assessment process is done by entering values on the elements of assessment and also to determine the priority rating for each type of building. The algorithm used is k-Nearest Neighbor with a similarity function by using the Normalized Euclidean Distance. The results show that recommendations follow-on from physical development proposal assessment decision depends on the recommendation of previous cases buildings that ranked first in a list of cases with the results of its smallest Euclidean. Leaders as decision-makers can make decisions by following recommendations issued by the system, but leaders can also determine the outcome of their decisions without following system recommendations.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the significant corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues and to analyze the interaction among them in order to improve supply chain performance (SCP) system of an organization. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objective, a preference rating approach (synthesized in company preference rating (CPR) and company satisfaction assessment (CSA) approaches) has been used in two stages as: stage 1, relative importance rating (RIR) of identified issues has been computed using CPR approach. For this, preference graphs have been developed based on the field expert’s opinions using graph-theory-based representation technique. In stage 2: competitive priority ratings of CSR issues with respect to competitive strategies have been calculated using CSA approach. Findings – Based on RIRs (stage 1), it has been noticed that issue namely “social benefits for employees” is more desirable among all considered issues. In stage 2, based on competitive priority ratings, the issue “social benefits for employees” is more important for an organization to build a better brand reputation through CSR activities and issue “degree of CSR implementation” is more significant in order to improve the SCP of an organization. The issue “environmental protection” helps the organization to reduce their overall environmental impact and also provides an aid in achieving long-term sustainable goals of an organization. Research limitations/implications – The findings of present research gives an idea about the importance of CSR issues, based on this, managers can decide, which issue is more significant and can help in taking decisions and framing strategies in context of CSR for improving the SCP of their organization effectively and efficiently. Originality/value – As per the best knowledge, recognized CSR issues have been considered first time to quantify the CSR-based SCP of Indian automobile industries located near around Delhi region, India. This paper may provide an aid to the managers in making the CSR-based policies to enhance their SCP.

In the highly competitive marketplace, customer satisfaction is one of the critical success factors to many leading companies. Quality function deployment (QFD) has been regarded as a powerful customer-oriented design tool for developing new or improved products to achieve higher customer satisfaction by integrating various functions of an organization. In the QFD process, correctly rating the importance of customer requirements (CRs) is a crucial and essential step since it largely affects the target value setting of design requirements (DRs). This paper proposes a novel approach to prioritize CRs from the viewpoint of company’s competitiveness (i.e., competitive priority ratings). The key characteristic of proposed approach is to model the customer’s preference structure as the form of customer satisfaction function by combining the competitive benchmarking analysis with Kano’s analysis. Finally, the proposed approach is illustrated with a numerical example of car door design problem.

Operator training simulators (OTS) are widely used in several industries including chemical processing, oil and gas, medicine, aircraft and nuclear facilities. However, developing a biorefinery OTS is a complex engineering design activity that requires a structured technique. This paper presents a structured methodology that applies design frameworks from other disciplines and a user-centred approach for biorefinery OTS design. These include the definition of end user requirements (operator training needs), and the analysis of these requirements using Quality Function Deployment (QFD). Furthermore, an algorithm for bioprocess optimisation and automatic adjustment of operating parameters is developed for integration into the OTS. This algorithm is based on the Nelder-Mead simplex method for multi-dimensional function minimisation. Identified user requirements were categorized into primary, secondary and tertiary training needs, with increasing levels of detail from primary to tertiary needs. The relationships between identified operator training needs and OTS technical and functional specifications were investigated, and a priority rating assigned to the most important OTS specifications. Identified OTS specifications were evaluated for robustness to ensure that important features were not omitted from the final design.

Customer satisfaction is one of the critical success factors to many leading companies over the world. Quality function deployment (QFD) has gained extensive international support as one of the powerful techniques to increase the customer satisfaction. In the QFD, correctly rating the final importance of customer requirements (CRs) is a crucial and essential process since it largely affects the target value setting of design requirements. The final importance ratings of CRs are generally determined by combining relative importance ratings and competitive priority ratings. However, determining the final importance ratings is very difficult due to the typical uncertainty or imprecision of customer’s judgment (or perceptions). This paper proposes a novel approach to prioritize CRs in QFD process by developing two sets of new rating methods, called customer preference rating (CPR) method and customer satisfaction rating (CSR) method, for relative importance ratings and competitive priority ratings, respectively. The CPR method provides a simple and intuitive technique to capture the customers’ incomplete or uncertain perceptions on the relative importance of CRs based on their own preferences, allowing them to give a partial ordering of CRs. The CSR method constructs the customer satisfaction model based on the competitive benchmarking analysis and then evaluates the performance quality of company product using our satisfaction and uncertainty measure. Furthermore, the CSR method is integrated with the Kano’s model to capture the different impacts of CRs on customer satisfaction. Finally, the proposed approach is illustrated with a numerical example of car door design problem.