The Encyclicon Volume 2

Volume 2 has a very detailed description of the strategic criteria used to rate the importance of the sub networks of Benefits - Opportunities - Costs and Risks (BOCR) The Encyclicon is an advanced dictionary of structures used to represent complex decisions. The first dictionary of hierarchic decision making was the Hierarchon. Since hierarchies are a special case of networks, the examples given here can be regarded as more general and complete representation of decision making. In particular, except for a group of market share examples, they all involve decisions made by considering Benefits (B), Opportunities (O), Costs (C) and Risks (R). They also involve a synthesis of these BOCR merits into a single overall best outcome for a decision. This is the first volume of the series of Encyclicon books. Each of the books contains different models from different years, collected by a different author along with Thomas L. Saaty and although all books tackle similar topics there are different models and different approaches on how to summarize and represent models for general use. These books are meant as a reference guide when you try to set up ANP or AHP complex decision models. The case studies in the books are linked to online reference material related to that which often include the super decision model, power point presentation and the original report of the case.

Volume 3 gives many examples of personal decisions formulated as complex decision models. There are many other kinds of models ranging from Strategy to Investment. The Encyclicon is an advanced dictionary of structures used to represent complex decisions. The first dictionary of hierarchic decision making was the Hierarchon. Since hierarchies are a special case of networks, the examples given here can be regarded as more general and complete representation of decision making. In particular, except for a group of market share examples, they all involve decisions made by considering Benefits (B), Opportunities (O), Costs (C) and Risks (R). They also involve a synthesis of these BOCR merits into a single overall best outcome for a decision. This is the first volume of the series of Encyclicon books. Each of the books contains different models from different years, collected by a different author along with Thomas L. Saaty and although all books tackle similar topics there are different models and different approaches on how to summarize and represent models for general use. These books are meant as a reference guide when you try to set up ANP or AHP complex decision models. The case studies in the books are linked to online reference material related to that which often include the super decision model, power point presentation and the original report of the case.

Volume 4 has a very large number of more recent case studies and takes a closer look to the building process of the Benefits - Opportunities-Costs and Risks models using AHP top level networks, rating of the B,O, C, R with the help of the strategic criteria and ANP bottom level networks. The Encyclicon is an advanced dictionary of structures used to represent complex decisions. The first dictionary of hierarchic decision making was the Hierarchon. Since hierarchies are a special case of networks, the examples given here can be regarded as more general and complete representation of decision making. In particular, except for a group of market share examples, they all involve decisions made by considering Benefits (B), Opportunities (O), Costs (C) and Risks (R). They also involve a synthesis of these BOCR merits into a single overall best outcome for a decision. This is the first volume of the series of Encyclicon books. Each of the books contains different models from different years, collected by a different author along with Thomas L. Saaty and although all books tackle similar topics there are different models and different approaches on how to summarize and represent models for general use. These books are meant as a reference guide when you try to set up ANP or AHP complex decision models. The case studies in the books are linked to online reference material related to that which often include the super decision model, power point presentation and the original report of the case.

Volume 1 has a very comprehensive chapter that describes the Analytic Network Process and a step by step description on how to design and implement a Benefits - Opportunities - Costs and Risks model. The Encyclicon is an advanced dictionary of structures used to represent complex decisions. The first dictionary of hierarchic decision making was the Hierarchon. Since hierarchies are a special case of networks, the examples given here can be regarded as more general and complete representation of decision making. In particular, except for a group of market share examples, they all involve decisions made by considering Benefits (B), Opportunities (O), Costs (C) and Risks (R). They also involve a synthesis of these BOCR merits into a single overall best outcome for a decision. This is the first volume of the series of Encyclicon books. Each of the books contains different models from different years, collected by a different author along with Thomas L. Saaty and although all books tackle similar topics there are different models and different approaches on how to summarize and represent models for general use. These books are meant as a reference guide when you try to set up ANP or AHP complex decision models. The case studies in the books are linked to online reference material related to that which often include the super decision model, power point presentation and the original report of the case.

When a group makes a decision, that decision carries a lot more weight than when just one person does it. Think of the founding fathers of the American constitution and how much power and influence their ideas have had in the entire world for more than two hundred years. Also think of gravity, a universal force brought about by an enormous number of minute particles that band together to make a universal law. Together, they create a massive force, a law of nature; alone they can barely be noticed. That is how our minds work by deciding together to create a power that transcends our individuality. Group decision making is a gift and an opportunity to create greater influence through the working together of many minds. This book shows how to use the Analytic Hierarchy Process for hierarchical decision making and the Analytic Network Process for decision making in networks with dependence and feedback in group decision making. Part I discusses the group and the decision and shows the importance of using a structured process, particularly for those high value decisions involving many powerful parties with different interests. It discusses how to facilitate a group decision, combine individual judgments and smooth differences to arrive at a decision that everyone can live with and get behind. Part II discusses the group in planning and how to draw out differences. Part III is about conflict resolution and Part IV is about how to address significant issues that come up in group decision making and shows that it is possible to construct an overall group preference.

The ever expanding abundance of information and computing power enables - searchers and users to tackle highly interesting issues, such as applications prov- ing personalized access and interactivity to multimodal information based on user preferences and semantic concepts or human-machine interface systems utilizing information on the affective state of the user. The general focus of the AIAI conf- ence is to provide insights on how AI can be implemented in real world applications. This volume contains papers selected for presentation at the 5th IFIP Conf- ence on Artificial Intelligence Applications & Innovations (AIAI 2009) being held from 23rd till 25th of April, in Thessaloniki, Greece. The IFIP AIAI 2009 conf- ence is co-organized by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, by the University of Macedonia Thessaloniki and by the Democritus University of Thrace. AIAI 2009 is the official conference of the WG12.5 "Artificial Intelligence Appli- tions" working group of IFIP TC12 the International Federation for Information Processing Technical Committee on Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is a conference growing and maintaining high standards of quality. The p- pose of the 5th IFIP AIAI Conference is to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in the technical advances and business / industrial - plications of intelligent systems. AIAI 2009 is not only focused in providing - sights on how AI can be implemented in real world applications, but it also covers innovative methods, tools and ideas of AI on architectural and algorithmic level.

In this book Thomas Saaty summarizes his Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) theory for measuring intangible factors through paired comparisons using judgments from which priorities are derived that give the relative dominance of these factors. The important concepts of the AHP and its generalization to structures with dependence and feedback, the Analytic Network Process (ANP), are presented in an elegant compact way and new extensions of the theory to complex decisions involving benefits, opportunities, costs and risks are presented. Applications to resource allocation and conflict resolution are included. The generalization to continuous comparisons is covered. The Encyclicon, three volumes are now available, is an encyclopedia of applications that is a useful accompaniment to the Principles of Mathematical Decision Making, containing of examples of practical decisions.

Researchers have been continually developing ways and means to improve quality in decision making. The success of a methodology is judged by its acceptability by the decision makers. In this context, it is beyond any argument that AHP has been massively successful. Readers of this volume will see, once again, that AHP has been applied in widely diverse areas. However, there are many more applications of AHP in other areas that are not reported here. We also don’t claim that the set of applications of AHP in the reported areas is exhaustive; it is far from complete. In fact, it will not be possible to capture all the real-world applications of AHP even by publishing many volumes of this kind. We hope that the readers will find the present compilation useful.