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Flooding is one of the major natural catastrophic disasters that causes massive environmental and socioeconomic destruction. The magnitude of losses due to floods has prompted researchers to focus more on robust and comprehensive modeling approaches for alleviating flood damages. Recently developed multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods are being widely used to construct decision-making process more participatory, rational, and efficient. In this study, two statistical MCDM approaches, namely the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), have been employed to generate flood risk maps together with hazard and vulnerability maps in a GIS framework for Navsari city in Gujarat, India, to identify the vulnerable areas that are more susceptible to inundation during floods. The study area was divided into 10 sub areas (i.e., NC1 to NC10) to appraise the degree of flood hazard, vulnerability and risk intensities in terms of areal coverage and categorized under 5 intensity classes, viz., very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. A total of 14 flood indicators, seven each for hazard (i.e., elevation, slope, drainage density, distance to river, rainfall, soil, and flow accumulation) and vulnerability (i.e., population density, female population, land use, road network density, household, distance to hospital, and literacy rate) were considered for evaluating the flood risk. Flood risk coverage evaluated from the two approaches were compared with the flood extent computed from the actual flood data collected at 36 random locations. Results revealed that the TOPSIS approach estimated more precise flood risk coverage than the AHP approach, yielding high R 2 values, i.e., 0.78 to 0.95 and low RMSE values, i.e., 0.95 to 0.43, for all the 5 risk intensity classes. The sub areas identified under "very high" and "high" risk intensity classes (i.e., NC1, NC4, NC6, NC7, NC8, and NC10) call for immediate flood control measures with a view to palliate the extent of flood risk and consequential damages. The study demonstrates the potential of AHP and TOPSIS integrated with GIS towards precise identification of flood-prone areas for devising effective flood management strategies., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Green hydrogen can be the transitional solution required to reduce anthropogenic emissions and enhance energy independency from fossil fuel. To improve green hydrogen adoption, a cluster-based infrastructure, called a hydrogen hub, is devised taking into account the demand-supply interplay coupled with transport ease. In this paper, we have identified sites across states that are conducive for hydrogen hubs. It involves a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) framework deployed to assign priorities within competing set of criteria. A comprehensive analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to rank criteria that are connected to establish a functioning hydrogen hub. These criteria include, but not limited to, proximity to refineries, fertilizer plants, substations, chlor-alkali units, steel manufacturing plants, water availability, access to gas pipelines, railway line access, and finally distance to highways. Our analyses indicate that proximity to refineries and fertilizers scored higher (scores directly proportional to importance) while railway line access scored the least. These prioritised scores are used to spatially locate sites using geographical information system. In a total of thirteen states identified, Gujarat had the largest parcel of most suitable land for setting up hydrogen hub followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. For India to set up a functioning hydrogen economy and achieve green hydrogen goals, it is important to identify states that can drive the agenda forward. This paper illustrates a way (amongst many available ways) to identify states based on their strength and capability to fulfil the national goal of 5 million tons of green hydrogen by 2030. • The paper addresses setting up of green hydrogen hubs in India based on a multi-criteria site selection framework. • Nine selection criteria covering aspects of hydrogen ecosystem proposed to identify site(s) suitable for hydrogen hubs. • Integration of AHP and GIS is used to ascertain land parcels where hydrogen economy can sustain across states in India. • Zones in 13 states were identified as potential hydrogen hubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to assess and evaluate the condition of existing bridges adequately and accurately is a critical aspect of bridge maintenance and management, which involves condition assessments. Multiple hazards can affect existing bridges, making them vulnerable or risky, and any decision support concerning their management requires special attention. A rational and systematic framework for making practical decisions about the hazards present in a region and the appropriate level of risk is presented in this paper. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) framework is proposed to rank hazards in hierarchical order based on a region's characteristics and a suitable analysis range, which provides the degree of risk that could jeopardise bridges. The proposed method can assist decision makers in selecting appropriate strategies for improving existing bridges. As a result, bridge inspection costs can be significantly reduced, maintenance and repair funds can be more effectively allocated and the safety, mobility, longevity and reliability of highway transportation assets can be improved. The approach was used in a case study of existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges in the Barak Valley region in Assam, India. Such an approach is novel to the Indian subcontinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen is the new age alternative energy source to combat energy demand and climate change. Storage of hydrogen is vital for a nation's growth. Works of literature provide different methods for storing the produced hydrogen, and the rational selection of a viable method is crucial for promoting sustainability and green practices. Typically, hydrogen storage is associated with diverse sustainable and circular economy (SCE) criteria. As a result, the authors consider the situation a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Studies infer that previous models for hydrogen storage method (HSM) selection (i) do not consider preferences in the natural language form; (ii) weights of experts are not methodically determined; (iii) hesitation of experts during criteria weight assessment is not effectively explored; and (iv) three-stage solution of a suitable selection of HSM is unexplored. Driven by these gaps, in this paper, authors put forward a new integrated framework, which considers double hierarchy linguistic information for rating, criteria importance through inter-criteria correlation (CRITIC) for expert weight calculation, evidence-based Bayesian method for criteria weight estimation, and combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) for ranking HSMs. The applicability of the developed framework is testified by using a case example of HSM selection in India. Sensitivity and comparative analysis reveal the merits and limitations of the developed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the world faces different issues, and proper healthcare waste (HCW) treatment is one of them. If appropriate disposal of HCW is not performed, it will have hazardous effects on humanity. This paper has identified the significant barriers hindering the proper treatment of healthcare waste management (HCWM) with the strategies to overcome these barriers., Design/methodology/approach: This paper has identified the significant barriers hindering the proper treatment of HCWM with the strategies to overcome these barriers, and different barriers are identified and categorized into organizational, waste handling, human resource and technical barriers. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) process is used to rank the barriers and sub-barriers. Then, the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method evaluates the strategies for proper implementation of HCWM., Findings: The results show that organizational barriers are the most significant barrier, with a lack of coordination of hospitals with other authorities and no priority given to waste management issues as highly ranked barriers. The results of the Fuzzy TOPSIS method indicate that "Increase govt support and policies" and "Enhance training and awareness of employees" are the most feasible strategies to overcome these barriers for the successful implementation of HCWM., Practical Implications: This study will be helpful in policy formulations for the proper treatment of HCW in an efficient manner. This paper helps to complete the research gap by providing the different characteristics of barriers., Originality/value: This paper fills the research gap by expanding the limited knowledge in this field and providing further evidence on this phenomenon. The study also enables the distinctive characteristics of barriers to be understood within a particular context., (© Emerald Publishing Limited.)

It is well established that the existing building environmental assessment methods and sustainability assessment methods are intended to foster detailed design stage while there is a need to support early design stages. This research intends to develop a framework that actively supports design development at the formative design stages. The paper reviews the well-established building environmental assessment methods: CASBEE, LEED, BREEAM and GRIHA, and the existing sustainability assessment methods: iiSBE's Sustainable Building Tool (SB Tool), German Sustainable Building Council's Certificate Program (DGNB), Living Building Challenge (LBC) and ARUP's Sustainable Project Assessment Routine SPeAR®. Further, well-known theories of ecological Sustainability are reviewed. The critical points of convergence and divergence of anthropocentric and biocentric approaches are identified to articulate the parameters of sustainability assessment. Specialists in the sustainable built environment assigned weights for assessment parameters (criteria) by applying the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Their specialist opinions manifest the particular features of the Indian context. The paper delineates the Biocenosis, a novel framework for sustainability assessment of the built environment rooted in the concept of the synergy of nature with social, economic, environmental and cultural benefits for the context of India. It is intended to aid building professionals in the formative design phases as it enables an integrated and comprehensive assessment of the level to which the requirement of a sustainable built environment is satisfied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose-This paper aims to extend the existing body of knowledge of AM and thus provides an interesting aspect for scholars within this area. Furthermore, the research paper will reduce the scarcity of research conducted within the field of SMEs and AM particularly with regard to AMEs. Methodology -Twenty interviews with managers have been conducted in order to capture the big picture of how the SMEs in the chosen industry enable responsiveness to changes. Result - Agile manufacturing is indeed relevant in the studied industry as it is driven by agility drivers and thus characterized by fast-changing technologies and well-educated customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to understand the factors that determine the quality of higher educational institutions and to measure the relative importance of those factors from the students' perspective. A multi‐criteria decision‐making methodology (MCDM), that is, the fuzzy analytical hierarchical process has been used for measuring the relative importance of factors which determine the student satisfaction with regard to perceived quality in education. The measurement of relative weights of the factors that determine the quality of higher educational institutions as per the perception of the students has been done. Further best preference structure of the students for educational institutions has been found from the study. The study was confined to Punjab state of India that means only the perception of students of this particular region was measured. Moreover, the factors undertaken in this study are also limited which were identified from the extensive review of the literature but there is a possibility that some factors might have been ignored. The results of this study can be used to measure the internal quality by the higher educational institutions. In addition to this, the study may be helpful to higher educational institutions to identify the weak areas to be worked upon and give the students as better as possible quality from the students' perspective. The paper attempts to understand the determinants of quality and to prioritize those for educational institutions as perceived by the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an attempt has been made to ascertain the erosion susceptibility of the Mayurakshi Drainage System in Eastern India using the 12.5 m resolution ALOS-PALSAR DEM dataset by the morphometric attributes viz. relief, surface, drainage texture and topography. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was carried out for ascertaining the erosion susceptibility of the area under consideration. The methodology followed essentially differs from the traditional AHP technique because while assigning weights to multiple parameters, the study has depended on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) instead of the opinion of the experts which are often contradictory. The relative importance of each parameter was calculated from the loading ratios of different parameters under PCA. Furthermore, instead of taking only one PC, we have taken six PCs with a cumulative explained variance of 99.13%. Finally, these AHP-based erosion susceptibility maps were weighted with respect to their explained variances (obtained from PCA for individual component) and the final map displaying the spatial variation of erosion susceptibility in the Mayurakshi Drainage System was obtained. Analysis reveals that, by and large, the area is characterized by lower susceptibility scores with the solitary exception of the middle domain of the Mayurakshi Basin and the upper reach of the Dwarka River. Here, the erosion susceptibility is greatly elevated due to the fact that the rivers have to encounter and incise across a number of low-lying hills which may be considered to be offshoots of the Chhotanagpur Plateau. In other areas, the susceptibility of erosion is reasonably modest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper proposes a decision-making framework for assessing various dimensions and barriers that have affected the admission process in management educational institutions during the ongoing pandemic. The framework considers the interrelationship between the obstacles and highlights the importance of each barrier. Design/methodology/approach: An integrated method based on decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory and analytical network process is proposed to structure the barrier assessment framework. Results obtained from the study are validated by comparing them against the conventional analytical hierarchy process. Findings: The results obtained from this study indicate four significant dimensions that hinder admission in Indian management institutes, namely, governmental, financial, sectoral, institutional and market. The top five barriers are demand shift towards technical (alternative) skills, acceptance of the graduated students, lack of industry–institute collaboration, lack of long-term vision and opening new Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) and Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs). Research limitations/implications: During this ongoing pandemic, many educational institutes have been forced to shift from the traditional classroom to a virtual teaching model. In this regard, this study helps identify and assess the barriers to admission in Indian management institutes during this epidemic and thus, contribute to the literature. The findings will assist all stakeholders and policymakers of management institutions design and develop appropriate managerial strategies. The study is conducted in the Indian management educational institute context and can be extended to technical education institutions for deeper insights. Originality/value: The paper develops an assessment framework for analysing the barriers to admission in Indian management institutes during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Research implications are discussed in the context of a developing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters such as earthquakes endanger human lives and infrastructure, particularly in urban areas. With the advancements in science and technology in understanding natural hazards, recent studies have attempted to mitigate them by mapping the risks using geospatial technology. In this paper, we attempt to integrate the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) models, namely the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation (CRITIC), besides using the artificial neural network (ANN) to assess the seismic risk in the eastern coast of India. The AHP-CRITIC technique is used to evaluate the earthquake coping capacity and vulnerability and has been further used to generate a training base for earthquake probability mapping by ANN. The earthquake probability and spatial intensity information are used to develop the hazard map. Following that, integrating vulnerability, hazard and coping capacity spatial information assessed earthquake risk. Our results indicate that approximately 5% of the study area is at high risk, whilst more than 11% of the population is at high risk due to seismic induced hazards. The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve is 0.85, which indicates reliable results. The results of this study may help various agencies involved in planning, development and disaster mitigation to develop seismic hazard mitigation methods by better understanding their impacts on the eastern coastal region of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater resources are alarmingly depleting due to over-exploitation and significant climate changes over time. Therefore, demarcation of groundwater potential zones is essential for addressing the needs of various industries in semi-arid area. Depleting groundwater resources, topography, aquifer features and climatic factors make it necessary to demarcate ground water potential zones in semiarid region of Rajasthan. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Multi Influence Factor (MIF) were used to determine the groundwater potential zones (GWPZs) in the semi-arid region of Jaipur, located in western Rajasthan. In present study, ten influential factors were employed i.e., geomorphology, land use/land cover (LULC), drainage density, rainfall, topographic wetness index (TWI), soil texture, slope, roughness, topographic position index (TPI) and curvature. In AHP technique, the pairwise comparison matrix was generated, and weightages were given to each thematic layer while for MIF, a proposed score for each layer was computed from the aggregate weight of major and minor effects. The GWPZ map generated by AHP technique was categorised into three parts: high, moderate and poor potential zones, covering 13%, 50.7% and 36.3% of the district. While, the GWPZ map produced with the MIF technique was also divided into the same poor, moderate, and high categories, encompassing 35.3, 44.1, and 20.6% of the district, respectively. The results of AHP and MIF techniques were then cross-validated with well depth data obtained from CGWB report, 2019-20. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were plotted and the findings shows that the Area under the Curve (AUC) was 79% and 76% for AHP and MIF, respectively which is considered as moderate to high in predictive precision. The study would be helpful in locating drilling sites for groundwater exploration and developing sustainable groundwater and land use policies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the student psychological contract in the post-pandemic induced hybrid mode of the academic ecosystem in residential business schools of India. The study puts forth three facets of understanding student expectations for contract fulfillment: the business school, academic staff (faculty) and peers. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sequential mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative), data were gathered and analyzed in two phases. Perceptions of students regarding their expectations were captured through in-depth semi-structured telephonic interviews. The sample comprised 64 students pursuing two years of full-time master's in management courses at four residential business schools in India. Data obtained through interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The themes extracted were prioritized using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in the second phase. Findings: The study provides insight into the prioritized expectations of students from their peers, academic staff and the institute. The findings of the study propose that though the expectations may differ across different groups, the mutual interdependence of these groups was mandatory for contract fulfillment. Originality/value: Research on student psychological contracts in the hybrid mode of business education is scarce. The study provides a holistic perspective on this from the lens of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface soil loss is the major environmental problem faced by farmers in the agriculture sector regarding productivity. This research paper demonstrates the prone soil loss zones using GIS tools, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model conducted to assess soil loss, whereas, hematic layers were created using data gathered from climate conditions, geology maps, remote sensing imageries, field observations, and laboratory analyses. A conceptual methodology was constructed to implement the model across the watershed area in the Ganga basin near the Kaushambi-Prayagraj region. Based on the Land Degradation Vulnerability Index (LDVI), the whole watershed area was categorized into four classes area such as low loss (135163.7 ha), moderate loss (114864.9 ha), high loss (56240.8 ha), and severe loss (25675.5 ha). The AUC of the LDVI (84.3%) and CR value of AHP (0.061) are indicating the high accuracy of the outcome. Whereas, average annual soil loss in (tons/ha/year) the watershed area was found as low soil loss (49.64%), moderate soil loss (27.92%), high soil loss (17.35%), and severe soil loss (5.09%). The qualitative and quantitative soil loss-prone areas would be helpful for proper management strategies to mitigate soil erosion and enhance agricultural productivity in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hillside planning, design, and development require an intensive understanding of human habitats, man–environment interaction, hill environment sensitivities, spatial planning, and design issues to ensure contextually appropriate development. Although numerous tools, techniques, and frameworks have been developed and implemented to assess urban sustainability, these have not been applied to environmentally sensitive hilly areas, nor have their appropriateness been determined. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a new urban sustainability assessment tool (USAT) named the "Sustainable Urban Development of Environmentally Sensitive Hilly Areas Suitability IndeX (SUDESHA-SIX)" to evaluate the sustainability of hillside settlements using an analytical hierarchy process. The methodology combines descriptive and deductive analytical techniques and geographic information systems-based statistical methods. SUDESHA-SIX was first developed some years back and was applied to the New Tehri Township as it received the National Award for Excellence in planning and design in hills in the year 2000 by the then Prime Minister of India. The results showed that out of the six broad factors, "site suitability" was ranked as the most critical factor of environmentally sensitive hilly areas, followed by "built environment," "environment and ecology," "climate and energy," "transportation and connectivity," and "visual resources." When applied to existing projects, the developed tool provided a more objective and detailed information on the urban sustainability of hilly areas, which could help architects, planners, designers, and decision-makers develop strategies to improve the overall urban sustainability of hilly regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexibilities are involved in the process of decision-making. They offer much freedom of choice in terms of the selection of suitable actors who interact with the dynamic environment of the organization. This paper presents a systematic and holistic approach to ranking key actors responsible for the business excellence of an organization. The study highlights the area where the actors of the organization should focus on achieving desired business excellence. It portrays the outcome in the form that top management is the most influential actor since it is responsible for the formulation of the vision/mission of the organization along with the setting of plant quality targets, cost-saving targets, manpower planning, and policy formulation for energy-saving. Top management is followed by cross-function teams (CFTs) and the government of India (GOI) in terms of interaction with the various processes. The novelty of this case study is that it utilizes qualitative and interpretive tools for the analysis, which does not require much statistical knowledge to produce outcomes, and the results are easy to understand. The reported results are in consensus with the results reported by various studies that are conducted using quantitative tools like Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), total interpretive structural modelling (TISM), etc. that require statistical excellence for the calculation, interpretation, and dissemination of results to the general public and shopfloor employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water conservation simply means using less water, avoiding or minimizing the wastage of water and/or recycling water, so that it can be used again for different purposes. In dry parts of India, conserving water is of prime importance and so, different techniques need to be adopted. In this paper, a model of water conservation strategies and systems in the residential home, using the city of Aurangabad as a basis, has been explored using the multi-criteria decision-making technique. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is applied to structure the decision problem into a hierarchy framework and thereby five criteria were used to evaluate the elements. The paper is intended to present an integrated model of the major options in residential water conservation in 4 different degrees using a case study. Applications of all the technologies/systems obtained from FAHP are used to address the entire lifecycle of water, right from its arrival on site to its use and eventual expenditure. The study also compares the financial implications among the different systems, where it is found that the payback period is least for plumbing fixtures and highest for wastewater treatment system. It is also observed from the case study that around 39.13% of water savings is achieved after the up-gradation of the existing plumbing fixtures. It is found that dependence on municipal water supply is reduced by 67.30% after recycling water in various sectors in house. The greywater generated in house is completely being used in water closets and outdoor use. Various internal purposes are satisfied from the harvested rainwater and savings of around 86.75% are achieved. As all of the water requirements are satisfied from the technologies used, less than 40% of wastewater is discharged in the municipal system. So, it is expected that the proposed system will enable occupants to be aware of their water usage and control and reduce water usage levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Site selection for an institute or a university is a challenging task. The selection of sites for setting up a new university depends on multiple criteria. In backward, under privileged area people's perception towards the co-educational universities and women universities are different. Poor families with their conservative mentality possess inhibitions while sending their girl child to co-educational universities as they have concerns about safety, security and family honor. Hence many attributes which are not so important for co-educational universities are more pertinent for women university. In this research paper, we have considered a model for selecting women's university sites in different backward locations in the state of West Bengal, India. This model incorporated different types of uncertainty related to site selection. Ten important criteria are chosen for the selection of sites. To capture the uncertainty of the problem, trapezoidal neutrosophic numbers are used along with the Multi-criteria Decision Making tool Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for obtaining criteria weights. Finally, the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS) are applied for ranking of the sites. Comparative and sensitivity analyses are conducted to check the steadiness of the techniques used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify critical Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) benefits and assess their relative significance in the context of developing economies (e.g. India). Design/methodology/approach: This study has conducted face-to-face (offline/online) discussions with experts in order to identify appropriate criteria and related CDM benefits. Further, this study has used subsequently, using the analytic hierarchy process, a multi-criteria decision-making method and assess the relative significance of benefits of CDM projects. Findings: The results reveal that knowledge and capacity building, technology transfer and social benefits are the most significant CDM benefits, respectively. It is because the knowledge and capacity building tends to disseminate the awareness on CDM benefits among policymakers and stakeholders, thereby, lead to efficient policy-making and encourage effective technology transfer in a way to achieve sustainable economic growth in the host country. Originality/value: The literature is dominated by studies of CDM projects in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Africa and China. Within the thousands of CDM projects globally, India only has 1,376 registered CDM projects. To the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies that highlight the relative significance of CDM benefits in the context of India. This study will enhance the implementation in the Indian scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial equity in urban facilities or service distribution is considered as a critical determinant of the quality of urbanization. Spatial equity simply means the presence of adequate facilities and equal proximity. Many initiatives have mostly focused on one type of facility, obviating the holistic understanding of the equity of distribution of all basic facilities in cities. Moreover, the perceptions of the citizens in the process of planning are hardly considered. In this paper, an integrated facility-satisfaction index is presented to evaluate the balance between the distribution of facilities and the level of residents' satisfaction derived from those facilities. This method has taken all possible urban facilities and categorized them as educational, health, financial, recreation, and others. The per capita facility availability is calculated by incorporating the spatial distribution of urban facilities, the service range of facilities, population distribution, and weight. The proper weights have been given by employing the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The satisfaction index has been derived from the citizens' perception of each facility, marked on a 5-point Likert scale during the field survey. The paired-sample t-test demonstrated that there is a significant difference between the facility availability and satisfaction index at the significance level of 0.05. The application of the method is demonstrated in fast urbanizing Barasat city, West Bengal, India. Based on the degree of facility-satisfaction differences or correspondences, the entire region has been categorized into four zones viz. satisfied people with favorable facility availability, unsatisfied people with poor facility availability, unsatisfied people with relatively high facility availability, and satisfied people with relatively low facility availability. The pattern has been validated by identifying spatial clusters and spatial outliers of facility availability and satisfaction using local Moran's I. This approach can help a city to distribute the facilities to satisfy the citizens of all corners which will help to overcome the constant problems of policy decisions without adequate and reliable information about the actual demand of the residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of hospital sites and their ranking is important for the planning and development of any country's health infrastructure. The site selection problem is a typical multi-criteria decision making problem involving multiple stakeholders and their interests. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a promising approach to solve a location-based problem due to the constitution of various criteria involved in decision making. In this research, eleven criterion are chosen which are classified under three main criteria; socio-economic, geographical and environmental. This research aims to identify the appropriate MCDA method for the selection of a new hospital sites. Here, two MCDA methods named Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) are used. Further, Geographical Information System (GIS) based MCDA methodology is proposed in this paper. The results obtained with both AHP and FAHP methods are compared. This comparison is based on criterion rankings, proposed hospital locations and sensitivity analysis. The main difference in results is shown in the result of sensitivity analysis in which constant variation in site ranking is obtained when weight change analysis is performed using AHP. The FAHP result shows only one variation in site ranking after a change in weight from +10 to +20%. The result suggests that FAHP may be a better approach to the hospital site selection problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased demand for this form of food delivery has been expected to drastically alter restaurant patrons' dining habits. As people have been forced to stay indoors to prevent the virus from spreading, food delivery services over the internet are in high demand. As established in this study, the planned ideal is a good executive implementation for online meal delivery services. Food delivery services are rapidly growing in India, opening up several opportunities for a wide range of online food delivery (OFD) platforms while also generating a competitive commercial sector. Following that, the fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution method (FTOPSIS) is used to rank online food delivery (OFD) enterprises based on the characteristics chosen. In this paper, we study the present multi-criteria decision-analysis (MCDA) paradigm based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and the fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) method to achieve the goal. After that, a hierarchy multiple criteria decision-analysis (MCDA) model based on fuzzy sets theory is introduced to deal with the online food delivery Service in the chain system. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is a fuzzy set theory technique for generating criteria weights, which are then used to interpret expert phonological evaluation statements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an endeavor to probe into the temporal and seasonal water-level fluctuation (WLF) of Panchet dam in India since 2005–2016 and analysis of its risk to the dam-surrounding people, using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The present study specifies that 30% storage capacity of the reservoir has been reduced within 60 years because of rapid sedimentation, while the trend analysis indicates that 50% and 100% storage capacity will be blocked within 130 years and 250 years respectively, if the present state continues. Thus it reveals a 250 years' active life span of the dam. Average temporal WLF of the dam is 12 mts and significant at the 5% level of significance (p < 0.05) whereas, seasonal WLF is 8 mts and also significant at the 1% level of significance (p < 0.01). This temporal and seasonal WLF leads to significant rise and fall of water level that poses threat to the people of 92 villages situated within 1 km buffer area of the dam. Nine human risk alternatives (A1–A9) resulted from the WLF of the dam are identified using Delphi Questionnaire then rated and prioritized them using AHP method. Risk prioritization result varies from 9.90 to 10.29 calculated on the basis of consistency measure (CM) value. It indicates that 'Population displacement' (A3) and 'Inundation of settlement' (A2) are the highest (CM 10.29) and lowest (CM 9.90) vulnerable among the risk alternatives obtaining maximum and minimum CM values respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of the work is to have an insight into the degree of the contemporary concept of greening the organization through human resource management (HRM) and to attempt to bridge the gap toward environmental awareness, as well as to observe the dimensions of green HRM (GHRM) practices and its impression toward environmental sustainability by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and FAHP. Design/methodology/approach: The research was carried out in two phases; multi-method was employed. The first phase mainly includes a systematic review to convene comprehensive knowledge of widespread GHRM practices to leverage environmental sustainability. In the second phase, the AHP and fuzzy AHP (FAHP) were employed to examine the influence of the respective dimension of GHRM practices toward environmental sustainability. Findings: This study emphasizes the status of GHRM practices such as green recruitment and green selection, green performance management, green training and development, green compensation and rewards, green welfare aspects as a way to aid environmental issues. The findings suggest that these initiatives help to leverage environmental sustainability. Further, this paper reveals that green compensation and rewards have the highest impact on leveraging environmental sustainability. However, this study also emphasizes the comparative study of GHRM dimensions through AHP and FAHP. Originality/value: As existing studies reveal, there is least research carried on this field of study and no study was conducted using AHP and FAHP in this field. Thus, this study reveals the necessity to discover the degree of concern toward GHRM practices in context to India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper demonstrates a multi-criteria analytic hierarchy process (AHP) framework for evaluating and benchmarking maintenance performance in the select agro-based industry. Design/methodology/approach: Initially, 20 maintenance practices (criteria) have been identified after a detailed literature review and discussion with the agro-based industry (sugar, textile and dairy industry) executives. These are then grouped into six maintenance management areas referred to as group criteria. The multi-criteria methodology consists of three steps: criteria identification, hierarchical modeling and data collection and maintenance performance evaluation, and benchmarking. The multi-criteria methodology proposed in this work facilitates two ways of carrying out benchmarking: (1) within the agro-based industry and (2) between the agro-based industry. The methodology has been explained by taking a case example of 45 agro-based industries (18 dairy, 13 sugar and 14 textile) from the western region of India. The sensitivity analysis of the model has been performed to ascertain the robustness of the results. Findings: There is a difference in the maintenance performance across the agro-based industries due to different maintenance practices perceived differently. Research limitations/implications: The outcome of the model is mainly given by the judgments of the agro-based industry executives. It is also sensitive to any change in the relative importance to the evaluation criteria or the perception about the maintenance performance. Practical implications: The study contributes in identifying the weakness, if any, by comparing the agro-based industry under investigation with the benchmark factory at three levels, namely, overall performance (factory level), group criteria (maintenance management area level) and criteria (maintenance practice level) allowing further improvement. Originality/value: The methodology assists in better decision-making and in improving maintenance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need for non-renewable energy sources in generation of power for almost every domestic and commercial purposes. This source of energy helps in the development of a country. Because of the increasing usage of the fossil fuels and depletion of these resources, our focus has been shifted towards the renewable sources of energy like solar, water and wind. Therefore, in the present scenario, the usage of renewable sources has been increasing rapidly. Selection of a solar power plant (SPP) requires environmental factor, local terrain, and local weather issues. Thus, a large amount of investment is required for installation. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is a method that identifies one in choosing the best sites among the other proposed options. This paper gives a detailed study of optimal ranking of SPP site using analytical hierarchy process (AHP), multiple layer perceptron (MLP) neural network trained with back propagation (BP) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA). Three SPP sites of India were considered and various important criteria like local weather, geographical location, and environmental factors are included in our study as SPP site selection is a multi-criteria problem. A precise comparison of these three methods is listed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a blend of three techniques to select COVID-19 testing centers. The objective of the paper is to identify a suitable location to establish new COVID-19 testing centers. Establishment of the testing center in the needy locations will be beneficial to both public and government officials. Selection of the wrong location may lead to lose both health and wealth. In this paper, location selection is modelled as a decision-making problem. The paper uses fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique to generate the criteria weights, monkey search algorithm to optimize the weights, and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method to rank the different locations. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed technique, a state named Tamil Nadu, located in India, is taken for a case study. The proposed structured algorithmic steps were applied for the input data obtained from the government of India website, and the results were analyzed and validated using the government of India website. The ranks assigned by the proposed technique to different locations are in aligning with the number of patients and death rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach has been made in this study to delineate the groundwater potential zones of the Varuna river basin, Uttar Pradesh, India, using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multi-influence factor (MIF) techniques. The present groundwater estimation exhibits an increase in the draft (10%) due to expansion in population, agricultural extent, and industrialization, which ultimately causes water table depletion. This backdrop justifies the need for this particular analysis in the multilayer aquifers of the central alluvial zone. The shallow aquifers are silty and unconfined, whereas the deeper aquifers are coarse, sandy-gravelly, and semi-confined. Basement faults and highs often control the thickness of aquifers in the subsurface. The study considered an integrated approach of AHP and MIF methods with remote sensing and GIS approaches. Various themes (land use/land cover (LULC), soil type, geology, elevation, slope, rainfall, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), drainage density, recharge rate, groundwater depth) determined by considering different conditioning factors and eventually employed for computation of groundwater potential index (GWPI) and classified for identifying the groundwater potential zones (GWPZ). Two methods applied to capture the results in a more tangible form as the AHP model works on building a pair-wise comparison matrix to relate conditioning factors to each other. Still, the MIF model considered interrelations among the conditioning factors. The GWPZ of the study area generates with overlay weighted sum method by integrating all thematic layers. The resulting groundwater potential index map is categorized into three groundwater potential zones, namely good, moderate, and poor. Ultimately, by constructing the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for both the groundwater potential models, determine the efficiency of performances and the GWPZ map validated using yield data collected from wells scattered over the study area. The findings of the present paper have important implications for ensuring exploration and sustainability groundwater plans in that particular area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion induced by physical and anthropogenic activities needs serious concern to deal with. In recent days, watersheds have been facing acute soil loss because of deforestation, poor land use management and unscientific agricultural practices. The present paper highlights the goal to decipher soil erosion-susceptible zones in a rain-fed river basin of India having a complex topography comprising the extension of Chotonagpur plateau and parts of Bengal basin. Fuzzy logic algorithm-based analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) with remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) were used to execute the objective. The soil erosion-susceptible zone (SESZ) was identified assimilating the 14 geo-environmental, hydro-meteorological and anthropogenic conditioning factors such as slope, drainage density, relative relief, stream power index, topographic wetness index, runoff, soil texture, land use and land cover, rainfall erosivity factor, distance from road, distance from settlement, distance from river, geomorphology and soil bareness index based on which sub-basin prioritization for sustainable soil conservation was made. The soil erosion-susceptible zone was classified into five classes, namely very low soil erosion zone (13.20%), low soil erosion zone (25.75%), moderate soil erosion zone (27.62%), high soil erosion zone (21.90%) and very high soil erosion zone (11.53%). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was generated where area under the curve (AUC) came as 0.82 and a correspondence analysis between the SESZ and the first three ranked factors was also made which together proves the accuracy of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors of business excellence which are important in formulation of long-term policies leading to competitive advantage in luxury hotels in India. Malcom Baldrige model of excellence was taken for further studies. A survey was conducted amongst 20 executives from top and middle level management working in luxury and five-star hotels in NCR. AHP was used as statistical tool to determine important criteria for decision making that will help in formulation of strategies for luxury hotels. It was concluded that strategic planning and leadership are two most important criteria of excellence for luxury hotels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, various energy sources for sustainable development of the energy sector in India are evaluated from multiple sustainability factors. A fuzzy integrated analytical hierarchy process (AHP) -- weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method has been developed for the evaluation and assessment of these sources. Thermal, gas, nuclear, solar, wind, biomass, and hydro energy options are used as alternatives in the present study. Initially, the fuzzy AHP method is applied to determine the weights of decision criteria, and fuzzy WASPAS is applied to prioritize sustainable energy (SE) alternatives. Subsequently, the output of the proposed model is validated by a two-step validation process: (i) fuzzy AHP integrated MCDM approaches, and (ii) Best-Worst Method (BWM) integrated fuzzy WASPAS approach. The developed decision support model will help the decision- makers to acquire sufficient confidence in evaluating energy sources for sustainable development of the energy sector in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a framework for measuring impacts associated with road projects on rural communities situated on either side of the road alignment. The extant approaches for measuring community impacts of road projects follow a "top-down" approach and require assumptions while imputing monetary values to community impacts. We present an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based alternative approach wherein the community is placed firmly at the center. We made no presumptions regarding the prioritization of benefits and costs by the communities. A road constructed between two towns in western India has been used as a test case. The AHP hierarchies for benefits and costs have been designed by fully involving the communities. We term the resulting benefit–cost ratio as Community Impact Index. Additionally, this research contains two innovations. The first innovation is about adaptation of the 9-point AHP instrument to a pictorial scale for better comprehension by respondents with low literacy and awareness. The second is about the comparison of hypothetical alternative road designs along with the actual ones to gain insights into design improvement possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flash flood is the most recurrent natural threat in northeastern India, especially during the peak of the monsoon season. In recent decades, the frequency of flash floods has considerably increased in the Himalayan watersheds, causing enormous human suffering, infrastructure damage, ecosystem disruption, and economic losses. Considering the exponential rise in the frequency of flash flood events, identifying the Flash Flood Vulnerable Zones (FFVZs) is one of the most crucial findings to limit their negative consequences. In this study, grey fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-based model integrated with the geographic information system is implemented to assess the flash flood vulnerability in the Ranikhola watershed, East Sikkim, India. Additionally, a novel Flash Flood Vulnerability Index (FFVI) is proposed to determine the flash flood vulnerability that takes into account twelve natural and anthropogenic parameters. Further, the FFVI map is classified into three FFVZs: low, moderate, and high. The effectiveness of the methodology implemented is judged by the high EV value (6.4286) and the comparison parameter. The harshest conclusion of this analysis, the major cities, such as Gangtok, Ranipool, and Singtam, are designated high FFVZ. The sensitivity analysis results show the LULC has the maximum positive influence on high FFVZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing groundwater potential zones (GWPz) is important to determine the realistic groundwater availability scenario and to formulate plans for its optimal utilization to achieve groundwater sustainability. This investigation aimed to delineate GWPz in the Nand Samand Catchment, Rajasthan, India, utilizing an integrated method of remote sensing, geographic information system, and analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The present study used ten thematic layers, viz., lineament density, well recharge, geomorphology, soil, topographic elevation, slope, rainfall, transmissivity, the post-monsoon water level in the well and land use/land cover for the GWPz delineation. The delineated GWPz in the research area were classified as 'good (G),' 'moderate (M),' 'poor (P)' and 'very poor (VP).' Results showed that 'good' GWPz constituted about 21.23% of the catchment area. The southeast area and small patches of the western side of the research area have 'moderate' groundwater potential, covering 53.18% of the total area. Approximately 23.77% area was found with poor GWPz. In the research area, 1.82% area represents very poor groundwater potential. In the present study, the GWPz map was validated using sixteen randomly selected wells yield data (liters per day), and an accuracy of 81.25% was found with the delineated GWPz map. Furthermore, the receiver operating characteristics curve was also used for the validation, indicating a satisfactory accuracy prediction (AUC = 0.889). Validation by both methods justifies the efficiency of the AHP technique for the groundwater potential zoning. Finally, this work establishes a viable method for assessing the potential availability of groundwater, which will be helpful in the future for the planning and managing groundwater resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, some misuses of Kappa statistic in the original paper [Chemosphere, 307, 135831] are discussed. By using DRASTIC and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) models, the authors have assessed the groundwater vulnerability of Totko, India. High nitrate concentrations in groundwater have been found in highly vulnerable areas, and the accuracy of the models has been assessed through Pearson's correlation coefficient and Kappa coefficient. However, using Cohen's Kappa to estimate the intra-rater reliabilities (IRRs) of the two models is not appropriate on the condition of ordinal categorical variables in five categories in the original paper. We briefly introduce the Kappa statistic and propose to use weighted Kappa to compute IRRs under such conditions. To conclude, we recognize that this does not significantly alter the conclusions of the original paper, but it is necessary to ensure that the appropriate statistical tools are used. [Display omitted] • Cohen's Kappa assesses IRR for 2 or ≥3 unordered categorical variables categories. • Weighted Kappa measures IRR for ordered categorical variables with ≥3 categories. • Fleiss' Kappa evaluates IRR for three or more raters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities and Urban Local Bodies (CULB) are considered to be the engines of economic growth and any significant improvement in their operational efficiency will lead to a positive impact on the economy. The major portion of expenditure on Solid waste management (SWM) of CULBs is spent on waste collection and transportation activities. To enhance the efficiency of SWM, it is essential to collect and transport solid waste in a scientific manner. As a result, systematic solid waste collection and transportation will effectively resolve and improve SWM concerns. In this paper, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is adopted to appraise various alternatives of solid waste collection and transportation methods of municipal solid waste in Visakhapatnam city, India. The additive normalization method is applied for calculating the criteria weights. The fairness of judgment is checked by the consistency ratio. To calculate AHP accurately and fast, a decision support system was built. The findings of the study will be beneficial in evaluating existing solid waste collection and transportation processes to improve the operational efficiency of managing SWM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popularity of mutual funds, which are necessarily portfolios, has been drawing more attention from the people of India over the last three decades. In a mutual fund, one can invest his or her money in the securities of different sectors traded mainly in the stock exchange markets to get expected return bearing tolerable risks. A mutual fund other than the passive mutual funds is directed by an active fund manager. The performance of a mutual fund depends on the shares and securities of different companies it contains and the fund manager's performance also. Risk and return can be measured based on different criteria. Before investment, one should select such a mutual fund that can fulfill his or her anticipation as much as possible within the risk–return skeleton. Therefore the selection of a mutual fund is rigorously a multicriteria decision making. This paper has considered five open‐ended, large‐cap, direct, suspended sales mutual funds for the research work. In the first stage, we have shortlisted the more crucial criteria comparatively from a list of criteria with the help of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process. In the second stage, we have applied the Pythagorean fuzzy Gray Relation Analysis approach to determine the weights of shortlisted criteria as well as the rank of those mutual funds. Finally, a comparison has been drawn between the present model and the Pythagorean fuzzy Interactive Multicriteria Decision‐Making model, to show the effectiveness of the present model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater resources are essential for drinking water, irrigation, and the economy mainly in semiarid environments where rainfall is limited. Currently, unpredictable rainfall due to climate change and pollution on the Earth's surface directly affects groundwater resources. In this area, most people depend on groundwater resources for irrigation and drinking purposes, and every summer, most of the area depends on groundwater in a semiarid environment. Hence, we selected two popular methods, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multiple influence factor (MIF) methods, which can be applied to map groundwater potential zones. Nine thematic layers, such as land use and land cover (LULC), geomorphology, soil, drainage density, slope, lineament density, elevation, groundwater level, and geology maps, were selected for this study using remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. These layers are integrated in ArcGIS 10.5 software with the help of the AHP and MIF methods. The map of the groundwater potential zones in the study area revealed four classes, i.e., poor, moderate, good, and very good, based on the AHP and MF methods. The groundwater potential zone area is 241.50 (ha) Poor, 285.64 (ha) moderate, 408.31 (ha) good, and 92.75 (ha) very good using the AHP method. Similarly, the MIF method revealed that the groundwater potential classes were divided into four classes: 351.29 (ha) poor, 511.18 (ha), moderate, 123.95 (ha) good, and 41.78 (ha) very good. The results were compared to determine which methods are best for planning water and land resource development in specific areas that have basaltic rock and drought conditions. Both groundwater potential zone maps were validated with water yield data. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) model results are found to be 0.80 (good) and 0.93 (excellent) using the MIF and AHP methods, respectively; hence, the AHP method is best for delineation of groundwater potential zone maps and groundwater resource planning. The present study's framework and the results will be valuable for improving the efficiency of irrigation, conserving rainwater and maintaining the ecosystem in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has abundant water resources, including rivers and snow-covered mountains in the Himalayas, which can supply the country's water needs. In many areas, however, accessible water supplies are depleting due to fast population growth and the need to fulfill rising demands for irrigation, human and industrial consumption. Physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics were stuided of the Asan river water in Doon valley of Uttarakhand, India, that sampled were collected a fourteen water quality parameters at seven locations from October 2018 to March 2019. The water quality index and water quality maps was prepared in the Arc GIS software 10.7 using Inverse distance weighted (IDW) method. The sampled datasets were used to prepare a spatial water quality index map based on Analytical Hierarchy Process. Based on the results the weightage of the pH was found to the maximum (24%), BOD (17%), DO (13.7%), TDS (11.1%), EC (7.8%), TH (4.8%), CH (4.6%), MH (4.5%), WT (3.4%), AT (2.4%), Na (1.9%), K (1.7%), NO3(1.5%) and PO4 (1.3%). The result demonstrates that the water is heavily polluted towards station three caused due to the extensive anthropogenic activities. Thus, there is a need for combined government and non-government measures to enable the Asan rivers to slow their decline and return to their natural, pollutant-free state, which is crucial for the health of their environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female-based urban poverty has been a widely researched topic fitting into the pursuit of gender equality since the Beijing 1995 Conference for Women. However, the criteria for measuring female-based urban poverty assume a direct role in reducing various urban poverty manifestations amongst females. Nevertheless, standard domains such as economic and educational statuses show some noticeable characteristics in smaller townships located in the low-urbanised states of India. The city under concern — Sehore Municipal Council (M.C. hereafter) — furnishes an example of an emerging urban area in a low-urbanised state of Madhya Pradesh (27.6% of the urban population compared to the national average of 31.16%) where domain-wise spatial manifestations of female-based urban poverty are noticeable. In addition to the financial aspect of urban poverty, the study attempts to identify local area determinants related to the socio-economic and the cultural environment of Sehore M.C., using standard variables and indicators for the spatial manifestation of female-based urban poverty through a GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making technique of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Female-based urban poverty in Sehore M.C., lying within the urban sphere of influence of two metro cities of Bhopal and Indore, is analysed across six domains of economic, educational, social, health, lack of decision-making and time poverty, for 17 selected localities across four wards. Out of the six selected domains, the economic poverty domain turns out to be the strongest, while time poverty is the least dominant. The present model of female-based urban poverty may apply to similar newly urbanising areas falling within the ambit of metro cities in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heritage conservation in urban areas involves complex systems often faced with the dilemmas of maintaining the built form's historical character, improving infrastructure, and managing development through stakeholder cooperation. At present, the performance of any conservation project is solely vested in conserving the built fabric. Evaluation tools for urban heritage conservation projects do not have provisions for measuring the subjective value of stakeholders who are part of the heritage setting. This study tries to identify and prioritise the factors that need to be considered when developing a conservation project performance assessment model for an urban heritage conservation project from the perspective of experts that can be further evaluated from the perspective of stakeholders. As these complex systems can be better viewed in the context of developing countries, the case of India is adopted. From a literature review, factors that contribute to the outcome of an urban heritage conservation project were identified and categorised into six aspects: the physical, social, economic, cultural, political, and continuity aspects. Through an expert survey, the factors that constituted each aspect were filtered using the feature selection method of correlation to avoid factors that may seem related. The factors under each aspect were ranked using a weighted average ranking method to identify the most prioritised factors determining the outcome of an urban heritage conservation project. The priority weights of the aspects were calculated using Saaty's analytic hierarchy process. The results show that the cultural aspect was the most important aspect, followed by the continuity aspect. The social and physical aspects were prioritised similarly, followed by the economic and political aspects. This study is distinctive because it identifies the influential factors that can help develop a conservation project performance assessment model for an urban heritage conservation project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indo-Ganga–Brahmaputra plain is one of the world's most vulnerable areas to catastrophic flood events. The severity and frequency of floods in this region have grown dramatically during the last few decades. As a result, an authentic map providing detailed spatial information on floods is required for reducing future flood disasters. This sort of map can be an invaluable tool for displaying flood-prone areas and determining the magnitude of flood risk. The Ramganga river (~ 200 km length) flowing in the western Gangetic plain was chosen for this investigation. This river is well known for its channel movement and flood hazards. The analytical hierarchy process model in GIS ambiance was used in this work to quantify and map flood risk in the lower Ramganga river basin. Six hazard-forming factors, namely relief, distance from active channel, slope, geomorphology, rainfall, and vegetation, and seven vulnerability factors, namely population density, household density, female density, road density, land use/land cover, female literacy, and total literacy, were chosen to determine flood risk zone (FRZ). According to the findings, about 35.29 per cent of the basin's total area is in a high to very high flood risk zone, where flooding occurs at one- to three-year recurring intervals. The flood risk map has been validated using ground truth data, and the Kappa index has been computed, indicating a high degree of accuracy for the FRZ thematic classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides cause significant damage to property and life in the West Jaintia Hills district in Meghalaya, India, due to mountains, slopes, and extreme rainfall. Landslide susceptibility maps are highly efficient and helpful for disaster preparation and management. The determination of this work is to create a landslide susceptibility map (LSM) for West Jaintia Hills using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. The previous landslide data are required for effective management of the current situation, and these data are divided into training samples (75%) and testing samples (25%) for predicting efficiency. The different landslide causative factors are investigated in this study: rainfall, slope, geomorphology, elevation, lineament density, LULC, distance from a road, NDWI, MSAVI, and NDVI. The causal factors are subdivided and weighted according to AHP, and a susceptibility map is prepared. According to the developed map, 19% of the region's total area is low susceptible, 52% moderate, 25% high, and 4% very highly susceptible. Field data and the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) approach are used to validate the produced map. The outcomes indicate that the predicted susceptibility map closely reflects previous and recent landslide events. The created map is accurate and can be applied to future land-use planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the groundwater spring potential zone (GSPZ) was identified using an integrated approach of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and fuzzy-AHP based on multicriteria decision-making (MCDM). Thus, ten associated factors with groundwater springs have been considered: slope, drainage density, lineament density, geomorphology, lithology, soil texture, land use and land cover, rainfall, groundwater level, and spring discharge. The analysis output was categorized into low, moderate, and high. The result of the AHP model shows the area under the high potential zone (16.61%), the moderate potential zone (60.42%), and the low potential zone (22.61%). The result of the fuzzy-AHP model shows that the area falls under the high potential zone (30.40%), moderate potential zone (41.29%), and low potential zone (22.61%). The validation results showed fuzzy-AHP with the area under the curve 0.806, which is slightly better than 0.779 of AHP. So, the resulting GSPZ map confirms that the thematic layers used in the study have a significant role in groundwater spring occurrence and distribution. It was recommended that any groundwater spring rejuvenation or protection activities must be implemented in medium to very high potential zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flooding has become a devastating natural hazard worldwide, posing a substantial hazard to civilization and leading to socioeconomic losses. Urban flooding in India is on the rise due to unplanned urbanization, uncontrolled population growth, and changes in land use. For this analysis, the urban region of Dhanera (Gujarat state, India) has been chosen as a study area to prepare a flood hazard map in a geographic information system (GIS) environment using a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique. This study includes qualitative analysis compound factor (CF) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and quantitative analysis (fuzzy logic) using eight flood-affected criteria (slope, distance from the main river, land-use land cover (LULC), soil, drainage density, elevation, geomorphology, and proximity to stream confluence). MCDM techniques examined the weight of each criterion. The historical flood depth data have been collected via field visits or published articles for validation. Flood hazard maps have been classified into very high, high, moderate, low, and very low hazard zones. In each MCDM method, Ward 1 and Ward 2 are very highly and highly hazardous, respectively. The flood hazard map using fuzzy logic and inundation map matches very high, high, and very low categories. So, fuzzy logic is the best method to quantify flood hazards for Dhanera. This study provides a low-cost and time-efficient tool that assists local administration in prioritizing the preservation and control of floods, further helping the decision makers in mitigation planning to reduce damages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proliferating fire accidents in the era of rapid Indian urbanisation causes heavy loss of life and property. It is a man-made disaster and has greater scope towards reduction of its risk, hazard and vulnerability. India's core city exhibits the typical character of haphazard development and intricacies of the built-environment having concentration of on-street activities with combustible substances such as flammable goods and commodities that magnifies the existing threat of fire hazard. Such complex spatial identification and its simplification has been demonstrated in this paper for a study area in India. A hierarchical integrated spatial risk assessment is carried out at three levels, i.e., area, unit and substance of fire hazard, to understand the chain of events that transforms a fire accident into catastrophe as spatial risk. Hazard mapping of physical (PVS) and social (SVS) parameters were looped towards spatial integration aided with Geographical Information System (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) of fire risk assessment. Further, the paper conceptually applies the equation of risk, threat, exposure, vulnerability and coping capacity to visualise the risk of fire hazard. Thus, coping mechanisms such as building safety clearance, approach and accessibility of rescue services, facilities and infrastructure have been featured in this paper. Further, it guides the designing of a Fire Information System (FIS) through a hierarchical integrated spatial risk assessment model of fire hazard. • The complexities of core city area is studies at three hierarchical levels i.e., area, unit and substance of fire hazard. • GIS and AHP stands as significant analytical tool of fire hazard risk assessment via preparation of PVS and SVS. • Conceptual application of the equation of risk assessment visualises the fire hazard in the core city of India. • Derives a Fire Information System (FIS) through hierarchical integrated spatial risk assessment model of Dehradun, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]