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Given its widespread potential and technological advancements, it is critical to use the greatest amount of wind power in reaching the 100% renewable energy target in power grids. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis is frequently used to evaluate alternative strategies in multi-criteria decision issues. This paper employs a hybrid Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) approach based on SWOT to assess the future development of wind power capacities in Turkey in light of the sectoral effects of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. To validate the proposed approach, the results are compared to the results of the SWOT-based Analytic Network Process (ANP), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and fuzzy AHP (FAHP). According to the findings, "Development of domestic and efficient technologies (ST1)" and "Sustaining support mechanisms in investments and technological research (SO2)" are the best alternative strategies in all analysis models. While the priority ranks of other alternative strategies are the same in AHP and FAHP hierarchical techniques, FANP differs from ANP when the linguistic assessment process is taken into account. This study proposes long-term strategies for increasing wind power capacity and sector sustainability, and it demonstrates that FANP could be an appropriate approach for prioritizing these strategies in current scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ranking Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFS) using distance-based methods involves calculating the distance between an IFS and a reference point which represents either maximum (positive ideal solution) or minimum (negative ideal solution) value. These methods assume that similarity of an IFSs to the reference point increases as its distance from it decreases. While it is a common practice to use nonlinear distance functions for ranking IFSs, this paper proves that no nonlinear IF distance function can be robust. In this study, the shortcomings of the conventional procedure are demonstrated by providing a mathematical proof and an alternative ranking method based on the hypervolume metric is proposed. In addition, the suggested ranking approach is extended as a new multi-criteria decision making method called Hypervolume-based Evaluation and Ranking Technique (HEART). HEART is applied for multi-criteria assessment of Turkey's energy alternatives. Results are compared with three distance based multi-criteria decision making methods: TOPSIS, VIKOR, and CODAS. • The study uncovers the critical shortcomings of distance-based methods in ranking Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFS). • An alternative ranking method to distance based approaches, based on the hypervolume metric is proposed. • The hypervolume based ranking approach is extended for use in multi-criteria decision making problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Likened to the economic calamity of World War Two, the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked fears of a deep economic crisis, killed more than six million people worldwide and had a ripple effect on all aspects of life. MCDM (multi-criteria decision making) methods have become increasingly popular in modeling COVID-19 problems owing to the multi-dimensionality of this crisis and the complexity of health and socio-economic systems. This paper is aimed to review 72 papers published in 37 leading peer-reviewed journals indexed in Web of Science that used MCDM methods in different areas of COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, data retrieval follows the PRISMA protocol for systematic literature reviews. 35 countries have contributed to this multidisciplinary research and India is identified as the leading country in this field followed by Turkey and China. Also 36 articles, namely 50% of papers are presented in the form of international cooperation. " Applied Soft Computing " is the journal with the highest number of articles whereas "Journal of infection and public health" and " Operations Management Research " are ranked in the second place. The results indicate that AHP (including fuzzy AHP) is the most popular MCDM method applied in 37.5% of papers followed by TOPSIS and VIKOR. This review reveals that the use of MCDM methods is one of the most attractive research areas in the field of COVID-19. As a result, one of the main purposes of this work is to identify diverse applications of MCDM methods in the COVID-19 pandemic. Most studies i.e. 69% (49 papers) of the papers combined various fuzzy sets with MCDM methods to overcome the problem of uncertainty and ambiguity while analyzing information. Nevertheless, the main drawback of those papers has been the lack of theoretical justifications. In fact, fuzzy MCDM methods impose heavy computational load and there is no general consensus on the clear advantage of fuzzy methods over crisp methods in terms of the solution quality. We hope the researchers who applied fuzzy MCDM methods to COVID-19-related research understand the theoretical basis of MCDM methods and the serious challenges associated with basic operations of fuzzy numbers to avoid potential disadvantages. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge via suggesting a deep vision to critique the fuzzy MCDM methods from mathematical perspective. • We provide a literature review on peer-reviewed journal articles with high impact factor related to the application of MCDM methods in COVID-19 era. • A total of 72 articles are collected from 37 leading journals and categorized into 52 types of application. • We highlight some claims on fuzzy arithmetic which are at use in the fuzzy literature but having little theoretical support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of the study is to rank and evaluate renewable energy sources that are the only alternative of non-renewable energy sources, according to twenty-six regions in Turkey. Multi-criteria decision making methods are widely employed in the solution of energy selection problems because energy selection problems contain many criteria contradicting each other. In this study, the importance levels weights of the evaluation criteria were measured by the Fuzzy Entropy method. Later, with the Fuzzy COPRAS and Fuzzy MULTIMOORA methods, renewable energy sources alternative rankings were acquired for the regions. According to the fuzzy COPRAS results in Appendix 2, the hydroelectric energy source has been defined as the suitable renewable energy source alternative for seventeen regions. According to the fuzzy MULTIMOORA results in Appendix 2, the hydroelectric energy source has been determined as the suitable renewable energy source alternative in the first rank for eighteen regions. With this study, a resource is presented to regional investors to reach an investment decision for renewable energy sources. This study constitutes an indication for development agencies along with investors. • Ranking and evaluation of renewable energy sources. • Weights of the evaluation criteria were measured by the Fuzzy Entropy method. • The Fuzzy COPRAS and Fuzzy MULTIMOORA methods were applied for ranking. • Paper concentrates on choosing the most proper RES for twenty-six regions. • Hydropower have been classified as a suitable alternative RES for most regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Production and use of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have been clearly increased over the last years. This has led to huge amounts of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The management of WEEE is a very critical and important not only for waste treatment but also to recover of valuable materials. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or E-waste) must be disposed of properly to reduce waste, to protect the environment from hazardous materials and to obtain more useful materials in recycling. The importance of management of WEEE has become clearer in the last years and it is expected that quantities of WEEE will increase. Therefore, the management of WEEE is a critical and important decision. This paper analyzes an outsourcing decision for the management of WEEE by using a fuzzy multicriteria decision making approach. As outsourcing decisions are often based on multi criteria approaches and group decisions, this paper proposes a methodology based on fuzzy group decision making approach to evaluate and to select the appropriate WEEE outsourcing firm in Istanbul, Turkey. The selected firm will control the management of WEEE process that is the collection, transportation, processing, recycling or disposal of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In recent years, because of the high potential for insurability in Turkey and the rapid improvement of insurance sector, foreign investors are interested in Turkish insurance market. Since insurability rate has reached saturation point in their countries, foreign investors tended to make investments in Turkey and start to purchase local insurance companies in Turkey. In this paper we analyze five Turkish insurance companies for a foreign investor who wants to purchase a local insurance company. For selecting the most appropriate alternative we used the extended VIKOR method which applied to determine the best feasible solution according to the selected criteria. This method was developed to solve multiple criteria decision making problems with conflicting and non-commensurable criteria, assuming that compromising is acceptable for conflict resolution. In this paper, the alternatives are evaluated according to all established criteria with the VIKOR method completely under fuzzy environment with fuzzy sets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Renewable energy is the energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat which are renewable. Energy resources are very important in perspective of economics and politics for all countries. Hence, the selection of the best alternative for any country takes an important role for energy investments. Among decision-making methodologies, axiomatic design (AD) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are often used in the literature. The fuzzy set theory is a powerful tool to treat the uncertainty in case of incomplete or vague information. In this paper, fuzzy multicriteria decision- making methodologies are suggested for the selection among renewable energy alternatives. The first methodology is based on the AHP which allows the evaluation scores from experts to be linguistic expressions, crisp, or fuzzy numbers, while the second is based on AD principles under fuzziness which evaluates the alternatives under objective or subjective criteria with respect to the functional requirements obtained from experts. The originality of the paper comes from the fuzzy AD application to the selection of the best renewable energy alternative and the comparison with fuzzy AHP. In the application of the proposed methodologies the most appropriate renewable energy alternative is determined for Turkey. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Due to the increasing awareness of environmental, social and economic factors, solar photovoltaic (PV) system planning requires strategic decision making process for socio-economic development in many countries. The main objective of this paper is to propose a new Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach that is flexible and practical to the decision makers (DMs) in governments for solar PV panel manufacturer evaluation based on qualitative and quantitative factors. Accordingly, a novel two-stage MCDM model integrating Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Multiplicative Multi-Objective Ratio Analysis (MULTIMOORA) methods under Interval Valued Pythagorean Fuzzy (IVPF) environment is presented, and applied to select the most appropriate solar PV panel manufacturer for solar power plants in Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. As a result, the proposed novel Integrated IVPF-AHP&MULTIMOORA method produces consistent and reasonable results to select the most appropriate solar PV panel manufacturer for the solar power plants in the cities of Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey considering some socio-economic sustainable indicators such as cost, environmental, efficiency and technical indices. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis are also applied to prove the robustness and verification of the results of the proposed approach. • The most appropriate solar PV panel manufacturer is selected for solar plants in Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. • A novel integrated MCDM methodology is presented in this paper. • The weights of criteria determined are obtained using IVPF-AHP. • The alternative solar PV panel manufacturers are evaluated by using IVPF-MULTIMOORA. • The proposed model provides socio-economic and environmental development of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combinative Distance based ASsesment (CODAS) method aims to perform multi-criteria selection process according to the largest Euclidean and Taxicab distance with respect to negative ideal solutions. Recently, several CODAS methods have been applied to multi-criteria decision making problems with interval valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets. This paper demonstrates the weaknesses of using Euclidean and Taxicab distance on interval valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets and provides alternative strategies to model the vagueness and uncertainty in decision maker evaluations more effectively. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, a new selection metric is defined in order to eliminate the disadvantages of using Euclidean and Taxicab distance in interval valued intuitionistic fuzzy CODAS. Second, a new fuzzy aggregation operator is proposed for aggregating decision maker evaluations by using fuzzy weights rather than using crisp weights. To show the effectiveness of the modified CODAS method, an application is given for multi-criteria selection of renewable energy alternatives in Turkey and the results are compared with two other interval valued intuitionistic fuzzy CODAS methods in the literature. • This paper criticizes the existing IVIF-CODAS methods in the literature. • The drawbacks of using Euclidean and Hamming distance are highlighted. • A new distance metric and fuzzy aggregation operator for IVIF CODAS is proposed. • The proposed IVIF-CODAS method does not have any user-defined parameters. • Results show the difference between existing and proposed IVIF CODAS methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Renewable Energy Resources (RER) is growing rapidly for energy generation and several studies indicate that these will have a huge contribution in the future. Selecting RER is a complex problem involving different criteria and alternatives. The first aim of the study is the development of an evaluation model to select the most appropriate RER in Turkey. Evaluation of RER alternatives can be seen as a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) problem that can be solved with flexible tools to handle complex situations and assist decision makers (DMs) in mapping out the situation. In this process, Group Decision Making (GDM) involves multiple DMs who have different goals or ways of thinking and can assess the decision process distinctively different from others. Linguistic interval fuzzy preferences with DEMATEL, ANP, TOPSIS integrated techniques are utilized to eliminate uncertainty and to better represent DMs' preferences. The originality of the paper comes from its ability to propose effective and comprehensive evaluation model for both Turkey and literature and apply to a real industrial problem to improve the RER selection process. Another contribution is to adapt integrated techniques including linguistic interval fuzzy preferences with DEMATEL, ANP, TOPSIS for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass energy is one of the fundamental renewable energy sources. It decreases fossil fuel combustion and consequently net greenhouse gas emissions since no new carbons aren't released to the atmosphere. Generally, agricultural, forest, animal and urban wastes are considered as potential sources for biomass energy. Among these sources, agricultural wastes are the most suitable type to generate biomass energy in Turkey. Aegean Region has a great potential with respect to its lands and its diversity of agricultural products. In this paper, the most appropriate location for a biomass power plant has been investigated among the eight alternative locations in Aegean Region by examining both quantitative and qualitative criteria. It is the first time, an integrated model including fuzzy sets, analytic hierarchy process, opinion aggregation method, and information axiom method has been proposed to obtain a solution for such a problem. According to the results, Aydin is determined as the most appropriate location for a biomass power plant at Aegean Region. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to present the reliability of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Söke Plain (Turkey) is one of the two plains where cotton production is the highest in Turkey, the leading country for cotton production in the Mediterranean Basin. The cropping pattern in Söke Plain is dominated by cotton with a ratio of 97%. The overall irrigation scheme is equipped with conventional systems (i.e., surface, furrow) whose efficiency is approximately 50% due to high evaporation and physical losses. Water efficiency improvement in cotton irrigation necessitates a thorough evaluation of the agricultural water management for Söke Plain, a water-scarce region under drought threat. In this paper, a hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method is presented for the evaluation and selection of irrigation methods. This process involves various potentially conflicting qualitative and quantitative criteria, therefore, a hybrid MCDM method such as HF-AHP-PROMETHEE II is needed to make decisions. In HF-AHP-PROMETHEE II, "Hesitant Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process" (HF-AHP) is first implemented to determine importance weights of criteria and then "Hesitant Fuzzy Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enriching Evaluations II" (HF-PROMETHEE II) is utilized to assess and rank the irrigation method alternatives. For comparison analysis, HF-AHP-TOPSIS (HF-AHP-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method is also implemented to the same problem. A case study is presented where five irrigation method alternatives in Söke Plain are assessed by five expert decision-makers (DMs), based on fifteen evaluation criteria. Sprinkler is found to be the first ranked irrigation method among five alternatives with both HF-AHP-PROMETHEE II and HF-AHP-TOPSIS resulting in the same ranking. The selection of this irrigation technique by the expert DMs is compliant with prevailing regional features related to hydrologic, climatic, environmental conditions and with regard to cotton, one of the highest water-consuming crops. • Söke Plain and surrounding area needs more efficient irrigation planning. • HF-AHP-PROMETHEE II and HF-AHP-TOPSIS methods are applied to evaluate irrigation methods in Söke. • irrigation methods are evaluated with 15 criteria by 5 decision-makers. • Sprinkler is ranked as the best irrigation method with both HF-AHP-PROMETHEE II and HF-AHP-TOPSIS. • Implementation of modern irrigation methods is necessary in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novelty multi-criteria framework is proposed for bioenergy facility location. • This paper expands the scarce literature about bioenergy production in Turkey. • Analysis of bioenergy production and regulations is key to the bioenergy growth. • The bioenergy can contribute to complement the energy matrix of Turkey. Biofuels are rapidly taking their place amongst the renewable energy sources which are gaining importance day by day. Turkey procures a large portion of its energy needs with imported fossil fuels. This brings forward problems related to energy security and it also caused an increase in the greenhouse gas emissions of the country in the last decade. However, there are no satisfactory studies or investments related to biofuel potential and the evaluation of this potential. The research of the biomass energy potential in Turkey is of particular importance in terms of strengthening the energy policy. In this study, a multi-stage approach is presented for the first time in the appropriate site selecting for production facility to be established in a country. This is the most basic fact that distinguishes the study from other literature studies and makes it unique. Initially, the plant species and production amounts to be used in bioenergy production at the country scale were determined and theoretical biodiesel and bioethanol potentials were calculated. Then, the most suitable product-based site for the bioenergy production facility was determined with a hybrid method using the entropy-based multiple-attribute utility theory. Thus, contrary to the literature studies on potential determination only, the most suitable location for the bioenergy production facility was also selected by using determined potentials. The results show that Turkey has a biodiesel and bioethanol potential 1.666.176 tons, 13.546.751 tons, respectively. The products with the highest potential were determined for biodiesel and bioethanol production as sunflower (774.741 tons) and wheat (7.051.602 tons). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The paper proposes a hybrid model to prioritize RE sources for Turkey. [•] The hybrid model based on BOCR and ANP is proposed under linguistic values. [•] Strategic criteria are economy, security, wellbeing, technology and global effects. [•] Nineteen criteria are used to evaluate hydro, geothermal, solar, wind and biomass. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Service sector is under pressure to deliver continuing performance and quality improvement while being customer-focused. In recent terms, there exists web based or electronic service quality (e-sq) concept. With the birth of electronic commerce, it has become important to be able to monitor and enhance e-sq. Therefore, this study will examine the e-sq concept and determine the key components of e-sq. The e-sq framework is employed by the aid of service quality (SERVQUAL) methodology as the theoretical instrument. Finally, proposed e-sq framework is illustrated with a web service performance example of healthcare sector in Turkey by using a combined multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methodology containing fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The work presented in this paper shows the applicability of the e-sq framework in explaining the complexity of aspects observed in the implementation of healthcare services via internet. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: For manufacturing industries, financial performance evaluation is very important in a highly competitive environment. Therefore, an accurate and appropriate performance evaluation is critical. As financial performance indicators reflect the competitiveness of a company, they must be carefully identified in the evaluation process. Generally, traditional accounting-based financial performance (AFP) measures are used for performance evaluation. However, these measures are not sufficient for performance evaluation solely in the modern industry time. So, value-based financial performance (VFP) measures have recently been introduced to express the company value. In this paper, we propose a new financial performance evaluation approach to rank the companies of each sector in the Turkish manufacturing industry. For this purpose, a hierarchical financial performance evaluation model is structured based on the AFP and VFP main-criteria and their sub-criteria. We use fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to determine the weights of the criteria. The companies are ranked according to their own manufacturing sector by using TOPSIS and VIKOR comparatively. The results show that the obtained ranks of the companies by these methods are almost same with respect to their own sectors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since the correct energy policy affects economic development and environment, the most appropriate energy policy selection is excessively important. Recently some studies have concentrated on selecting the best energy policy and determining the best energy alternatives. In most of these studies, multicriteria and fuzzy approaches to energy policy making are frequently used. The fuzzy set theory is a powerful tool to treat the uncertainty in case of incomplete or vague information. In this paper, a fuzzy multicriteria decision-making methodology is suggested for the selection among energy policies. The methodology is based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) under fuzziness. It allows the evaluation scores from experts to be linguistic expressions, crisp or fuzzy numbers. In the application of the proposed methodology, the best energy policy is determined for Turkey. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this study is twofold: first, it is aimed at determining the best renewable energy alternative for Istanbul by using an integrated VIKOR-AHP methodology. Second, a selection among alternative energy production sites in this city is made using the same approach. In the proposed VIKOR-AHP methodology, the weights of the selection criteria are determined by pairwise comparison matrices of AHP. In energy decision making problems, the judgments of decision makers are usually vague. As it is relatively difficult for decision makers to provide exact values for the criteria, the evaluation data for the alternative energy policies should be expressed in linguistic terms. In order to model this kind of uncertainty in human preferences, fuzzy logic is applied very successfully. Thus, both classical VIKOR and classical AHP procedures are performed under fuzzy environment. The originality of the paper comes from the application of the proposed integrated VIKOR-AHP methodology to the selection of the best energy policy and production site. It is found that wind energy is the most appropriate renewable energy option and Çatalca district is the best area among the alternatives for establishing wind turbines in Istanbul. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Outsourcing refers to a company that contracts with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees. Information system (IS) outsourcing policies define the criteria that organizations utilize to decide upon the scope and degree of reliance of their IS capabilities upon external sources. IS outsourcing is an innovative organizational tool for IS management in both private and public sector organizations. In this paper, an interactive group decision-making methodology is proposed to select/rank IS providers under multiple criteria. A measure for the consensus level of the group preferences is developed to satisfy an acceptable level of group agreement and reliability. The Spearman coefficients for both the aggregated rank order and each DM''s rank order have also been calculated. The group and the individual evaluations are gathered through a fuzzy TOPSIS approach. The proposed methodology is applied in the largest office furniture manufacturer in Konya-Turkey. Eight alternative IS providers are evaluated based on seven criteria by five decision makers. Sensitivity analyses are also provided to see the effects of parameter changes on the final decision. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]