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Renewable energy is a substantial component of sustainable development all over the world. In order to ensure the optimal exploitation of renewable energy sources, selection of appropriate renewable energy technologies with a thorough assessment approach is required. There are several conversion technologies for biomass, which constitutes an important part of renewable energy sources. The evaluation of biomass conversion technologies is a complex problem since it contains many criteria, some of which are contradictory and must be taken into account simultaneously. Axiomatic design outperforms other design techniques by considering both what decision makers want to achieve and what the system can provide as Pythagorean fuzzy sets provide a greater domain to experts while assigning membership and non-membership values in a decision making process. Therefore, in this study, Pythagorean fuzzy sets are combined with axiomatic design approach to evaluate biomass conversion technologies. It is revealed that combustion is the best biomass conversion technology for the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The sensitivity and comparative analyses are conducted to show robustness and reliability of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an integrated Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (f AHP) and Weighted Fuzzy Axiomatic Design (wf AD) methodology for a strategic level problem of hydrogen energy storage (HES) method selection for Turkey. Considering alternatives of tank, metal hydride and chemical storage, we design our decision problem with respect to five assessment criteria as weight, capacity, storage loss and leak, reliability, and total system cost. In the solution methodology, we first implement f AHP to determine criteria weights by incorporating linguistic judgement and vague information. Next, we define functional requirements and design parameters for the selection problem and use wf AD to compare alternatives. After implementing the proposed integrated approach, we perform additional sensitivity analysis experiments to test the robustness of the solution with respect to changes in functional requirements. • We consider a hydrogen energy storage method selection problem for Turkey. • We incorporate three alternatives as tank, metal hydride, and chemical. • We use fuzzy analytical hierarchy process to determine criteria weights. • We use weighted fuzzy axiomatic design to select the most appropriate alternative. • Our results reveal that metal hydride is the most appropriate solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has been one of the fastest-growing power markets in the world with its young and growing population, rapid urbanization, strong economic growth and low per-capita electricity consumption for two decades. The recent figures indicate that electric power demand and supply have shown rapid increases over the last few years and is expected to continue in the future. Therefore, selecting the appropriate energy policy is very important for Turkey. In this article, energy policies for Turkey are evaluated using multi criteria axiomatic design including information axiom and fuzzy information axiom due to having subjective and objective criteria in the evaluation of the energy policy problem. Fossil fuels, wind power, nuclear power, natural gas, solar power and hydropower are evaluated in the long term (2008–2018) for Turkey. In the evaluation process, economic, environmental, technical, and social benefits are mainly taken into account as the main criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Axiomatic Design (AD) has been proposed as a scientific and systematic basis providing structures to design processes for engineers. The primarily goal of axiomatic design is to make designers more creative, to reduce the random search process, to minimize the iterative trial-and-error process, and to determine the best designs among the proposed designs. The essence of the axiomatic design involves a continuous interplay between what designers/customers want to achieve and how they want to achieve it. The axiomatic approach uses two axioms named as "independence axiom" and "information axiom" to improve a design. The first axiom, independence axiom, states that the independence of functional requirements (FRs) must always be maintained, where FRs are defined as the minimum set of independent requirements that characterizes the design goals. Then, the second axiom, information axiom, states that the design having the smallest information content is the best design among those designs that satisfy the independence axiom (Suh, 2001). Axiomatic design methodology has been applied to various application areas since it was proposed to literature. Some successful applications of AD methodology are as follows: Software Design, System Design, Manufacturing System Design, and Product Design. Besides of these application studies, there are some other studies including theoretical developments in the literature. In the scope of this study, following contributions are presented; The first contribution of the study is that the relation between functional requirements and design parameters in the independence axiom has been defined by the degree of the relation. However, in the conventional axiomatic design, the relation between functional requirements and design parameters is symbolized by 0 or 1 such that 1 represents a relation and 0 represents no relation. Therefore, the conventional axiomatic design methodology does not take into consideration the weak relations or the design is accepted as coupled design because of weak relations. The grading of the relations helps designers to recognize design problems caused by weak relations since the developed methodology can take into consideration even weak relations. Hence, it is easily determined whether a design works properly. More-over, the importances of the design parameters are put forward by using the developed independence axiom. Thus, the design parameters which mostly satisfy functional requirements are determined. Furthermore, the quality of a design is defined by the functional independences and dependences belonging to design matrix. Thus, the comparison of the design matrices which consist of different design parameters can be done. The second contribution of the study is that the fuzzy information axiom has been improved to be used for the solution of all types of multiciriteria decision making problems. In this perspective, multicriteria decision making problems have been classified as exact value problems, expect value problems, and ranking problems. The definition of functional requirements has been also defined based on the problem types. Hence, the developed information axiom has been used an as effective decision making tool which takes into consideration decision makers' expectations and can be used for the solution of all multicriteria decision making problems. Moreover, the information axiom has been developed to present a solution for the crisp evaluation symbolized by a real number. Furthermore, the definition of design satisfaction ratio has been proposed based on information content to explain the satisfaction level of a design while information content values obtained from information axiom have been used only as a comparison and selection tool. The third contribution of the study is that the proposed algorithm is applied to display design of passenger cars in terms of ergonomics issues. In the application, the design parameters for display design are determined and importances of the design parameters are defined. Moreover, the characteristics for display design have been presented for Turkish people by a test study. As a further aspect, the scope of the developed algorithm can be extended by using importances of the design parameters to optimize design dimensions. For instance, control buttons and air passages on the center of the dashboard can be evaluated based on their locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The closest relationships between ship management companies and shipyards begin with the initial design process of new ships and they continue during the life cycle of operating ships. Periodic docking facilities which can be recognized as the biggest logistical issue in the content of ship maintenance program are the critical processes from the viewpoint of ship owners. Hence, this process should be well-planned and organized to satisfy the various expectations such as quality of service, capacity limitations, and geographical advantages, by taking cost and time constraints into account. Hence, the selection problem with respect to several criteria to find the most suitable shipyards is getting more important for ship management companies. This paper investigates a systematic evaluation model on docking facilities of shipyards to provide a decision aid for technical ship managers and to perform this responsibility in an efficient manner. Multiple criteria fuzzy axiomatic design (FAD) approach is used for selection among shipyards since FAD lets us define the design interval of each criterion. The original contributions of the paper are seemed in both enhancing the theoretical frame of FAD in terms of managing group consensus and performing an application to a real case in maritime industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In order to survive the constant changes and developments in the economy, companies must resort to alternative structural developments. In this context, organizations must develop programs to support the employees they laid off as well as their remaining workforce to achieve efficiency and profitability. One of these support programs, the Outplacement, is a service that helps employees who lost their jobs to cope with the situation and to find a new job. In addition, the Outplacement program deals with the psychology of the remaining employees in the sense that their jobs may be under threat as well. In general, the Outplacement model concentrates on the career development and the psychological support of the employees. The model encompasses a systematic support. In this study every small detail is analyzed and a conceptual model using Axiomatic Design is developed. The validity of the model is then tested within the Turkish Armed Forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]