Scientia Iranica

Scientia Iranica

Volume 18, Issue 3, June 2011, Pages 627-638
Scientia Iranica

Invited paper
Fuzzy preferences in multiple participant decision making

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scient.2011.04.016Get rights and content
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Abstract

A fuzzy set theoretic approach for handling preference uncertainty within the paradigm of the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution is employed for systematically carrying out the strategic investigation of a conflict over the proposed export of water in bulk quantities. Following an overview of the literature regarding fuzzy preferences and their applications in decision making, the graph model is restructured to incorporate fuzzy preferences into calculations of stability. Nash and sequential stability definitions, which reflect human behavior in conflict, are modified to accommodate fuzzy preferences. The conflict over the potential large-scale export of water from Lake Gisborne, located in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province, is modeled, assuming that one of the four Decision Makers (DMs) in the dispute has fuzzy or uncertain preferences, while the preferences of the remaining DMs are crisp. The strategic insights gained by varying the satisficing behavior of the DM with fuzzy preferences are discussed.

Keywords

Multiple participants
Conflict
Fuzzy preference
Graph model
Fuzzy relative strength of preference
Fuzzy satisficing threshold
Fuzzy unilateral improvement
Fuzzy stability
Fuzzy equilibrium

Cited by (0)

Keith William Hipel is University Professor of Systems Design Engineering and Coordinator of the Conflict Analysis Group at the University of Waterloo. He is Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and former Vice President of the Canadian Academy of Science. His major research interests are the Development of Conflict Resolution, Multiple Objective Decision Making and Time Series Analysis Techniques from a Systems Engineering Perspective with Applications in Water Resources Management, Hydrology, Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development. He has received thirty awards for his academic and professional engineering achievements, such as the IEEE SMC Norbert Wiener Award.

Donald Marc Kilgour is Professor of Mathematics at Wilfrid Laurier University, Research Director: Conflict Analysis of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and Adjunct Professor of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research lies at the intersection of Mathematics, Engineering and Social Science, and he has addressed problems in International Security, Arms Control, Environmental Management, Negotiation, Arbitration, Voting, Fair Division, and Coalition Formation. He pioneered the development of decision support systems for strategic conflict and co-edited the Handbook of Group Decisions and Negotiation. His research and lifetime contributions have earned many international awards and distinctions.

Mohammad Abul Bashar is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He received a B.S. Degree in Mathematics and an M.S. Degree in Pure Mathematics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He also completed an M.S. Degree in Mathematics for Science and Finance from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. From 1999 to 2006, he was an instructor with the Department of Mathematics at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research interests include Fuzzy Preferences, Conflict Resolution and Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis with Applications to Real World Decision Problems.