Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Boris Prevolsek, Maja Borlinic Gacnik, Crtomir Rozman
Summary: This paper examines the efficiency of tourist farms in Slovenia using a combination of non-parametric programming-Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results indicate potential improvements in efficiency and additional criteria for the tourist farms analyzed. The AHP model provides a more accurate ranking within the group of farms assessed as efficient by DEA.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Ali RezaHoseini, Zahra Rahmani, Morteza BagherPour
Summary: Selecting a proper set of projects is crucial for project-oriented organizations to achieve their goals. Sustainable development suggests considering financial and non-financial factors simultaneously for a sustainable and balanced project portfolio. The study uses Z-AHP and Z-DEA approaches to evaluate project efficiency, showing that the Z-AHP-DEA method can be used as a reliable approach for project ranking.
ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
(2022)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
M. R. Mozaffari, S. Ostovan, Peter Fernandes Wanke, Yong Tan
Summary: This paper proposes radial and non-radial models of multi-stage fuzzy DEA and DEA-R networks based on liquidity ratios, aiming to evaluate the efficiency of decision-making units. By converting the models into linear programming, the efficiency of different stages and the overall network can be calculated.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FUZZY SYSTEMS
(2022)
Article
Management
Chiang Kao, Shiuh-Nan Hwang
Summary: This paper proposes a model to determine the minimum level of undesirable outputs that cannot be avoided in producing desirable outputs under weak disposability. The model can separate the effect of generating undesirable outputs from the inefficiency of producing desirable outputs. Weak disposability has two forms, one requiring all production units to have the same proportion, and the other allowing each production unit to have its own proportion in reducing desirable and undesirable outputs.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Management
Chiang Kao, Shiuh-Nan Hwang
Summary: The data envelopment analysis technique produces higher efficiency scores for decision making units (DMUs) when more input/output factors are considered, suggesting a concept to determine the minimum amount of undesirable outputs allowed for a DMU. Results show that efficiency of DMUs can be decomposed into parts accounting for desirable and undesirable outputs, which can help identify inefficiencies and formulate standards for allowable undesirable outputs.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Development Studies
Sonali Sharma, Kakali Majumdar
Summary: The study found that excluding the undesirable output leads to biased estimates, with 11 countries having environmentally efficient rice production, while the remaining 17 countries require significant reductions in CO2 emissions and fertilizer use to make the production process efficient and environmentally sustainable.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Management
David Jose Cova-Alonso, Juan Jose Diaz-Hernandez, Eduardo Martinez-Budria
Summary: The article introduces a new efficiency measure to overcome the drawbacks of the Farrell technical efficiency measure. By accounting for all non-zero slacks in inputs and outputs, the new measure helps in correctly classifying production units and measuring inefficiency, thus enhancing business management decision-making.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Thermodynamics
Lei Jiang, Haifeng Zhou, Shixiong He
Summary: The Chinese government has set quantitative and binding energy efficiency improvement targets, with specific targets assigned to manufacturing firms. Research shows a positive correlation between energy efficiency and output efficiency in textile firms, while no such trade-off is found in energy-intensive chemical firms.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Anderson Hoose, Victor Yepes, Moacir Kripka
Summary: This paper presents the application of decision-making methods to define the best product mix in the agricultural machinery industry. The method involves using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the managerial implications for decision making in terms of production environment and profitability.
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Sanjeet Singh, Vincent Charles, Utsav Pandey
Summary: A study found that nearly 60% of OECD countries have underutilized their resources, producing on average only half of the maximum possible outputs. Efficiency evaluation has been revisited with adjustments for unfavorable externalities such as economic and demographic factors. The analysis and its implications can help policymakers formulate optimal resource plans and identify potential areas for improvement.
ANNALS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Thermodynamics
Alireza Khoshroo, Mohammad Izadikhah, Ali Emrouznejad
Summary: Determining energy productivity change during a time interval is crucial in production lines. This paper proposes three new approaches using optimistic, pessimistic, and general viewpoints of data envelopment analysis to comprehensively measure productivity index. Additionally, the impact of undesirable outputs on productivity change is also considered.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Nina Sakinah Ahmad Rofaie, Seuk Wai Phoong, Muzalwana Abdul Talib Abdul Mutalib
Summary: Road lighting is crucial for the safety and comfort of its users. The transition from conventional technology to LED lighting is driven by energy efficiency, cost savings, and environmental concerns. This study investigates the performance of LED lighting in substitution for traditional high-pressure sodium vapour lighting using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method in Malaysia's Penang Bridge. The findings highlight the potential of LED renewable energy industry for establishing affordable, clean, and carbon-free road lighting systems, especially in rural areas.
Article
Economics
Hashem Omrani, Ali Emrouznejad, Meisam Shamsi, Pegah Fahimi
Summary: This paper extends the two-stage NDEA model with negative data and undesirable outputs. An alternative linear model based on goal programming technique is proposed to avoid complex non-linear calculations. A method is used to transform negative data into positive and undesirable outputs into desirable ones.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PLANNING SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Li Zhu, Zhonghua Zhao, Yiping Wang, Qunwu Huang, Yong Sun, Dapeng Bi
Summary: This study utilized Analytic Hierarchy Process and Life Cycle Assessment methods to determine evaluation indicators and rankings, proposing a Toilet Assessment Scheme. The results indicated that water conservation, environmental protection, and indoor environmental quality should be prioritized. Additionally, experts had differing emphases on the evaluation scheme based on gender, profession, and generation.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Majid Zadmirzaei, Fahimeh Hasanzadeh, Andres Susaeta, Ester Gutierrez
Summary: Undesirable outputs of industrial economic activities, such as carbon dioxide and other pollutants, have become a global concern due to their harmful effects on the climate. This study proposes a novel environmental efficiency model that combines data envelopment analysis (DEA) with predicting artificial intelligence algorithms. The findings show that a significant percentage of decision-making units (DMUs) in Iranian forest management operate at low efficiency levels, but can improve their efficiency by adopting the combined approach.
Article
Economics
Giovanna D'Inverno, Laura Carosi, Giulia Romano
Summary: This paper suggests a new composite indicator to evaluate the performance of water utilities, considering financial and economic indicators, environmental sustainability, and service quality measures. The empirical implementation on Italian water utilities shows that operating in the Centre and being large are favorable background conditions, while the South and medium size have a significant unfavorable influence on performance. Multi-utilities have advantages over mono-utilities, and there is no significant distinction among different ownership models.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PLANNING SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Economics
Giovanna D'Inverno, Wim Moesen, Kristof De Witte
Summary: This paper examines the relationship between municipal size and local service level provision and finds evidence of diseconomies of scale. The optimal size for local public good provision is estimated to be around 10,000 citizens.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PLANNING SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Paula Llanquileo-Melgarejo, Maria Molinos-Senante, Giulia Romano, Laura Carosi
Summary: This study evaluated the impact of selective collection and recycling of MSW on the performance of municipalities in Chile providing MSW services. The results showed that there is significant room for improvement in the management of MSW by Chilean municipalities, as indicated by the low percentages of efficient and eco-efficient municipalities. Lack of collaboration between municipalities at the regional level, along with exogenous variables, also influenced the efficiency and eco-efficiency scores.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Anna Mergoni, Giovanna D'Inverno, Laura Carosi
Summary: The aim of this paper is to measure and benchmark the environmental performance of Portuguese utilities in water supply, wastewater collection, and solid waste management. The results indicate that there is room for improvement in the pressure balance of these companies.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Giulia Romano, Maria Molinos-Senante, Laura Carosi, Paula Llanquileo-Melgarejo, Ramon Sala-Garrido, Manuel Mocholi-Arce
Summary: On average, the eco-productivity of Italian waste service providers increased by 8% from 2016 to 2019. Although municipalities with private utilities improved their ecoproductivity most, the differences among the three clusters reflecting utility ownership are not statistically significant. The results show that publicly owned waste operators drive technology and that the technological levels of private utilities have deteriorated relative to global technological progress.
Article
Public Administration
Giulia Romano, Claudio Marciano, Mario Minoja
Summary: In recent years, many countries have witnessed remunicipalization in the public service sector, particularly in water and urban waste management. This study examines five successful cases of remunicipalization in Italy's urban waste management sector and investigates the factors that trigger, contribute to the success, and result from this process. The findings suggest that remunicipalization is initiated by the alignment of motivations and opportunities, along with the presence of committed actors. This process leads to significant improvements in company performance, considering the triple bottom line, if certain key success factors, related to the municipality, utility management, and stakeholder relationships, are met. Furthermore, the external context, including legal and institutional conditions, influences the overall process, triggers, and outcomes.
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Alda A. Henriques, Milton Fontes, Ana S. Camanho, Giovanna D'Inverno, Pedro Amorim, Jaime Gabriel Silva
Summary: This paper explores robust nonparametric approaches to support performance evaluation in problematic samples, focusing on mitigating the impact of potential outlier observations and variability in small samples. The study highlights the benefits of the proposed method compared to traditional deterministic approaches, with a case study in the wastewater treatment industry in Portugal illustrating its applicability in internal benchmarking studies.
ANNALS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Management
Giovanna D'Inverno, Francesco Vidoli, Kristof De Witte
Summary: In the past few decades, countries have seen a significant increase in local expenditures to meet growing local needs. However, the limited availability of financial resources, aggravated by the 2008 financial crisis and Covid19 crisis, has led to budget restrictions imposed by higher levels of government. This paper evaluates the impact of enforcing a balanced budget rule on local government cost efficiency and explores the trade-off between efficiency and equity.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Hermilio Vilarinho, Giovanna D'Inverno, Henriqueta Novoa, Ana S. Camanho
Summary: This research evaluates the performance of water supply utilities in Portugal in terms of asset management practices. Peers and targets are identified to guide improvement in the sector, with reliable data collected by the regulatory authority being employed. The study uses composite indicators to reflect different dimensions of asset management, and applies the Data Envelopment Analysis technique. The results show the impact of management models and environmental factors on utilities' performance, and suggest utility-specific target-setting can support regulatory policy review.
Article
Economics
Hermilio Vilarinho, Giovanna D'Inverno, Henriqueta Novoa, Ana S. Camanho
Summary: This study explores the asset management performance of Portuguese water supply companies in the bulk market. It focuses on managerial practices and infrastructure conditions based on indicators collected between 2016 and 2020. The research proposes innovative methods to enhance knowledge on asset management practices in the water sector, presenting two composite indicators to assess performance and maturity in asset management. The results show the need for improvement and highlight the impact of management systems and intervention areas on performance over time.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PLANNING SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Management
Oleg Badunenko, Giovanna D'Inverno, Kristof De Witte
Summary: This paper introduces an innovative method for addressing endogeneity issues in policy performance evaluation. By utilizing a regression discontinuity design with a stochastic frontier panel data model, the paper estimates the causal impact of a policy intervention on the outcome variable. The study distinguishes between the direct effect, efficiency-enhancing effect, or their combination. It also considers persistent and transient inefficiency components while accounting for unobserved heterogeneity.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Miguel Alves Pereira, Hermilio Vilarinho, Giovanna D'Inverno, Ana S. Camanho
Summary: A benchmarking evaluation instrument was developed by a European Union regulatory authority in collaboration with water supply and wastewater treatment service providers. It aimed to determine the efficient operating cost of these providers in the wholesale market segment during 2017-2021. The results showed similar mean efficiency scores between water supply and wastewater services, with potential cost savings ranging from about 2% to 3%.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Giulia Romano, Lucio Masserini
Summary: This study explores the impact of pay-as-you-throw tariffs on the promotion of sustainable urban waste management. The findings indicate that implementing PAYTT effectively aligns with EU waste hierarchy policies and leads to reduced waste generation and improved separate waste collection efforts.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Giulia Romano, Lucio Masserini
Summary: This study evaluates the effects and costs of adopting a zero-waste (ZW) strategy for waste management. The findings indicate that municipalities that have formally adopted the ZW strategy have higher separate collection rates and lower amounts of urban unsorted waste per capita. However, the cost for inhabitants is also higher in ZW municipalities, emphasizing the importance of balancing through the sale of recycling materials.
Review
Management
Vinicius N. Motta, Miguel F. Anjos, Michel Gendreau
Summary: This survey presents a review of optimization approaches for the integration of demand response in power systems planning and highlights important future research directions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Philipp Schulze, Armin Scholl, Rico Walter
Summary: This paper proposes an improved branch-and-bound algorithm, R-SALSA, for solving the simple assembly line balancing problem, which performs well in balancing workloads and providing initial solutions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Roshan Mahes, Michel Mandjes, Marko Boon, Peter Taylor
Summary: This paper discusses appointment scheduling and presents a phase-type-based approach to handle variations in service times. Numerical experiments with dynamic scheduling demonstrate the benefits of rescheduling.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Oleg S. Pianykh, Sebastian Perez, Chengzhao Richard Zhang
Summary: Efficient scheduling is crucial for optimizing resource allocation and system performance. This study focuses on critical utilization and efficient scheduling in discrete scheduling systems, and compares the results with classical queueing theory.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Review
Management
Hamed Jahani, Babak Abbasi, Jiuh-Biing Sheu, Walid Klibi
Summary: Supply chain network design is a large and growing area of research. This study comprehensively surveys and analyzes articles published from 2008 to 2021 to detect and report financial perspectives in SCND models. The study also identifies research gaps and offers future research directions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Patrick Healy, Nicolas Jozefowiez, Pierre Laroche, Franc Marchetti, Sebastien Martin, Zsuzsanna Roka
Summary: The Connected Max-k-Cut Problem is an extension of the well-known Max-Cut Problem, where the objective is to partition a graph into k connected subgraphs by maximizing the cost of inter-partition edges. The researchers propose a new integer linear program and a branch-and-cut algorithm for this problem, and also use graph isomorphism to structure the instances and facilitate their resolution. Extensive computational experiments show that, if k > 2, their approach outperforms existing algorithms in terms of quality.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Victor J. Espana, Juan Aparicio, Xavier Barber, Miriam Esteve
Summary: This paper introduces a new methodology based on the machine learning technique MARS for estimating production functions that satisfy classical production theory axioms. The new approach overcomes the overfitting problem of DEA through generalized cross-validation and demonstrates better performance in reducing mean squared error and bias compared to DEA and C2NLS methods.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Stefano Nasini, Rabia Nessah
Summary: In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of time flexibility in job scheduling, showing that it can significantly affect operators' ability to solve the problem efficiently. They propose a new methodology based on convex quadratic programming approaches that allows for optimal solutions in large-scale instances.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Zhiqiang Liao, Sheng Dai, Timo Kuosmanen
Summary: Nonparametric regression subject to convexity or concavity constraints is gaining popularity in various fields. The conventional convex regression method often suffers from overfitting and outliers. This paper proposes the convex support vector regression method to address these issues and demonstrates its advantages in prediction accuracy and robustness through numerical experiments.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Kuo-Hao Chang, Ying-Zheng Wu, Wen-Ray Su, Lee-Yaw Lin
Summary: The damage and destruction caused by earthquakes necessitates the evacuation of affected populations. Simulation models, such as the Stochastic Pedestrian Cell Transmission Model (SPCTM), can be utilized to enhance disaster and evacuation management. The analysis of SPCTM provides insights for government officials to formulate effective evacuation strategies.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Qinghua Wu, Mu He, Jin-Kao Hao, Yongliang Lu
Summary: This paper studies a variant of the orienteering problem known as the clustered orienteering problem. In this problem, customers are grouped into clusters and a profit is associated with each cluster, collected only when all customers in the cluster are served. The proposed evolutionary algorithm, incorporating a backbone-based crossover operator and a destroy-and-repair mutation operator, outperforms existing algorithms on benchmark instances and sets new records on some instances. It also demonstrates scalability on large instances and has shown superiority over three state-of-the-art COP algorithms. The algorithm is also successfully applied to a dynamic version of the COP considering stochastic travel time.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Bjorn Bokelmann, Stefan Lessmann
Summary: Estimating treatment effects is an important task for data analysts, and uplift models provide support for efficient allocation of treatments. However, evaluating uplift models is challenging due to variance issues. This paper theoretically analyzes the variance of uplift evaluation metrics, proposes variance reduction methods based on statistical adjustment, and demonstrates their benefits on simulated and real-world data.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Congzheng Liu, Wenqi Zhu
Summary: This paper proposes a feature-based non-parametric approach to minimizing the conditional value-at-risk in the newsvendor problem. The method is able to handle both linear and nonlinear profits without prior knowledge of the demand distribution. Results from numerical and real-life experiments demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the approach.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Laszlo Csato
Summary: This paper compares the performance of the eigenvalue method and the row geometric mean as two weighting procedures. Through numerical experiments, it is found that the priorities derived from the two eigenvectors in the eigenvalue method do not always agree, while the row geometric mean serves as a compromise between them.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Guowei Dou, Tsan-Ming Choi
Summary: This study investigates the impact of channel relationships between manufacturers on government policies and explores the effectiveness of positive incentives versus taxes in increasing social welfare. The findings suggest that competition may be more effective in improving sustainability and social welfare. Additionally, government incentives for green technology may not necessarily enhance sustainability.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
