Annalia Bernardini

Bio: Annalia Bernardini is an academic researcher from Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The author has contributed to research in topics: Multiple-criteria decision analysis & Decision problem. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 8 publications receiving 322 citations.

Multi actor multi criteria analysis (MAMCA) as a tool to support sustainable decisions: State of use

Abstract: In this contribution, the multi actor multi criteria analysis (MAMCA) to evaluate transport projects is presented. This evaluation methodology specifically focuses on the inclusion of the different actors that are involved in a project, the so-called stakeholders. Like the traditional multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA), it allows including qualitative as well as quantitative criteria with their relative importance, but within the MAMCA they represent the goals and objectives of the multiple stakeholders. As such, the stakeholders are incorporated in the decision process. The theoretical foundation of the MAMCA method is shown, together with several applications in the field of transport appraisal.

A Range-Based Vehicle Life Cycle Assessment Incorporating Variability in the Environmental Assessment of Different Vehicle Technologies and Fuels

Abstract: How to compare the environmental performance of different vehicle technologies? Vehicles with lower tailpipe emissions are perceived as cleaner. However, does it make sense to look only to tailpipe emissions? Limiting the comparison only to these emissions denies the fact that there are emissions involved during the production of a fuel and this approach gives too much advantage to zero-tailpipe vehicles like battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). Would it be enough to combine fuel production and tailpipe emissions? Especially when comparing the environmental performance of alternative vehicle technologies, the emissions during production of the specific components and their appropriate end-of-life treatment processes should also be taken into account. Therefore, the complete life cycle of the vehicle should be included in order to avoid problem shifting from one life stage to another. In this article, a full life cycle assessment (LCA) of petrol, diesel, fuel cell electric (FCEV), compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), hybrid electric, battery electric (BEV), bio-diesel and bio-ethanol vehicles has been performed. The aim of the manuscript is to investigate the impact of the different vehicle technologies on the environment and to develop a range-based modeling system that enables a more robust interpretation of the LCA results for a group of vehicles. Results are shown for climate change, respiratory effects, acidification and mineral extraction damage of the different vehicle technologies. A broad range of results is obtained due to the variability within the car market. It is concluded that it is essential to take into account the influence of all the vehicle parameters on the LCA results.

A Fuzzy AHP and PROMETHEE method-based heuristic for disassembly line balancing problems

Abstract: Nowadays, new products have been introduced in the market at an ever increasing pace due to rapid technology advancement. Consequently, products are becoming outdated and discarded faster than ever before. Since the demand for new solutions to economically deal with such outdated products begun to rise, the disassembly line has emerged as a viable solution to this problem. The disassembly line has been considered as a viable choice for automated disassembly of returned products. The problem of sequence generation in disassembly is complex due to its NP-Hard nature and therefore the heuristically solutions are most preferable for these types of problems. In this paper, a heuristic has been proposed to assign the disassembly tasks/parts to the work stations under its precedence constraints. It incorporates Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP) and PROMETHEE method for the selection of tasks for assignment to the disassembly line. The Fuzzy AHP has been used to find the relative importance of each cri...