Objective To analyse whether the geographical ranges of Dendroctonus species are (1) associated with factors such as host species or elevation, and (2) in agreement with Halffter's Nearctic distribution pattern. (3) To identify and discuss the factors that are likely to act as barriers to the genus' geographical distribution. (4) To explore whether there is an association between the size of the geographical ranges of Dendroctonus species and the number of Pinus host species used by each of them, and (5) to assess if these host species are most common at the elevations preferred by the individual Dendroctonus species.Site Mexico.

The bullwhip effect leads to considerable inefficiencies along the food supply chain such as missed production schedules, poor customer service, excessive inventory, and misguided capacity plans. To tackle this problem, it is necessary, apart from other interventions, to continuously monitor the performance of food suppliers so that the demand information flow, order batching, transportation planning, and inventory management can be substantially improved. Therefore, supplier assessment has then become critical decision‐making support for identifying and addressing inefficiencies of food providers, which ends up reducing the variation of several key logistics parameters for upstream members of the food supply chain. In addition, such assessment is of multicriteria nature given the presence of several criteria from different domains and various food suppliers. With these considerations in mind, this paper proposes a hybrid approach integrating the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) for evaluating the performance of pork suppliers. Thereby, the economic and operational burden caused by the bullwhip effect throughout the pork supply chain can be alleviated. AHP was first used to determine the criteria and subcriteria weights. Then DEMATEL was applied to assess the interdependence and feedback between the decision elements. Finally, TOPSIS was implemented to discriminate between high‐performance and low‐performance pork suppliers. A case study from the Colombian pork supply chain is presented to validate the proposed approach. The results of this study evidenced that the most important criterion was the “service level” and the most influencing factor was the “financial profile.” In addition, based on the supplier assessment results, improvement plans, and new negotiation, strategies were established for each supplier in order to diminish the bullwhip effect along the pork supply chain.

Considering the unexpected emergence of natural and man-made disasters over the world and Turkey, the importance of preparedness of hospitals, which are the first reference points for people to get healthcare services, becomes clear. Determining the level of disaster preparedness of hospitals is an important and necessary issue. This is because identifying hospitals with low level of preparedness is crucial for disaster preparedness planning. In this study, a hybrid fuzzy decision making model was proposed to evaluate the disaster preparedness of hospitals. This model was developed using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP)-fuzzy decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (FDEMATEL)-technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solutions (TOPSIS) techniques and aimed to determine a ranking for hospital disaster preparedness. FAHP is used to determine weights of six main criteria (including hospital buildings, equipment, communication, transportation, personnel, flexibility) and a total of thirty-six sub-criteria regarding disaster preparedness. At the same time, FDEMATEL is applied to uncover the interdependence between criteria and sub-criteria. Finally, TOPSIS is used to obtain ranking of hospitals. To provide inputs for TOPSIS implementation, some key performance indicators are established and related data is gathered by the aid of experts from the assessed hospitals. A case study considering 4 hospitals from the Turkish healthcare sector was used to demonstrate the proposed approach. The results evidenced that Personnel is the most important factor (global weight ¼ 0.280) when evaluating the hospital preparedness while Flexibility has the greatest prominence (c þ r ¼ 23.09).

In recent years, a series of important emergencies have been taken place worldwide in industrial plants. \ud After the occurrence of a disaster, it is essential to activate the correct emergency procedures. Particularly, it is important to direct people injured in hospitals able to handle emergencies. Thus, nowadays, the emergency services require a “transversal” process that starts from the disaster moment occurred until the involvement of all actors that participate in the process to provide integral, safe and quality attention. The aim of this study is to evaluate the overall performance of emergency departments in the hospital sector. A hybrid model called the “Analytic Decision Making Preference Model - ADT Model” based on AHP, DEMATEL and TOPSIS methods is proposed. AHP was been used to determine the criteria and sub-criteria weights. Then, DEMATEL is used to evaluate interdependence between criteria and sub-criteria. After this, TOPSIS is applied to rank the emergency departments from highest to lowest according to their closeness coefficient. A real case study in Colombia is presented

Selecting a suitable Multi Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) method is a crucial step in selecting appropriate medical equipment. The aim of the research is to define the most appropriate tomography equipment through the integration of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. A hybrid model is presented. The AHP is used to define the weights of each criterion and sub-criterion through qualitative comparisons. Then, TOPSIS is used to evaluate the purchase options. This research provides decision makers with a scientific and rigorous decision support system useful in strategic and complex decision. A numerical example is also presented.