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Studies related to transportation planning and development have been in the center of activities of many researchers in the past decades. Road congestions issues, economic problems, health problems and environmental problems are some examples of complex problems that can be caused by urban and public transportation in big cities. Evaluating urban and public transportation systems could help to reach effective solutions to overcome these issues. This article presents a short bibliographic review of some recent studies on Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approaches for evaluating urban and public transportation systems. To this aim, Scopus was chosen as the database for making a search on journal articles. Scopus is trusted by major institutions in the world, and all journals covered in this database are inspected for sufficiently high quality each year. The search was made on the journal articles from 2017 to 2022 (July). The analyses presented in this study show that the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is the most used method, which has been applied to different studies in the field of urban and public transportation systems based on MCDM approaches. According to the analysis of the number of articles, Turkey is ranked 1st among different countries, and “Budapest University of Technology and Economics” (Hungary) is 1st in the ranking of institutions. Moreover, most of the articles have been published within the “social sciences” subject area. The recent trend in different studies on urban and public transportation systems shows the importance of using MCDM approaches in this field. Moreover, noticeable employment of fuzzy sets in several studies is a point that can shows the significant role of uncertainty in dealing with this type of problems.

Gathering the attitudes of the examined respondents would be very significant in some evaluation models.Therefore, an approach to the evaluation of websites based on the use of the neutrosophic set is proposed in this paper. An example of websites evaluation is considered at the end of this paper with the aim to present in detail the proposed approach.

Civil engineering decision support systems (construction, building life cycle, refurbishment, total quality management, innovation, etc.) created in Lithuania are described in this paper. The above decision support systems comprise of the following constituent parts: data (database and its management system), models (model base and its management system) and a user interface. Presentation of information in databases may be in conceptual (digital, textual, graphical, photographic, video) and quantitative forms. Quantitative information presented involves criteria systems and subsystems, units of measurement, values and initial weight fully defining the variants provided. The databases were developed providing a multiple criteria analysis of alternatives from economical, infrastructure, technical, technological, qualitative, legislative, social and other perspectives. This information is provided in a user-oriented way. Since the analysis of alternatives is usually performed by taking into account economical, infrastructure, technical, technological, qualitative and other factors, a model-base include models which enable a decision maker to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the variants available and make a proper choice. These systems, related questions and practical case study were analysed the paper.

Many construction and facilities management Web sites can be found on the Internet. The interested parties on construction and facilities management Web sites can find databases of best practices, calculators, analyzers, software, expert and decision support systems, neural networks, etc. Technological innovation mainly through changes in the availability of information and communication technology inclusive databases of best practices, calculators, analyzers, software, neural networks, decision support and expert systems that have been provided by a variety of new services developed by the construction and facilities management sectors. Most of all calculators, analyzers, software, decision support and expert systems, neural networks and on-line systems seek to find out how to make the most economic decisions and most of all these decisions are intended only for economic objectives. Alternatives under evaluation have to be evaluated not only from the economic position, but take into consideration qualitative, technical, technological and other characteristics as well. Based on the analysis of the existing calculators, analyzers, information, expert and decision support systems, neural networks and in order to determine most efficient versions of best practices a Decision Support Web-Based System for Construction Innovation (IDSS) was developed by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.

Investigations on the similarities and differences of expert, knowledge management and decision support systems are presented in the paper. Explicit and tacit knowledge is analysed. The benefit of knowledge management systems their development and implementation are analyzed. The aspect of the best practice and its knowledge bases and databases are described. Practical possibilities to aply the knowledge systems are presented. On the base of practice acquired during FP 6 project INTELCITIES the database of the best practice and the webbased decision support systems for real estate are developed. On the base of the BRITA in PuBs project the database of the best practice and the web-based decision support systems for retrofit of public buildings are developed.

Die Technische Gediminas Universität Vilnius, Lehrstuhl Technologie der Bauproduktion und die Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur Leipzig, Lehrbereich Baubetrieb, haben sich seit mehreren Jahren mit den Problemen der mehrkriteriellen Entscheidung im Bauwesen befasst. Auf Grund der unterschiedlichen Herangehensweise werden für numerische Lösungen auch unterschiedliche Methoden benutzt. Das gemeinsame Ziel war immer eine optimale Variantenauswahl für baubetriebliche Produktionsprozesse. Zur Unterstützung der numerischen Lösungen wurde gemeinsam das EDV-Programm LEVI entwickelt, welches heute wahlweise als deutschsprachige oder englischsprachige Version genutzt werden kann. Die Beschreibung der zu lösenden Probleme erfolgt in Form einer Matrix. Diese enthält die Varianten (Zeilen) und die Kriterien (Spalten). Dabei sind die Varianten Ausdruck einer Menge real existierender Situationen für ein Problem. Alle betrachteten Varianten werden durch die gleichen Kriterien bewertet. Da die Kriterien gewöhnlich unterschiedliche Dimensionen besitzen, ist ihre Wirksamkeit nicht direkt miteinander vergleichbar. Eine Ausnahme bildet die Bewertung mit einem Punktsystem. Diese beinhaltet jedoch in hohem Maße subjektive Einflüsse und sollte daher nur in Ausnahmefällen benutzt werden. Um die Schwierigkeiten der unterschiedlichen Dimensionen für die verschiedenen Kriterien zu umgehen, wird das Verhältnis zum jeweiligen Optimalwert gebildet. Damit werden gleichzeitig die Diskrepanzen, die durch die unterschiedlichen Größenordnungen der Optimalwerte entstehen, beseitigt. Für das Verhältnis des Funktionswertes zum Optimalwert existieren unterschiedliche Auffassungen. Es muss an dieser Stelle bemerkt werden, dass mit der Entscheidung über die Art des Verhältnisses zum Optimalwert auch die Lösung beeinflusst werden kann. Untersuchungen über solche Auswirkungen sind noch nicht abgeschlossen, so dass im Augenblick nur vorläufige Ergebnisse genannt werden können. Von den bekannten Transformationsmethoden benutzen die Verfasser die vektorwertige Transformation, die lineare Transformation, die relative Abweichung und eine nichtlineare Transformation. Dadurch erfolgt eine Abbildung auf das Intervall [1 ; 0 ] bzw. [ 1 ; ~ 0 ]. Für die Lösungsmethoden erfolgt eine Unterscheidung in eine einseitige oder zweiseitige Fragestellungen. Während die einseitige Fragestellung auf die Bestimmung einer Rangfolge orientiert, berechnet die zweiseitige Fragestellung ein spieltheoretisches Gleichgewicht als Ausdruck eines rationalen Verhaltens von zwei entgegengesetzten Interessengruppen und Lösungen für Spiele gegen die Natur. In Anlehnung an das statische Gleichgewicht messen die Verfasser dem spieltheoretischen Gleichgewicht für die Dimensionierung baubetrieblicher Produktionsprozesse eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Bisherige Anwendungen konzentrieren sich auf die optimale Auswahl im Wohnungsbau, die Auswahl von Konstruktionsvarianten, die Auswahl von Montagevarianten, den Einsatz von Wärmedämmstoffen u.a. Für die Dimensionierung von Produktionsprozessen mit Serienproduktion wurde eine Lösung mit einer gewichteten Matrix vorgeschlagen.

Forecasting the changes of oil prices is of critical importance for authorities and plays a significant role in the dynamic global economy. This paper employs two prediction tools, including econometric and artificial neural network (ANN) models, for forecasting the price of WTI oil to conduct a comparative study. Forecasts from vector time series (vector autoregressive (VAR) and vector error correction (VEC) models) as econometric models are compared with those from ANN model based. For developing the models, 144 monthly data (2000/1-2011/12) comprising monthly oil price, production, reserves, fright rate, world GDP and inflation is applied. To obtain the best model for forecasting the oil price, various models comprising different combinations of training and testing dataset are tested. For achieving the aim, the most appropriate network structure and model is determined based on prediction accuracy and performance. The performance indexes for evaluating the VAR and ANN models contain of RMSE (Root Mean Square error), MAE (mean absolute error), and coefficient of determination (R2) criteria, indicate that ANN yields better results.

Designing organisational strategies in various businesses is a commonly employed practice; nevertheless, nowadays the strategy portfolio optimisation is one of the major controversial issues. This research proposes an inclusive model to evaluate and select organisational strategies based on the boundaries of its resources. In order to achieve such a model, first of all, a grey COPRAS model is applied to evaluate organisational strategies under uncertain circumstances. Subsequently, on the basis of the aforementioned method, a mixed integer multi-objective linear programming model is depicted to optimise the strategy selection process according to COPRAS-G strategy significance results and with regard to time, cost and other structural constraints as well as organisational policies. Ultimately, a mixed COPRAS G-MODM is transformed to a binary goal programming model and the suggested approach is employed in Iran Mercantile Exchange for strategy portfolio optimisation.

Practical interest in ‘off-site construction’ has risen remarkably over the last decade, and with it there has been a burgeoning of academic research in the field. Complementing this research, a number of literature reviews have been conducted. None, however, are systematic. This study addresses this lack, offering the first bibliometric study to explore the state of off-site construction research (OCR). A quantitative approach using ‘science mapping’ techniques is employed to examine 501 top-ranked construction journal articles. Longitudinal trends in publishing are identified, as are dominant research sub-fields, their connectedness with other areas of study, as well as citation patterns, publication journal areas of focus, key research institutions, key research persons, along with the extent to which these interact with each other in research networks. The findings are instructive in identifying the deficiencies in current research. Among these is a bias towards product research over operations and management, and a sharp compartmentalization of sub-fields, with little or no cross-fertilization between researcher areas, the researchers themselves, nor the research institutions. Clearly, this awareness will inform industry, journal editors and researchers of the need for a deeper exchange of ideas in any future research efforts. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The aim of this study is to ascertain the major financial risks affecting construction contractors in Sri Lanka and to investigate the suitability of available hedging techniques as remedial solutions in managing such financial risks. To this end, the study identifies the most serious financial risks and the most commonplace hedging techniques to deal with the identified risks for Sri Lankan contractors through three unstructured interviews and a questionnaire survey administered among financial experts resulting in 33 duly completed responses. Analysis of the results is performed mainly using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. As per the findings, the most serious financial risk affecting contractors was found to be associated with variations in material prices. The most commonplace hedging technique used by contractors to deal with the identified financial risks was ‘forward contracts’. The study prioritises the hedging techniques with respect to their suitability for dealing with financial risks in form of an integrated model. This study provides an illuminating insight into financial risks and measures to mitigate them through implementing hedging techniques with a focus on construction contracting in Sri Lanka. The findings can be held up as examples for other developing countries suffering from similar issues. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The dissertation considers the problems, associated with passenger transportation by international trains (PTIT). The research object is the process of passenger transportation by international trains (PPTIT). By using the experimental methods, the significances (weights) and the order of preferences of the qualitative criteria, describing this process, are determined. The complex model, deve-loped by the author for multicriteria PTIT evaluation, allows for determining a single-valued quantitative criterion for evaluating a particular train travelling on a particular route. The main aim of the dissertation is to offer a methodology for evaluating the quality of passenger transportation by international trains (QPTIT). The dissertation consists of the Introduction, four chapters, the description of the obtained results, the list of references as well as the author’s publications on the topic of the thesis and 12 annexes. The Introduction briefly describes the research problem and object, the topicality of the work, its aim and objectives, and the applied research methods, as well as the novelty and practical value of the results obtained and the defended statements. Finally, the Introduction presents the list of the author’s publications and reports delivered at the conferences on the topic of the dissertation. Chapter 1 presents the analysis of the Lithuanian and EU standards and regulations, defining the quality of passenger transportation by rail. It also describes the... [to full text] Disertacijoje nagrinėjamos tarptautinio keleivių vežimo geležinkeliais (TKVG) problemos. Pagrindinis darbo objektas – tarptautinio keleivių vežimo geležinkeliais procesas (TKVGP). Eksperimentiniais metodais nustatyti kelionės traukiniu kokybės kriterijų reikšmingumas ir šių kriterijų grupių svarba (pirmumas). Autorės suformuluotas TKVG kompleksinis daugiakriterinis vertinimo modelis leido nustatyti vieno traukinio, vykstančio tam tikru maršrutu, vienareikšmį kiekybinį rodiklį. Pagrindinis disertacijos tikslas – pateikti tarptautinio keleivių vežimo geležinkeliais (kelionės traukiniu) kokybės (TKVGK) vertinimo metodologiją. Disertaciją sudaro įvadas, keturi skyriai, rezultatų apibendrinimas, naudotos literatūros ir autorės publikacijų disertacijos tema sąrašai bei 12 priedų. Įvade trumpai aptarta tiriamoji problema, darbo aktualumas, pristatytas tyrimų objektas, suformuluotas darbo tikslas bei uždaviniai, aprašyta tyrimų metodika, mokslinis darbo naujumas, praktinė rezultatų reikšmė bei pateikti ginamieji teiginiai. Įvado pabaigoje pristatomos autorės paskelbtos publikacijos ir pranešimai konferencijose disertacijos tema. Pirmajame skyriuje atlikta geležinkelio infrastruktūros, riedmenų ir TKVGP mokslinių darbų analizė. Taip pat atlikta Lietuvos Respublikos (Europos Sąjungos) norminių dokumentų, reglamentuojančių keleivių vežimo geležinkeliais kokybę, analizė. Antrasis skyrius skirtas AB ,,Lietuvos geležinkeliai“ (LG) veiklos ir keleivių vežimo rodiklių apžvalgai, kelionės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]