For the past four decades, the methodology of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process based on fuzzy trapezoidal or triangular numbers with the linear type of membership functions has witnessed an expanding development with applicability to a wide variety of areas, such as industry, environment, education, government, economics, engineering, health, and smart city leadership. On the other hand, the interval gray analytic hierarchy process is a more practical method when a significant number of professionals have large variations in preferences and interests in complex decisions. The paper examines the management of architectural heritage in smart cities, using methods of multi-criteria decision making. Two appropriate methods generally recommended by the scientific literature have been applied: fuzzy and interval grey analytic hierarchy process. By using both techniques, there is an opportunity to analyze the consensual results from the aspect of two different stakeholder groups: architectural heritage experts and smart city development experts. Trapezoidal fuzzy analytical hierarchical process shows better stability than a triangular one. Both approaches assign priority to the strategy, but the interval approach gives a more significant rank to architectural heritage factors. The similarity of the proposed methods has been tested, and the similarity factor in the ranking indicates a high degree of similarity in comparing the reference rankings.
With rapid economic development and restructuring, the number of old or obsolete buildings is growing in large cities. Construction practice has actively focused in recent decades on the regeneration of brownfield areas and creating opportunities for their cost-effective and sustainable reuse. Some of the buildings could be identified as-built industrial heritage whose purpose could be modified and used differently. Adaptive reuse can make a major contribution to sustainable development by reducing construction waste and saving natural resources. In the reuse management process, the problem is how to deal with multiple criteria that are imposed as factors in assessing the reuse of a building. Using the adjusted fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), we explore the potential for the adaptation and new use of industrial buildings in the former area of Electronic Industry Nis (EI Nis) in Serbia. The standard FAHP, in which we determine the weights of each sub-criterion based on the expert’s evaluation, we adjusted for use when no pairwise comparison of existing alternatives was available. Multiple criteria evaluation was performed by applying many criteria and sub-criteria, taking into account the different spatial and physical performance of buildings, as well as their locational indicators. A case study is used to demonstrate the application of the method and show its effectiveness.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in all aspects of contemporary human life. Everyday activities such as shopping have shifted from traditional methods to the ever-more growing online variants, allowing for an increase in electronic commerce (e-commerce) industry. As more services become available online, consumers often rely on trusted services, which are often reflected on the web and mobile platforms they are presented on. In this paper, we study the factors for successful e-commerce platform design in the Western Balkans region using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) with triangular fuzzy numbers. After an extensive literature overview, interviews with representatives of top-ranking e-commerce companies in the region, and the analysis of experts’ opinions, we select a number of factors and sub-factors for prioritization, taking into account pre-pandemic factors, as well as the ones of the pandemic itself. We extend the FAHP model, which now consists of five (instead of three) points of view. Finally, we present and discuss the results in the form of tables and graphs, as well as an overall recommendation of what should be taken into account when designing an e-commerce platform. Our results rank service quality and security factors first and criteria such as multilingual support last.
For almost fifty years, the concept of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process based on triangular fuzzy numbers, supplied with various types of membership functions has experienced a wide variety of Intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, z-Numbers, and Spherical fuzzy numbers. This paper aims to upgrade the concept of Spherical Fuzzy Sets considering the hesitancy, its third coordinate, as a function instead of constant. This broads the decision-makers "spectrum" allowing them to describe the fuzzy part of data more comprehensively. As a path distance between two fuzzy sets, we used geodesic lines in place of great circles, connecting Fuzzy logic with Differential geometry. Also, we proved some algebraic properties concerning associativity and neutral elements for operations ? and ?, for the defined Surface Fuzzy Sets. Additionally, the application of Surface Fuzzy Sets to within AHP is used for ranking Security, Privacy, and Authority sub-criteria affecting B2C e-commerce websites.
In a hyperproductive interactive environment, where speed and cost-effectiveness often overshadow accuracy, the media’s role is increasingly shifting towards an educational function, beyond its traditional informative and entertaining roles. This shift, particularly through the promotion of science and education, aims to bridge the gap between educational institutions and the labor market. In this context, the importance of 21st-century competencies—encompassing a broad range of knowledge and skills—becomes increasingly clear. Educational institutions are now expected to equip students with relevant, universally applicable, and market-competitive competencies. This paper proposes using a combination of principal component analysis (PCA) and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to rank 21st-century competencies developed throughout the educational process to improve the system. The highest-ranked competency identified is the ability to manage information—specifically, gathering and analyzing information from diverse sources. It has been shown that respondents who developed “soft skills” and media literacy during their studies are better able to critically assess content on social networks and distinguish between credible and false information. The significance of this work lies in its focus on the damaged credibility of online media caused by user-generated content and the rapid spread of unverified and fake news. Denying such discourse or erasing digital traces is therefore futile. Developing a critical approach to information is essential for consistently identifying fake news, doctored images, and recordings taken out of context, as well as preventing their spread.