Heuristic Rating Estimation Method for the incomplete pairwise comparisons matrices

The Heuristic Rating Estimation Method enables decision-makers to decide based on existing ranking data and expert comparisons. In this approach, the ranking values of selected alternatives are known in advance, while these values have to be calculated for the remaining ones. Their calculation can be performed using either an additive or a multiplicative method. Both methods assumed that the pairwise comparison sets involved in the computation were complete. In this paper, we show how these algorithms can be extended so that the experts do not need to compare all alternatives pairwise. Thanks to the shortening of the work of experts, the presented, improved methods will reduce the costs of the decision-making procedure and facilitate and shorten the stage of collecting decision-making data.Comment: 13 page

Economic attributes of quality and competitiveness on the market of road freight transport services

Motivation: The basic quality attributes of transport services are safety and timely deliveries and are determined by the clients. Many studies on quality on the transportation markets concern the user perception or certified management systems. Improving service quality is related to organizational changes, involvement of human and capital resources. At the same time, it does not necessarily mean implementing ISO standards. Moreover, an analysis of the literature revealed an informational niche as regards the factors affecting the quality of services from the service providers’ perspective.Aim: The purpose of this article is to identify factors affecting the quality of services. The reference point of that analysis is the market supply and economic activities taken to improve service quality. In addition, an attempt was made to determine the relationship between quality and competitiveness. The analysis includes endogenous (actions taken by carriers and need of investing) and exogenous (regarding transport and economic policy) factors. Taking into consideration the economic aspect of improving service quality and carrier’s perspective the article aims at enrichment the information niche.Results: The results proved that the most important factors in creating quality of road freight services include, among others, educated staff, technical condition of vehicles and ensuring the safety of transportation processes. Unfair competition processes were identified as the factor with the strongest impact on competitiveness of road carriers. In addition, it was pointed about that there is strong and positive correlation between service quality and competitiveness

Szacunek naturalnej stopy bezrobocia dla Polski

This paper presents alternative estimates of the natural rate of unemployment (NAWRU, NAIRU) for Poland for the years 1990–2008. The estimation process utilizes sequentially procedures based on the classical and the modified Phillips curve, the structural price-wage models as well as approach that uses the reduced form of the Phillips curve. The comparison of the results leads to the conclusion that the natural rates of unemployment estimated by different methods are generally close to each other and do not differ significantly from the observed values. The conducted analysis indicates that the relation of the natural rate of unemployment and the rate of registered unemployment may signal a change of the inflation pressures, which in turn can be used by the Monetary Policy Council

Nutritional Value and Potential Chemical Food Safety Hazards of Selected Traditional and Conventional Pork Hams from Poland

Consumers no longer look for food characterized only by health safety and proper nutritional value. As a result, an increased interest in traditional and regional food can be observed. The aim of this paper is to analyze the results of a comparative analysis of three types of hams: traditional products registered on the List of Traditional Products of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, then products whose names, retail prices, appearance, and manufacturer’s description suggest traditional methods of production, and finally conventional hams. The results show that traditional hams are characterized by the highest nutritional value among the analyzed groups of products. They have the lowest water and a high protein content. In addition, traditional hams are distinguished by a low concentration of sodium chloride and no addition of phosphates. The residues of nitrites and nitrates indicate their moderate use in manufacturing processes

Co-occurrence pattern of ground beetle (Coleoptera, Carabidae) assemblages along pollution gradient in scotch pine forest

Over the last 30 years there has been a great deal of interest in investigating patterns of species co-occurrence across space and time, which may be shaped by interspecific competition for shared resources. A good model of co-occurrence mechanisms is developed among predatory animals along a pollution gradient, where shared resources become more limited in more contaminated areas and the energy budget for detoxification is much higher. Community disassembly by heavy metal pollution may occur when the presence of toxic elements shifts patterns of species co-occurrence from structured to random. On the other hand, limited resources on a pollution gradient should lead to higher competition between dominant species. Disassembly may entail the loss of existing co-evolved interactions among species, which has ramifications for community dynamics and the quality of the functioning of polluted ecosystems. We expect an assemblage dominated by competitive species interactions to exhibit a significant segregation of taxa, whereas one dominated by mutualistic or syntrophic interactions would exhibit an aggregation of taxa. Responses of Carabidae co-occurrence patterns and changes in body size measures to heavy metal concentrations were investigated in a zinc contamination gradient in a Scots pine forest in the vicinity of Olkusz (southern Poland), at 12 study sites. The zinc concentration in the humus layer varied between 108 mg kg-1 dw to 6150 mg kg-1 dw. We used the C-score index, between all possible species pairs in a matrix. The ground beetle assemblages from the reference sites showed a significant segregation pattern. Community disassembly occurred only among assemblages in heavily polluted sites. The average value of skewness and kurtosis were significantly higher in the highly contaminated sites, indicating the greater proportion of small-bodied species in contaminated areas. The Gini coefficient was highest in the low contaminated sites, indicating the body-size inequality of carabid assemblages was greatest in the uncontaminated areas. Our data suggest that increased pollution contributes to the extinction of sensitive forest specialists with large body size and higher competitive abilities, leading to replacement by less sensitive generalists, with smaller body size and that the co-occurrence of species on heavily polluted sites is a result of unstable interactions between species in communities

Emission and commercial utilization of coal mine methane in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin illustrated by the example of Katowice Coal Holding Company

The article deals with the issue of the release of methane from coal seams and its emission to the atmosphere from the mines of Katowice Coal Holding Company in the years of 1997-2011. This period is characterized by organizational changes in Polish mining industry involving liquidation or a merger of mines, an increase in both the concentration of coal mining activity, and the depth of the exploitation at which the amount of methane in coal seams grows ever larger. The analysis of the variation in the methane emission from the coal mines in that period points out a decline in the intensity of the emission until 2005, probably owing to the liquidation of some mines, later, but in the years of 2006-2010 – a considerable increase in both the absolute methane emission of the mines and the methane emission to the atmosphere despite a dropping coal extraction. This signifies that mining activity takes place in increasingly difficult gas conditions prevailing at great depths. Despite a slight decrease in both the absolute methane emission and methane emission to the atmosphere in 2011, a continuously growing trend of this phenomenon should be expected in the future. A similar tendency is also visible in the whole Upper Silesian Coal Basin, however the methane emission peak falls in 2008. In order to curb the growth of the amount of the emitted methane, it should be commercially utilized. Particularly vital is considering methane as an unconventional resource, following the example of other countries