We present some university rankings, the differences between them and the role they can play in shaping the higher education landscape. We analyse the position of Polish universities in various rankings and suggest why the Polish economy makes little use of the output of Polish researchers.

Supply chain management emerged as the ultimate management strategy to ensure the competitive advantages of companies in their markets. Suppliers are considered as inevitable sources of external risks in modern supply chains. In this respect, resonance is essential for the ability to adapt in resonance to disturbances and to restore in choosing suppliers. As suppliers of critical resources are vulnerable, choosing better suppliers to create resilience, and thereby reducing the risks in the supply chain as a whole. In recent years, emphasis has been placed on supply chain resilience and resilient suppliers, but few studies have been conducted on the evaluation and selection of resilient suppliers with multi-criteria decision making models. The main purposes of this study are a broad review of the literature on the resilient factor, factorization, efficiency of key factors in the reliance of suppliers and the ranking of resilient suppliers using the combined approach of SWARA and WASPAS. For this purpose, after a comprehensive review of Literature interview with the experts of petrochemical upstream industry, six key factors and overall resilience of suppliers were identified in eighteen factors. Then the weight of the dimensions was determined by using the SWARA method. The output of the method showed that supplier accountability and key performance factors were the most important factors in assessing the resilience of suppliers. Using the supporting method, five resilient suppliers were evaluated based on six dimensions and the final ranking of suppliers was determined. With this ranking, the industry will be a major step towards improving supply chain and increasing suppliers’ resilience to address disruptions and risks, improve supply and achieve competitive advantage and satisfy the consumers’ needs.

Theories about the evolution of information in time have begun to be used systematically and repeatedly by communities of scholars to fruitfully generate new knowledge about the past only in 1780, first in German faculties of Protestant theology, among classical linguists and then around the turn of the 19th century in comparative linguistics. Ranke used such theories in the second quarter of the 19th century to generate knowledge of history, and then similar methods spread to biology, geology and archaeology.

W opracowaniu podjęto po raz kolejny zagadnienie wyboru metody porządkowania liniowego jako odpowiedź na propozycję procedury przedstawionej w pracy Kisielińskiej (2016). Pokazano na dwóch przykładach, że ranking zależy od zastosowanej metody, a różnice są istotne. Podkreślono tym samym konieczność zastosowania kilku metod przed budową ostatecznego rankingu oraz wyeliminowaniu rankingów „odstających”. W artykule zaproponowano procedurę ich eliminacji. Oparto ją na średniej arytmetycznej i odchyleniu przeciętnym miar podobieństwa rankingów uzyskanych z wykorzystaniem kilku metod porządkowania liniowego. Z przedstawionych badań wynika, że dokonując wyboru metody porządkowania liniowego należy przeprowadzić obliczenia z zastosowaniem kilku procedur i dokonać wyboru wykorzystując już istniejące rozwiązania w literaturze lub zweryfikować z ekspertami badanej tematyki.

Speech enhancement in strong noise condition is a challenging problem. Low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition (LSMD) theory has been applied to speech enhancement recently and good performance was obtained. Existing LSMD algorithms consider each frame as an individual observation. However, real-world speeches usually have a temporal structure, and their acoustic characteristics vary slowly as a function of time. In this paper, we propose a temporal continuity constrained low-rank sparse matrix decomposition (TCCLSMD) based speech enhancement method. In this method, speech separation is formulated as a TCCLSMD problem and temporal continuity constraints are imposed in the LSMD process. We develop an alternative optimisation algorithm for noisy spectrogram decomposition. By means of TCCLSMD, the recovery speech spectrogram is more consistent with the structure of the clean speech spectrogram, and it can lead to more stable and reasonable results than the existing LSMD algorithm. Experiments with various types of noises show the proposed algorithm can achieve a better performance than traditional speech enhancement algorithms, in terms of yielding less residual noise and lower speech distortion.

New equivalent conditions of the asymptotical stability and stabilization of positive linear dynamical systems are investigated in this paper. The asymptotical stability of the positive linear systems means that there is a solution for linear inequalities systems. New necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of solutions of the linear inequalities systems as well as the asymptotical stability of the linear dynamical systems are obtained. New conditions for the stabilization of the resultant closed-loop systems to be asymptotically stable and positive are also presented. Both the stability and the stabilization conditions can be easily checked by the so-called I-rank of a matrix and by solving linear programming (LP). The proposed LP has compact form and is ready to be implemented, which can be considered as an improvement of existing LP methods. Numerical examples are provided in the end to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The direct motivation for this article is the publication of two updates of the Polish Journal Rankings on 9 and 18 February 2021, which were prepared by the Minister of Education and Science and bypassed the Research Evaluation Commission. This article aims to characterize the changes made by the minister in relation to the draft ranking prepared by the commission. For providing a complete picture of the changes, I describe the main principles for building the ranking according to the new model implemented in 2018. Then, I characterize the minister's changes in terms of added journals and changing the points assigned to the journals. The analysis is provided through the lens of the universities publishing these journals and the disciplines assigned to the journals. The article concludes by identifying four main recommendations that should be implemented to restore the usefulness of the ranking as an instrument of science policy.

The paper presents the method of assessment of learning outcomes acquirement by students. The analysis is based on the results of the final matriculation exam in mathematics. For crisp and both types of fuzzy relations, cut scores (passing scores) can be defined along with the method of preparing rankings of students. The advantage of applying type 2 fuzzy relations is the lack of the necessity for experts to agree to one level (one number) of verification of learning outcomes by items created for the examination. Based on the results of the exam and experts’ knowledge, the decision support system for calculating the levels of learning outcomes acquirement, making decisions about passing the examination and preparing rankings of students, can be developed. Additionally, the rank reversal phenomenon does not burden the proposed method.

This paper proposes a new fault location method in radial medium voltage distribution networks. The proposed method only uses the measurement data at the feeder beginning to approximate the characteristic equation showing the dependence between the positive-sequence voltage and phase angle at the monitoring point with the distance to the fault location for each fault type on each line segment. To determine these characteristic equation coefficients, the entire distribution network will be modeled and simulated by four types of faults at different locations along the lines to build the initial database. Based on this database, the mathematical functions in MATLAB software are applied to approximate these coefficients corresponding to each type of fault for each line segment in the network. Then, from the current and voltage measurement data at the feeder beginning, the algorithms of global search, comparison, and fault ranking are used to find out where the fault occurs on the distribution network. Two types of distribution network with and without branches are studied and simulated in this paper to verify and evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Face Sketch Recognition (FSR) presents a severe challenge to conventional recognition paradigms developed basically to match face photos. This challenge is mainly due to the large texture discrepancy between face sketches, characterized by shape exaggeration, and face photos. In this paper, we propose a training-free synthesized face sketch recognition method based on the rank-level fusion of multiple Image Quality Assessment (IQA) metrics. The advantages of IQA metrics as a recognition engine are combined with the rank-level fusion to boost the final recognition accuracy. By integrating multiple IQA metrics into the face sketch recognition framework, the proposed method simultaneously performs face-sketch matching application and evaluates the performance of face sketch synthesis methods. To test the performance of the recognition framework, five synthesized face sketch methods are used to generate sketches from face photos. We use the Borda count approach to fuse four IQA metrics, namely, structured similarity index metric, feature similarity index metric, visual information fidelity and gradient magnitude similarity deviation at the rank-level. Experimental results and comparison with the state-of-the-art methods illustrate the competitiveness of the proposed synthesized face sketch recognition framework.

This article presents the results of a study on the process of creating evaluative homogeneity within the Polish performance-based research funding system. To achieve this, the creation process of the national journal ranking from 2019 was analysed in two scientific disciplines: biology and history. The selection of this case is motivated by its particular nature – the creation of the list using bibliometric indicators and expert input. Therefore, the following question was posed: What guided the actors participating in the process of creating the list using bibliometric indicators when introducing changes to its original form? To answer this question, mixed methods were applied. Firstly, a quantitative analysis was conducted on the changes introduced to the ranking during its various stages of creation. Secondly, a qualitative analysis was carried out on partially structured interviews regarding the motivations of the actors. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, the study revealed the extent to which actors influence the form that evaluative homogeneity takes within the Polish system. Through qualitative analysis and quantitative results, the study revealed the extent to which actors influence the form that evaluative homogeneity takes in the Polish system. Furthermore, the article argues that the form that evaluative homogeneity takes is dictated by how actors position themselves in relation to two opposing forces: heterogeneity and homogeneity, and the practice and form of research quality evaluation as seen through their prism. The text concludes with a short epilogue, updating the findings of the study beyond its time frame.

Priority wise channelization of resources is the key to successful environmental management, especially when funds are limited. The study in hand has successfully developed an algorithmic criterion to compare hazardous effects of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) dumping sites quantitatively. It is a Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) that has made use of the scaling function to normalize the data values, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for assigning weights to input parameters showing their relevant importance, and Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) for aggregating the normalized scores. Input parameters have been divided into three classes namely Resident’s Concerns, Groundwater Vulnerability and Surface Facilities. Remote Sensing data and GIS analysis were used to prepare most of the input data. To elaborate the idea, four dumpsites have been chosen as case study, namely Old-FSD, New-FSD, Saggian and Mahmood Booti. The comparison has been made first at class levels and then class scores have been aggregated into environmental normalized index for environmental impact ranking. The hierarchy of goodness found for the selected sites is New-FSD > Old-FSD > Mahmood Booti > Saggian with comparative scores of goodness to environment as 36.67, 28.43, 21.26 and 13.63 respectively. Flexibility of proposed model to adjust any number of classes and parameters in one class will be very helpful for developing world where availability of data is the biggest hurdle in research based environmental sustainability planning. The model can be run even without purchasing satellite data and GIS software, with little inaccuracy, using imagery and measurement tools provided by Google Earth.

Finding the most critical contingencies in a power system is a difficult task as multiple evaluations of load and generation scenarios are needed. This paper presents a mathematical formulation for selecting, ranking, and grouping the most critical N-1 network contingencies, based on the calculation of a Power Constraint Index (PCI) obtained from the Outage Transfer Distribution Factors (OTDF). The results show that the PCI is only affected by the impedance parameter of the transmission network, the topology, and the location of all generators. Other methods, such as the Performance Index (PI) and the Overload Index (OL) are affected by the power generation and demand variations. The proposed mathematical formulation can be useful to accelerate the calculation of other methods that evaluate contingencies in power system planning and operation. Furthermore, the fast calculation of indices makes it suitable for online evaluation and classification of multiple events considering the current topology. The results showed that the proposed al- gorithm easily selected and ranked the expected contingencies, with the highest values of the index corresponding to the most critical events. In the filtering process, the computa- tional calculation time improved without losing the robustness of the results.

Poland is characterized by a number of factors which adversely affect the agricultural economy, so this paper will aim to present the possibilities of using multi-criteria decision-making methods of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in the analysis of the spatial structure of rural areas. AHP is a widely used tool for making complex decisions based on a large number of criteria, such as, for example, land consolidation works on fragmented agricultural land. The first step is to formulate the decision-making process, then the assessment criteria and the solution variants guided by expert knowledge are determined.

A ranking, according to which the order of land consolidation and land exchange works in the studied area should be determined, will be defined by using decision-making models of the AHP method. The basis for calculations will be the weights received for the factors/parameters defined for the five thematic groups. Calculations for individual villages will bemade, and then the obtained results will allow creating a ranking for the studied commune, allowing for the effective (in terms of economic and socio-economic) spending of funds for this purpose. The presented method can be successfully used to conduct analogous analyses for any area.

Faithfull detection of non-utilized spectrum hole in available channel is a crucial issue for cognitive radio network. Choosing the best available channel for a secondary user transmission includes settling on decision of accessible choices of free frequency spectrum based on multiple objectives. Thus channel judgment can be demonstrated as several objective decision making (MODM) problem. An ultimate goal of this exploration is to define and execute a technique for multiple objective optimizations of multiple alternative of channel decision in Adhoc cognitive radio network. After a coarse review of an articles related to the multiple objective decision making within a process of channel selection, Multiple Objective Optimization on the basis of the Ratio Analysis (MOORA) technique is taken into consideration. Some important objectives values of non-utilized spectrum collected by a fusion center are proposed as objectives for consideration in the decision of alternatives. MOORA method are applied to a matrix of replies of each channel alternatives to channel objectives which results in set ratios. Among the set of obtained dimensionless ratios, all the channel alternatives are ranked in descending order. In MOORA, channel choices with moderate objectives can top in ranking order, which is hardly conceivable with linearly weighted objectives of the different channel by using different decision making technique.

One of the strategic decisions of any organization is decision making about manufacturing

strategy. Manufacturing strategy is a perspective distinguishing a company from other

present companies in that industry and creates a kind of stability in decisions and gives a special

direction to organizational activities. SIR (SUPERIORITY& INFERIORITY Ranking)

method and their applications have attracted much attention from academics and practitioners.

FSIR proves to be a very useful method for multiple criteria decision making in fuzzy

environments, which has found substantial applications in recent years. This paper proposes

a FSIR approach based methodology for TOPSIS, which using MILTENBURG Strategy

Worksheet in order to analyzing of the status of strategy of the Gas Company. Then formulates

the priorities of a fuzzy pair-wise comparison matrix as a linear programming and

derives crisp priorities from fuzzy pair-wise comparison matrices

Manufacturing levers (Alternatives) are examined and analyzed as the main elements of

manufacturing strategy. Also, manufacturing outputs (Criteria are identified that are competitive

priorities of production of any organization. Next, using a hybrid approach of FSIR

and TOPSIS, alternatives (manufacturing levers) are ranked. So dealing with the selected

manufacturing levers and promoting them, an organization makes customers satisfied with

the least cost and time.

Indian SMEs are going to play pivotal role in transforming Indian economy and achieving

double digit growth rate in near future. Performance of Indian SMEs is vital in making

India as a most preferred manufacturing destination worldwide under India’s “Make in India

Policy”. Current research was based on Indian automotive SMEs. Indian automotive SMEs

must develop significant agile capability in order to remain competitive in highly uncertain

global environment. One of the objectives of the research was to find various enablers of

agility through literature survey. Thereafter questionnaire administered exploratory factor

analysis was performed to extract various factors of agility relevant in Indian automotive

SMEs environment. Multiple regression analysis was applied to assess the relative importance

of these extracted factors. “Responsiveness” was the most important factor followed by

“Ability to reconfigure”, “Ability to collaborate”, and “Competency”. Thereafter fuzzy logic

bases algorithm was applied to assess the current level of agility of Indian automotive SMEs.

It was found as “Slightly Agile”, which was the deviation from the targeted level of agility.

Fuzzy ranking methodology facilitated the identification & criticalities of various barriers

to agility, so that necessary measures can be taken to improve the current agility level of

Indian automotive SMEs. The current research may helpful in finding; key enablers of agility,

assessing the level of agility, and ranking of the various enablers of agility to point out the

weak zone of agility so that subsequent corrective action may be taken in any industrial

environment similar to India automotive SMEs.