No abstract

In the modern world, knowledge is treated as another resource necessary for the development of civilization. An important element is information, thanks to which you can update knowledge and thus create a compendium of knowledge. Knowledge and its organization is particularly useful in construction. The article proposes a knowledge map, which is a record of domain knowledge. The fields were designated there, and the fields were assigned elements of importance in the life cycle of the building.

Abstract. Preparation of building repair activities in multi-family dwelling houses poses an important problem for habitat co-operatives in Poland. Firstly, such co-operatives own and manage a lot of buildings. Secondly, scarcity of economic and non-economic resources requires their effective allocation. Such allocation should be based on properly prioritised actions' alternatives. Unfortunately, due to the complex influence of the surrounding environment, the influence of a considerable number of components and diverse point of views is to be included during the analysis of repair needs. Potential influences result from a bunch of sources. The sources are of economic, technological, social and environmental nature. To support a decision-maker effectively, information pertaining to the importance of particular influences is required. Such information can be obtained by special means of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methodology. The application of the chosen approach -DEcision MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) for classification of repair needs assessment criteria to shape repair policy appropriately is presented in this paper.

Municipal economy problems are of a complex nature. Existing requirements for sustainable development make us apply various criteria while solving these problems. These can, for example, include economic, financial, social and environmental criteria. To handle them effectively, multi-criteria analysis should be applied. Decisions about heat production and delivery systems belong to such multidisciplinary problems. They were usually resolved in the past using classical numerical methodology that took into account only the technical and economic merits of the various alternatives.By applying multi-criteria tools instead it is possible to obtain more realistic results and make more effective decisions. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) seems to be a good alternative to fill the existing gap between decision-making as it is actually practiced and the traditional methods when applied to selecting district heating (DH) systems. This paper presents such an application. Our application is to select the best heat energy source for a DH system for a medium sized city located in Poland. Our results led to an interesting conclusion with regard to the best heat energy source. Our results suggest that intensifying the effort to make widespread the use of more efficient, but financially more costly, energy sources is the best.

Laws governing the expropriation of real properties for public and socially useful purposes are in force in most countries. The problem of determining fair compensation for expropriated land is a very current one and has already been the subject of research. However, it deals mainly with the method of determining the value of the property without analyzing the procedure itself, and its weakest points in particular. The research objective is to develop a methodology to identify those factors that impede the entire process the most and should be eliminated in the first place. For this purpose, the authors firstly analyzed the procedure for determining compensation for expropriated real properties in Poland and identified factors that may adversely affect this process. Then, the decision support methods were reviewed. Due to the maturity, flexibility, and comprehensively verified quality, the DEMATEL method was used to achieve the research objective. This method allows for the efficient identification of all cause–effect relationships as well as key factors even in the case of very complex systems. Since the DEMATEL method is based on expert knowledge, the authors prepared a questionnaire and asked 16 experts—representatives of public administration at various levels, judges, and property appraisers—to assess the effect of individual factors on each other on a five-point scale. Finally, they analyzed the nature of the factors disturbing the course of the process of determining compensation for expropriated real properties. Thanks to the original multilevel application of the DEMATEL method, which took into account expert knowledge about the complex relationships between the factors, the authors demonstrated that in Poland the key roles in hindering the compensation determination process play two factors: the undetermined legal status and incomplete identification of real estate constituents. The proposed methodology is a universal one and may also be applied for the assessment of other administrative proceedings as well as various factors that determine them.