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Methodological Aspects of Solving Sustainability Problems: New Challenges, Algorithms and Application Areas

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 26820

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Prof. Jarosław Jankowski

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Guest Editor

Head of the Department of Information Systems Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland
Interests: multi-criteria decision analysis； MCDA methods； digital sustainability

Dr. Jaroslaw Watrobski

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Guest Editor

University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland
Interests: multi-criteria decision analysis and making; MCDA methods; multi-criteria decision analysis for sustainability problem; logistics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Solving sustainability related problems raises methodological dilemmas targeted at the correctness of results, proper selection of used methods, stability, and accuracy of obtained results. The wrong application of analytical methods may result in difficulties in acquiring acceptable solutions.

Research and practical areas require the selection of proper methods and techniques in the areas of sustainable supply chain, transport, manufacturing, environmental areas and regional development. New research areas emerge in the fields of digital sustainability, financial sustainability, risk managements, sustainable marketing and others. The specifics within all areas require an adequate support from analytical methods. They include methods from various areas, including:

- qualitative and quantitative approaches,

- decision support methods,

- multi-criteria decision analysis methods,

- simulations and agent-based approaches,

- experimental economy,

- time series and trends analysis.

The proposed Special Issue is connecting various methodological aspects related to sustainability problems in order to create a background for further research. The presented studies will help to properly identify specifics and structures of the problem of sustainability. Research is invited from various areas of sustainability with included characteristics and specific problems with their generalization and ability to assign analytical methods.

Cinelli M, Coles SR, Kirwan K. Analysis of the potentials of multi criteria decision analysis methods to conduct sustainability assessment. Ecol Indic 2014;46:138–48.

Qaiser FH, Ahmed K, Sykora M, Choudhary A, Simpson M. Decision support systems for sustainable logistics: a review and bibliometric analysis. Ind Manag & Data Syst 2017;117:1376–88.

Prof. Jarosław Jankowski
Dr. Jaroslaw Watrobski
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

multi-criteria decision making,

multi criteria decision analysis,

MCDA,

sustainable decision making,

strong sustainability,

digital sustainability,

sustainable supplier evaluation and selection,

green logistics,

alternative and green energy sources location and evaluation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

34 pages, 2304 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How to Design More Sustainable Financial Systems: The Roles of Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors in the Decision-Making Process

by Magdalena Ziolo, Beata Zofia Filipiak, Iwona Bąk and Katarzyna Cheba

Sustainability 2019, 11(20), 5604; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11205604 - 11 Oct 2019

Cited by 67 | Viewed by 12503

Abstract

A literature review showed that finance is a driver of sustainability. However, to achieve sustainability through finance, it is necessary to rebuild and adapt the financial system to the specifics of sustainable development. Modern financial systems can be described as one-dimensional, focusing on ensuring the economic security of transactions. Meanwhile, the growing role of risk related to non-financial factors means that the factors referred to as ESG (environmental, social, governance) become the main source threatening the stability of financial systems. Adaptation activities toward the design of so-called three-dimensional financial systems rely on incorporating ESG risk into the financial decisions of the financial institutions that make up the financial system. This is found, among other factors, in the risk assessment methodology. The general goal of the paper is to investigate which ESG criteria are incorporated into the decision-making process of financial institutions and to verify the level of sustainability of financial systems in selected OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. The main research hypothesis assumes that incorporating ESG factors into the decision-making process of financial institutions makes financial systems more sustainable. A two-stage research procedure was used to achieve the research goal. In the first stage, to determine the ESG factors that affect the level of sustainability of financial systems and identify dependencies between ESG factors incorporated by financial institutions into the decision-making process, a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) was used. The collective map elaborating on the basis of the opinions of experts participating in the study was built using the software FCMapper_bugfix_27.1.2016. In the second stage, based on multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) using the PROMETHEE method (Preference Ranking Organization Method of Enrichment Evaluation), 23 OECD countries that respect the Equator Principles were ranked according to seven groups of criteria defined for financial system assessment (financial depth, development, vulnerability, soundness, fragility, stability, and sustainability), based on a literature review. The ranking confirmed the strong position of Scandinavian countries for assuring best sustainability practices in financial institutions and in the economy. The added value of this paper can be considered at two levels: theoretical and empirical. From the theoretical point of view, it should be noted that it is the first of this kind of analysis which prioritizes ESG factors in financial decisions and ranks financial systems according to fulfilling sustainability criteria. The original empirical approach based on the two-stage research procedure provided analysis of 62 factors, of which 21 represented the environmental scope, 25 the social scope, and 16 the governance scope, which is the main advantage of the empirical study presented in the paper. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methodological Aspects of Solving Sustainability Problems: New Challenges, Algorithms and Application Areas)

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19 pages, 986 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multicriteria Approach to Sustainable Transport Evaluation under Incomplete Knowledge: Electric Bikes Case Study

by Wojciech Sałabun, Krzysztof Palczewski and Jarosław Wątróbski

Sustainability 2019, 11(12), 3314; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11123314 - 15 Jun 2019

Cited by 56 | Viewed by 5607

Abstract

The problem of sustainable city transport is a growing field of study, and will be addressed in this paper. With the rising significance of present transportation systems’ negative externalities on the environment, such as the unavoidable increase of air pollution levels, cities seek sustainable means of transport and reduction of combustion cars’ utilization. Moreover, improvements in the area of renewable energy sources have led to rising trends in sustainability, driving the usage and production of electric vehicles. Currently, there is an increasing tendency of looking for more sustainable transport solutions, especially in highly congested urban areas. It seems that in that case, electric bicycles can be a good option, as they yield more benefits in comparison to cars, especially combustion cars. In this paper, we identify an assessment model for the selection of the best electric bicycle for sustainable city transport by using incomplete knowledge. For this purpose, the Characteristic Objects METhod (COMET) is used. The COMET method, proven effective in the assessment of sustainable challenges, is a modern approach, utterly free of the rank reversal phenomenon. The evaluated model considers investigated multiple criteria and is independent of chosen alternatives in the criteria domain. Hence, it can be easily modified and extended for diverse sets of decisional variants. Moreover, the presented approach allows assessing alternatives under conditions of incomplete knowledge, where some data are presented as possible interval numbers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methodological Aspects of Solving Sustainability Problems: New Challenges, Algorithms and Application Areas)

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35 pages, 1125 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation and Selection of Materials for Particulate Matter MEMS Sensors by Using Hybrid MCDM Methods

by Chi-Yo Huang, Pei-Han Chung, Joseph Z. Shyu, Yao-Hua Ho, Chao-Hsin Wu, Ming-Che Lee and Ming-Jenn Wu

Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3451; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su10103451 - 27 Sep 2018

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3601

Abstract

Air pollution poses serious problems as global industrialization continues to thrive. Since air pollution has grave impacts on human health, industry experts are starting to fathom how to integrate particulate matter (PM) sensors into portable devices; however, traditional micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) gas sensors are too large. To overcome this challenge, experts from industry and academia have recently begun to investigate replacing the traditional etching techniques used on MEMS with semiconductor-based manufacturing processes and materials, such as gallium nitride (GaN), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and silicon. However, studies showing how to systematically evaluate and select suitable materials are rare in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to propose an analytic framework based on multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) to evaluate and select the most suitable materials for fabricating PM sensors. An empirical study based on recent research was conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of our analytic framework. The results provide an invaluable future reference for research institutes and providers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methodological Aspects of Solving Sustainability Problems: New Challenges, Algorithms and Application Areas)

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30 pages, 2843 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Index to Measure the Sustainable Information Society: The Polish Households Case

by Jarosław Wątróbski, Ewa Ziemba, Artur Karczmarczyk and Jarosław Jankowski

Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3223; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su10093223 - 09 Sep 2018

Cited by 45 | Viewed by 4554

Abstract

Since the 1960s, a turning point for civilization related to the increasing role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in creating the modern society can be observed. The sustainable information society (SIS) entails a new phase of information society development, in which the ICT adoption by the society stakeholders is the key enabler of sustainability. One of the most important issues in the debate about the SIS is the means to measure it. In this paper, a methodological framework for creating SIS evaluation indexes is presented. In practical terms, an exemplary adjustable index for evaluating SIS in households is created based on the presented approach. During the empirical research, the presented index is used to evaluate SIS in Polish households. The study showed the usefulness of the proposed approach and confirmed the fact that it can be used to build other SIS indices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Methodological Aspects of Solving Sustainability Problems: New Challenges, Algorithms and Application Areas)

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