Žarko Vranjanac

Educational information systems have evolved into highly interconnected digital landscapes that support learning management platforms, student information systems, institutional repositories, and online assessment environments. As these systems increasingly operate across cloud infrastructures and mobile devices, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA Triad) of educational data is critical for safeguarding institutional operations and maintaining trust in digital education services. This paper investigates how next-generation security protocols, such as adaptive multi-factor authentication and advanced access control and data protection mechanisms, can reinforce ISO/IEC 27001:2022 requirements within contemporary educational information systems. The analysis maps emerging protocol capabilities to relevant new ISO/IEC 27001:2022 control domains, illustrating how they mitigate threats associated with unauthorized access, data manipulation, and service disruption. The proposed framework is further supported by an implementation-oriented mapping and an illustrative operational architecture that demonstrates the feasibility of translating prioritized security determinants into practical mechanisms. The FAHP analysis identifies access control mechanisms, backup and recovery, and data validation as the three highest-weighted determinants, with aggregate weights of 0.061, 0.059, and 0.057, respectively. These determinants are translated into a determinant-driven Security Operationalization Matrix that connects ISO/IEC 27001:2022 control domains, CIA dimensions, and technology recommendations, and is complemented by implementation feasibility considerations tailored to the budgetary, infrastructural, and resource constraints characteristic of educational institutions. Based on the prioritization results and conceptual operationalization, the proposed integrative approach provides a structured and progressively adoptable foundation for CIA-oriented security governance in digital educational environments.

This paper focuses on the state of wastewater treatment systems in Southeastern Serbia, specifically within the municipalities and cities of the Nišava, Toplica, Pirot, Jablanica and Pčinja districts. It provides a comprehensive overview of wastewater treatment systems in Europe and globally, offering a comparative perspective on Serbia's current status. This study conducts research and a comparative analysis using an indicator to monitor the state of wastewater treatment in the Republic of Serbia, across regions, and in cities and municipalities of Southeast Serbia, based on the most recent available data. Key results and findings are presented, followed by conclusions derived from the analysis, aiming to contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities in improving wastewater treatment systems in Southeastern Serbia.

Hazards stemming from extreme natural events have exhibited heightened prominence in recent years. The natural hazard management process adopts a comprehensive approach that encompasses all stakeholders involved in the disaster management cycle. “Actions for Resilience” (A4R) represents a standardised concept derived from ISO/TR 22370:2020 that integrates principles from various scientific disciplines to enhance resilience in systems, whether they are socio-ecological systems, communities, or organisations. A4R emphasises proactive measures and interventions aimed at fostering resilience rather than merely reacting to crises or disruptions. It recognises that resilience is a multifaceted concept influenced by various factors, including social, economic, environmental, and institutional dimensions. Central to A4R is the understanding of complex system dynamics. Also, A4R involves rigorous risk assessment to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities within a system, as well as to build adaptive capacity within systems. A4R advocates for the development of resilience metrics and monitoring systems to assess the effectiveness of interventions and track changes in resilience over time. These metrics may include indicators related to social cohesion, ecosystem health, economic stability, and public infrastructure resilience. In this context, the study aims to apply the proposed hierarchy of factors and group decision-making using fuzzy numbers to identify strategic priorities for improving the urban resilience of the pilot area. The identified priority factors are then analysed across different scenarios, and corresponding actions are described in detail.

Water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) components constitute fundamental dimensions contributing to human well-being, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development. Despite the prevalent specialization among WEFE professionals, there is a lack of multidisciplinary approaches in their work, with limited attention given to carbon footprint management. Against this backdrop, this study aims to explore the potential role of standardization and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) in implementing the WEFE approach within the food sector. The research entails a comprehensive examination of the International Standard Organization (ISO) 22000 certifications in Balkan countries, coupled with an analysis of the ISO 14067 standard and its alignment with food safety requirements. Finally, this study proposes a novel MCDA framework for integrating food safety considerations with criteria, factors, and indicators aimed at addressing both food safety and carbon footprint management. A hierarchical structure composed of influential criteria and factors was used to rank activities in sustainable, preferably carbon-neutral food production. Group decision making was applied in the fuzzy domain using triangular numbers, and the influence of experts was determined based on their experience. Practical recommendations aimed at managing trade-offs between the requirements of two elaborated standards are provided, emphasizing key environmental, societal, and economic insights to identify critical indicators for addressing biases in food safety and carbon footprint management.

Water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) components constitute fundamental dimensions contributing to human well-being, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development. Despite the prevalent specialization among WEFE professionals, there is a lack of multidisciplinary approaches in their work, with limited attention given to carbon footprint management. Against this backdrop, this study aims to explore the potential role of standardization and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) in implementing the WEFE approach within the food sector. The research entails a comprehensive examination of ISO 22000 certifications in Balkan countries, coupled with an analysis of ISO 14067 standard and its alignment with food safety requirements. Finally, the study proposes a novel MCDA framework for integrating food safety considerations with criteria and indicators aimed at addressing both food safety and carbon footprint management. A hierarchical structure composed of influential criteria and factors was used to rank activities in sustainable, preferably carbon-neutral food production. Group decision-making was applied in the fuzzy domain using triangular numbers, and the influence of experts was determined based on their experience. Practical recommendations and an integrative framework are provided, drawing on key insights to identify critical indicators for addressing biases in food safety and carbon footprint management.

The transition towards the circular economy (CE) model has gained recognition as a critical component in envisioning a sustainable future for humanity, owing to the inherent unsustainability of the current linear economic model of production and consumption. By repurposing resources and goods at the end of their useful lives, CE seeks to minimize waste creation while extending the life of these materials and products in the manufacturing cycle. The European Commission (EC) has backed switching from linear to CE to decrease undesirable interactions between the economy and the environment. Performance indicators developed under the CE monitoring framework are the best instruments for monitoring progress towards CE. The purpose of the current research is to examine the CE performance of the European Union (EU) countries - the Netherlands, France, and Germany. The analysis demonstrates strong relationships between important environmental parameters and the way they affect CE performance through a neural network procedure. The insights gained from this study, along with the broader research context provided by related studies, enhance the understanding of the difficulties and complexities in implementing and monitoring CE progress in different contexts.

The European Union's revised Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), introduces significant enhancements aimed at reducing pollution from large industrial installations and intensive livestock farms. This modernization aligns with the European Green Deal's Zero Pollution ambition, targeting a healthier environment and promoting industrial innovation. The updated IED extends its regulatory reach to additional sources of emissions. Notably, it now encompasses more large-scale intensive livestock farms, including the largest pig and poultry operations. This expansion is essential in mitigating nitrogen pollution across air, water, and soil. The Directive also brings the extraction of metals and large-scale battery production under its purview, addressing emerging industrial activities with significant environmental footprints. To analyze the impact and effectiveness of the updated IED, an online systematic review was conducted using peer-reviewed literature, official EU reports, and policy evaluations from 2020 to 2025. A comparative analysis was carried out to assess key changes against the previous IED (2010/75/EU), using case studies and reported data. Findings from the review highlight several important aspects of the directive, like stricter emission limits and target reductions. In a concluding sense, IED 2.0 success will depend on effective enforcement, industry cooperation, and technological innovation. Future research should focus on digital monitoring tools, financial sustainability models, and regulatory refinements to ensure longterm compliance and impact.

The concept of circular economy (CE) is increasingly prominent in European Union (EU) countries, considering the demand for incorporating renewable resources into end products. Similar to sustainable development dimensions, CE indicators can be classified within economic, social, and environmental protection categories, depending on their measuring scope, and within micro-, meso-, and macro-level, depending on the level of observation. The aim of the research is to determine the impact of CE innovation on CE performance in EU countries by modeling the Eurostat indicators via SmartPLS software. Relying on the relevant literature review, the paper first presents the concept of CE and the composite indicators used for evaluating its specific performances, as well as previous global and European experiences. Further, the study focuses on the modeling options for CE performance composite indicators demonstrating the relationship between the accomplishments of CE and the use of innovative measures at the level of products, services, or processes. Based on the data from EU27 countries for the period 2018–2021, the paper explores the relationship between variable and model composite indicators using SmartPLS software. SmartPLS output results support four assumption paths between CE indicator groups which are also confirmed with convergent and discriminant validity and heterotrait-monotrait ratio (HTMT) values. CE path modeling structure confirms the positive connection between CE innovations and CE performance emphasizing the need for providing a supportive environment and funds for innovations.

Circular economy indicators can be used for ranking countries and their hierarchical clustering. It shows the differences and similarities in the progress between individual countries, made toward the realization of the principles of the circular economy (CE). CE is a modern concept and the aspiration to preserve resources and protect the environment. The paper presents a cluster analysis at the level of the European Union (EU27) countries, based on the data of CE composite indicators, which is managed by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat). SPSS IBM 26.0 statistics software was used for cluster analysis, while the ANOVA method was applied to check the statistical significance of the obtained results. The most important results achieved in the paper are the classification into 6 clusters within the EU27 countries, with similar policies in the area of the circular economy. The best-ranked cluster is cluster 6 which consists of only 1 country, the Netherlands, the European leader in the circular economy. Accordingly, this paper aims to determine the similarities and differences between the EU member states in the implementation of circular economy postulates by dividing them into clusters. In this way, the highest mean values of the indicators within the cluster will be determined, and thus the circular economy model that other clusters should follow.