scholarly journals Bridging the gap: a genetic assessment framework for population-level threatened plant conservation prioritization and decision-making

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kym M. Ottewell ◽  
Doug C. Bickerton ◽  
Margaret Byrne ◽  
Andrew J. Lowe
Author(s):  
Alok Choudhary ◽  
Arijit De ◽  
Karim Ahmed ◽  
Ravi Shankar

AbstractThe increasing importance of sustainability has put pressure on organisations to assess their supply chain sustainability performance, which requires a holistic set of key performance indicators (KPIs) related to strategic, tactical and operational decision making of firms. This paper presents a comprehensive set of KPIs for sustainable supply chain management using a mixed method approach including analysing data from the literature survey, content analysis of sustainability reports of manufacturing firms and expert interviews. A 3-level hierarchical model is developed by classifying the identified KPIs into key sustainability dimensions as well as key supply chain decision-making areas including strategic, tactical and operational. A novel multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) based sustainability assessment framework is proposed. The proposed framework integrates value focussed thinking (VFT), intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and IF Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods. The novelty of the research lies in (1) using a rigorous mixed method approach for KPIs identification and industrial validation (2) the development of a novel integrated intuitionistic sustainability assessment framework for decision making and (3) the innovative application of the proposed framework and associated methodologies in the context not explored before. The practical data on the performance ratings of various KPIs were obtained from the experts and a novel intuitionistic fuzzy TOPSIS was applied to benchmark the organisations for their sustainability performance. Furthermore, the case study shows the applicability of the proposed framework to evaluate and identify the problem areas of the organisations and yield guidance on KPIs by recognising the most significant areas requiring improvement. This research contributes to the practical implication by providing an innovative sustainability assessment framework for supply chain managers to evaluate and manage sustainability performance by making informed decisions related to KPIs.


Biosystems ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Borisyuk ◽  
Robert Merrison-Hort ◽  
Steve R. Soffe ◽  
Stella Koutsikou ◽  
Wen-Chang Li

Author(s):  
Monia Makhoul ◽  
Houssein H. Ayoub ◽  
Hiam Chemaitelly ◽  
Shaheen Seedat ◽  
Ghina R Mumtaz ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundSeveral SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates are currently in the pipeline. This study aims to inform SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development, licensure, decision-making, and implementation by determining key preferred vaccine product characteristics and associated population-level impact.MethodsVaccination impact was assessed at various efficacies using an age-structured mathematical model describing SARS-CoV-2 transmission and disease progression, with application for China.ResultsA prophylactic vaccine with efficacy against acquisition (VES) of ≥70% is needed to eliminate this infection. A vaccine with VES <70% will still have a major impact, and may control the infection if it reduces infectiousness or infection duration among those vaccinated who acquire the infection, or alternatively if supplemented with a moderate social-distancing intervention (<20% reduction in contact rate), or complemented with herd immunity. Vaccination is cost-effective. For a vaccine with VES of 50%, number of vaccinations needed to avert one infection is only 2.4, one severe disease case is 25.5, one critical disease case is 33.2, and one death is 65.1. Gains in effectiveness are achieved by initially prioritizing those ≥60 years. Probability of a major outbreak is virtually zero with a vaccine with VES ≥70%, regardless of number of virus introductions. Yet, an increase in social contact rate among those vaccinated (behavior compensation) can undermine vaccine impact.ConclusionsEven a partially-efficacious vaccine can offer a fundamental solution to control SARS-CoV-2 infection and at high cost-effectiveness. In addition to the primary endpoint on infection acquisition, developers should assess natural history and disease progression outcomes and/or proxy biomarkers, since such secondary endpoints may prove critical in licensure, decision-making, and vaccine impact.


2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 1659-1667 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Garcia ◽  
J. Rice ◽  
A. Charles

Abstract Balanced harvesting has been proposed as a way for fisheries management to achieve the requirements of both the Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC)—to maintain stocks at the level at which they could produce MSY—and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)—to maintain ecosystem structure and functioning. This paper examines these requirements and briefly presents four system-level relationships (spectra), representing ecosystem structures that might guide management decision-making aiming to meet both requirements. These spectra would fit in the widely accepted frameworks of the Ecosystem Approach enshrined in the CBD and adopted by FAO for Fisheries. A size spectrum, relating biomass to body length, is used as an example to illustrate its potential to support management decision-making—much like present stock-based harvest control rules—in more ecosystem-compliant fishing strategies at a sector or ecosystem level, as a complement to those currently used at a stock/population level.


Author(s):  
Rajshree Srivastava ◽  
Shiv Kumar Verma ◽  
Vikas Thukral

This chapter describes how an effective work towards software project risk plays a vital role in determining the accomplishment of any project. In this chapter, the aim is to associate fuzzy criteria decision-making based on the approaches for the development of an assessment framework. This framework will be helpful in terms of identification and ranking the software risk according to its characteristics which will be helpful in decision-making of a software lifecycle. For the assessment for the risk of a project, there is an integration of fuzzy decision-making trial, evaluation laboratory trial and fuzzy multi-criteria decision. This new method proposed will be effective in terms of ranking and as well as to measure the software risk factors.


Author(s):  
Arun Kumar Sangaiah ◽  
Vipul Jain

The prediction and estimation software risks ahead have been key predictor for evaluating project performance. Discriminating risk is vital in software project management phase, where risk and performance has been closely inter-related to each other. This chapter aims at hybridization of fuzzy multi-criteria decision making approaches for building an assessment framework that can be used to evaluate risk in the context of software project performance in following dimensions: 1) user, 2) requirements, 3) project complexity, 4) planning and control, 5) team, and 6) organizational environment. For measuring the risk for effectiveness of project performance, we have integrated Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) and Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approaches. Moreover the fusion of FMCDM and TOPSIS has not been adequately investigated in the exiting studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 38-38
Author(s):  
Marcia Tummers ◽  
Rob Baltussen ◽  
Maarten Jansen ◽  
Leon Bijlmakers ◽  
Janneke Grutters ◽  
...  

INTRODUCTION:Priority setting in health care has been long recognized as an intrinsically complex and value-laden process. Yet, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies presently employ value assessment frameworks that are ill-fitted to capture the range and diversity of stakeholder values, and thereby risk to compromise the legitimacy of their recommendations. We propose ‘evidence-informed deliberative processes’ as an alternative framework with the aim to enhance this legitimacy.METHODS:The framework is based on an integration of two increasingly popular and complementary frameworks for priority setting: multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and accountability for reasonableness (A4R), Evidence-informed deliberative processes are, on the one hand, based on early, continued stakeholder deliberation to learn about the importance of relevant social values. On the other hand, they are based on rational decision-making – through evidence-informed evaluation of the identified values.RESULTS:The framework has important implications for how HTA agencies should ideally organize their processes. Firstly, HTA agencies should take the responsibility to organize stakeholder involvement. Second, agencies are advised to integrate their assessment and appraisal phase, allowing for the timely collection of evidence on values that are considered relevant. Third, HTA agencies should subject their specification of decision-making criteria to public scrutiny. Fourth, agencies are advised to use a checklist of potentially relevant criteria, and to provide argumentation how each criterion affected the recommendation. Fifth, HTA agencies must publish their argumentation and install options for appeal.CONCLUSIONS:Adopting ‘evidence-informed deliberative processes’ as a value assessment framework could be an important step forward for HTA agencies to optimize the legitimacy of their priority setting decisions. Agencies can incorporate elements according to their needs and affordances.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 237-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Panayiotou ◽  
Vasileios Stavrou

Purpose This paper aims to construct an assessment framework to establish a maturity model for Web Electronic Services offered at a local government level and investigate the maturity of Greek municipalities in the E-Government field, trying to correlate how this is affected by demographic variables. Design/methodology/approach An original assessment framework regarding municipal Electronic Services was created based on the literature review. The assessment framework was included in a methodological approach supported by the PROMETHEE II method, as well as by selected statistical methods. The framework and the methodological approach were applied in the case of Greek municipalities. Findings The analysis revealed the low maturity level of Greek municipalities in Electronic Services sector. The Greek case study indicated that the proposed framework and methodological approach could provide useful insights to municipalities for the improvement of its E-Government Web services based on their strategic preferences. Research limitations/implications The assessment took place only in Greece, assessing all the country's municipalities and conducting research only in the municipalities’ websites. The proposed methodology suggests that the PROMETHEE II multi-criteria decision analysis method can support the assessment of the maturity level of local government entities. Moreover, the combination of the PROMETHEE II–empowered assessment framework with demographic statistical analysis can assist orthological decision-making concerning future investments in Web Electronic Services. The methodology could be a good option for future research efforts (assessments) in municipalities, in Greece and worldwide. Practical implications The framework is both easy to use and fairly complete. The fact that the assessment was conducted in all the Greek municipalities makes it much more reliable, as it provides the whole picture. The suggested methodology which includes the proposed framework could be used in the cases of municipalities in other countries to assist future actions concerning the investment in Web Electronic Services. Originality/value This study provided a medium-size framework, being both complete and easy to use during the evaluation process of all the municipalities in Greece. In addition, the statistical analysis received data from a decision-making tool to execute the clustering (Cluster analysis is usually performed based on the raw data).


2009 ◽  
pp. 708-717
Author(s):  
Sara Dexter

The ETIPS software is a Web-based learning environment that delivers cases that allow educators to practice instructional decision making. Here I recount its development but mainly emphasize the two key concepts that were central to our design process. The first was the Conceptual Assessment Framework, an evidentiary reasoning and design perspective that helped us to focus on which key attributes to build into the software and cases. The second concept is described as extreme programming, which is an iterative approach to software programming based upon user stories and rapid prototyping. The story of developing the ETIPS cases illustrates the need to know very clearly what the point is of the educational experience you are creating and to design software where form follows function.


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